Ichung'wah Threatens To Involve ICC In Raila-Ruto Bipartisan Talks

National Assembly Majority Leader, Kimani Ichungw’ah has hinted at inviting the International Criminal Court (ICC) to monitor Azimio la Umoja leader, Raila Odinga's new proposal for a truce with President William Ruto.

Ichungw'ah on Wednesday, April 5 stated that he would propose an agenda to the Kenya Kwanza Parliamentary Group (PG) so he can write to the ICC to monitor the activities of the opposition in the country to ensure that Raila does not drag Kenya back into what he termed as anarchy.

He accused Raila of using anarchy to blackmail the government and that he would float the ICC agenda before the PG meeting set for next week.

If the proposal is adopted, the Kikuyu MP stated that he would formally petition the court based at The Hague in the Netherlands to begin active monitoring of the Kenyan situation.

“And that is why I have said we will propose an agenda to our PG meeting next week that we write to the ICC to take measures to ensure that Raila Odinga and his sponsors do not slide our country back to anarchy.

“If our PG agrees with us, we will write to ICC because it is now very clear that all Raila Odinga and his team want is to blackmail the country using violence, anarchy, looting, and bloodshed to get into the system of government,” said Ichung’wah who was flanked by Majority Whip in the National Assembly Slyvanus Osoro.

He added that he had no problem with Raila's weekly demonstrations as long as they are peaceful, vowing to put a stop to Raila's alleged system of anarchy and blackmail as a means of getting into power.

“We want to tell Raila, we have no problem with you demonstrating...but demonstrate peacefully.

"And that's why we are telling Raila Odinga, your system of looting, your system of anarchy, your system of using bloodshed to blackmail the country will come to an end and not next year, not after the next elections. This year, that system must come to an end,” Ichung’wah said.

Ichung'wah and Osoro further dismissed Raila’s call to broaden the bipartisan engagement that is expected to resolve the issues between the government and the opposition, with the former especially dismissing the National Accord style of negotiations.

Odinga on Tuesday, April 4 claimed that the parliamentary process, or bipartisan approach, may not serve the purpose intended by the coalition and instead suggested a conversation at the national level that resembled the 2008 agreement under the National Accord.