WE ARE SWIFT TO JUDGE AND CONDEMN

We as human beings are in most cases swift to judge and condemn without giving any serious thoughtfulness of issues eliciting our judgment or condemnation. It is true, that the Sudanese President Mr Bashir is an indicted man who is under a warrant of arrest; it is true that he attended our National fete at Uhuru Park in Nairobi on the 27th August 2010.

It is true that he wasn’t arrested though Kenya is a signatory of the International Criminal Court.

It is also true above all else that Mr Bashir is our neighbour and that Kenya has for along time worked so hard to help mediate between the warring parties in Sudan which led to a peace pact signed between the Northern and the Southern.
If Kenya was to isolate and bar him from attending the historic fete by virtue of his indictment, what would we as a country and the world at large have achieved? Would Kenya or the world have been able to arrest him if he stayed in Sudan?

If Kenya would have accepted to arrest Mr Bashir, would it have helped solve the problems in Sudan? If the Kenyan Government went a heard and arrested him, would it not have helped escalate the situation in the fragile Nation? In short, what would have been the outcome of his arrest in Kenya?

It is undeniable; the repercussions of his arrest might have been so severe - Kenya would have lived to regret its action…should that have happened, what would those condemning Kenya do to salvage the situation?

I believe that Mr Bashir has learnt some valuable lessons by attending our historical fete…Psychologically, the man must have been moved and challenged.

By virtue of his attendance, witnessing the peaceful, colourful, festive and democratic promulgation of our new constitution…may have set the ball rolling in his mind considering that there is an upcoming referendum next year in Sudan.

The man may want to make history despite his loathed image by making sure that he works hard to ensure that the upcoming referendum in the South early next year succeeds . Should that happen, then the people of Sudan would be the ultimate beneficiaries. That is the course with which all Human Rights Groups and other Organisations are advocating for.

Thus, though we condemn Mr Bashir’s visit to Kenya…we should work hard to help salvage the Sudanese Nation rather than being the same people who would lead to its destruction.

Mistakes are made by us but we also learn from them and once that is done, we improve our present which in-turn influences our tomorrow.


M. Opany