ICC Confirmation Hearings

The ICC confirmation hearings taking place in the month of September as usual got most of the country glued to The Hague. The national discourse was ICC confirmation hearings and this was made possible by the media. The main TV stations NTV, KTN, K24 Citizen TV and K24 disrupted the normal programme schedule to broadcast the ICC confirmation hearings. The newspapers were a splash with what or what did not happen at The Hague and the radio was also full of the confirmation hearings

This spotlight of Hague was there despite some calamities taking place in Nairobi (pipeline explosion) and accidents taking place in the country.

However, for me this time round I watched the debate unfold on social media sites twitter however, during the evening I was able to watch a few of the first bunch of confirmation hearings which involved MP’s Ruto, Kosgey and Journalist Sang.

The second bunch of confirmation hearing attracted my attention because the Finance Minister was going to testify as his own witness and I looked forward to see the ‘battle royal’ as it had been called in the media between the prosecutor L. M. Ocampo and the Finance Minister. In fact Gado the Daily Nation cartoonist had painted Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta in gloves ready to ‘engage’ the prosecutor!

I missed this ‘confrontation’ because an event popped up that I had to attend at the iHub. Nevertheless, I was able to see a read and see what happened in the news. It had been billed as a risky move by the Finance Minister but going by what I observed and comments made by persons is that the gamble by Finance Minister paid off.

Observations

Finance Ministers counsel was damn good. During the initial appearance there was backlash on twitter as to why the Finance Minister was engaging the services of foreigners yet in Kenya we have good lawyers. However, during the confirmation hearing I was able to see the smart move taken by the Finance Minister.

There was a huge contingent of media personalities composed of all the anchors of stations in Kenya (worthwhile to mention Jeff Koinange of K24 who even had an exclusive with the prosecutor!) who went to The Hague.

There were PR practitioners for Mr. Uhuru and bloggers among his contingent.

From the court perspective, the presiding judge was tough and fair as usual. The witness lawyer was also very good.

Back Home

The week the finance minister was on the doc I noticed some graffiti on some walls showing solidarity with the finance minister. So what is unique with this graffiti is that it has the Obama hope signature in it. It is worthwhile to note that though I do not know who was behind it. This is definitely done by young people. This I think goes to show that the Finance Minister has some fanatical following in some quarters.

Next to the Museum

In town at a matatu Station

In town at a matatu terminus

Suggested links
http://www.icckenya.org/
http://www.dennisitumbi.com/ (this might have a perspective that leans towards UK)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw4JbEud4bU&feature=related (Humor video on O'campo 6)

The Lord Mayor of London and Smart Diplomacy

The Lord Mayor of London Alderman Michael Bear was in town and had a series of meetings and concerts running from September 9-10, 2011 in various locations. His visit to Kenya was not for pleasure and NOT exclusively for business but for both!

Smart Diplomacy

In what is currently dominating the Western world, soft power as opposed to hard power is now being practiced. Smart power is a theory that has been espoused recently where nations combine both hard and soft power. In the foreign policy magazine/website the multi-literalist has observed correctly that Europeans are good at using soft power and has attributed this to the European Union. Under the EU treaty EU member states come together and negotiate policies and decisions. So this it is believed has made Europeans better diplomats who appreciate the aspect of understanding other people’s culture and points of view.

The Lord Mayor Alderman appreciates culture and has a strategy for his mayoral year which he calls ‘cultural diplomacy’. He is using this strategy to support the city of London and its global agenda. Under this strategy he has partnered with Concordia Foundation.

Concerts all over the World

Concordia Foundation is expected to present concerts for the Lord Mayor in Britain and during his international visits some of which include Vietnam, China and Kenya.

I was invited to the concert at the BHC residence on Saturday September 10, 2011 and was delighted by the evening performances.

The evening had performances from our very own Moipei sisters, Rishabh & Akshay Sevak and Concordia Artists Satoko Fukuda, Couple Gareth McLearnon & Abigail Burrows and Jeremy Silver who was perfect on the piano. Gillian Humphreys founder and artist director of Concordia Foundation also gave a performance for the evening.

After the evening performance I had a rare chat with the Lord Mayor and we talked among many things his root with Kenya and football. The Lord Mayor was born in Kenya and is an Arsenal Fan. At the time of the meeting Arsenal was not at their best and the Lord Mayor was as is any other football fan sticking with his team ‘for the better or for the bad times’. I on the other hand am a Manchester United fan! Going by the Kenyan standards there are some ‘rivalry’ between Manchester United and Arsenal as opposed to Manchester United and Liverpool that exists in UK.

Duties of a Lord Mayor

So during my encounter with the Lord Mayor I came to learn a few things. One was the difference between the Mayor and the Lord Mayor. Most of us had gone there expecting to see the mayor.

In terms of duties the Lord Mayor made the differences of these two offices crystal clear. The Lord Mayor makes the money and the London mayor spends it!   

The office of the Lord Mayor is an elected post which one holds for one year. The Lord Mayor is head of City of London Corporation. Among his many duties he is expected to travel extensively in liaison with FCO (Foreign Commonwealth Office their Ministry of Foreign Affairs) hence he had a reception at BHC residence. 

From this travels he is expected to foster goodwill and boost British trade, particularly the markets and services of the city. The city of London has a vibrant capital markets and for those following the current impasse of the Euro (which UK is not a member) and debt crisis facing Greece and other periphery nations of the EU will understand that Germany and France have been playing a key role. 

The city of London is the financial power house of Europe (home of global capital) and most of the off shore banking in Switzerland is usually done from London.

The Lord Mayor and his Appeal

The Lord mayor Alderman Michael Bear has an appeal which is called ‘Bear Necessities’. His appeal is aimed at helping children in London access education and have greater life opportunities and at supporting international disaster relief.