The woman who held the State
Department’s top Africa post prior to Ambassador Johnnie Carson
denounced on Wednesday his recent warning to Kenyan voters of possible
“consequences” stemming from their choice of president in the March 4
election.“I am troubled by Johnnie Carson’s
statement that is essentially meddling in Kenya’s election,” declared
Jendayi Frazer, who served as the Bush administration’s assistant
secretary of state for African affairs from 2005 to 2009.“It is very reckless and irresponsible,
given that the election is very close, for us to try to intervene in
Kenya’s election decision,” Ms Frazer added.
“We should not be threatening Kenyans about their choice by pointing to an ICC case that is not proven.”
“I think the ICC case against Uhuru Kenyatta is a weak one and is based on hearsay,” Ms Fraser added.
Speaking at a Washington think tank
forum on Kenya’s election, Ms Frazer questioned the ICC’s legitimacy,
saying the court is “a very manipulated institution, particularly by the
West.”
Ms Frazer's stinging criticism of
Ambassador Carson's "consequences" statement struck some observers as a
partisan attack by a Republican Party supporter on a Democratic
administration's leading Africa diplomat.
Ms Frazer's remarks drew a sharp
rejoinder from Karuti Kanyinga, a professor at the University of Nairobi
who took part in the forum at the Brookings Institution.
"The ICC is the best thing for Kenya,"
Prof Kanyinga said. He described Kenya as "a country where senior and
influential people are never held to account for anything whatsoever."
The ICC serves to warn those suspected of serious crimes that "no matter
how far you run, no matter where you go, you will be treated like an
ordinary person."
Ms Frazer's comments also prompted a
critical response from Makau Matua, the dean of a law school affiliated
with the State University of New York.
The Republican former official, along
with her boss, President Bush, "never liked the ICC," Prof Matua told
the Nation. "And how does she know the case is hearsay? That's a Uhuru
line."
Asked at the forum how she would respond
to a Kenyatta victory if she were still a senior State Department
official, Ms Frazer replied that the US government “should continue to
work with the Kenyan government until the point somebody is tried and
convicted.”
“I would be very pragmatic,” she said,
noting that the United States is not a signatory to the treaty that
established the International Criminal Court.
Ms Frazer added that the US has
consistently maintained contact with Sudan President Omar al Bashir
since his indictment by the ICC in 2008 on charges of war crimes.
“Even if the Kenyan people vote for
Uhuru to be president, I’m positive the US administration will deal with
him,” Ms Frazer said. She noted in this context that Secretary of State
John Kerry had engaged in diplomacy with Sudan’s leadership as an
emissary of President Obama.
The former assistant secretary of state expressed optimism that widespread violence will be avoided in the coming election.
Ms Frazer, who now serves as
distinguished service professor at Carnegie Mellon University in the US,
cited Kenya’s new Constitution, the country’s more independent
judiciary and the comparative credibility of its new election commission
as key factors that will help produce a peaceful outcome.
In addition, Kenya’s strong civil society “is not going to allow politicians to mobilise violence” in 2013, she said.
Source:elections.nation.co.ke