UHURU'S CASE:

Uhuru Kenyatta arriving at the Hague for a status conference with his wife, Margaret.

 UHURU KENYATTA AT THE HAGUE

By Maritim Kipngetich

The eyes and ears of the people of Kenya are set on the International Criminal Court (ICC) as their President, Uhuru Kenyatta, is expected to attend a status conference today 11am being chaired by ICC presiding judge Kuniko Ozaki.

The President, who handed over his presidential powers to his deputy on Monday, is expected to face the judges as the ordinary citizen who is accused to have been a co-perpetrator of the mayhem experienced in different parts of the country, Kenya, after 2007/2008 elections.

Uhuru had to attend the Status Conference since the judges considered it as the critical juncture in his case which started in December 2010.

The two issues which top the agenda of the conference are the adjournment of the case (for the prosecution to gather more evidence) or the termination of the case due to lack of evidence. The prosecution has been seeking for case adjournment since last year claiming that the Kenyan government refused to cooperate with the court by providing Uhuruis financial records which would show whether he financed the perpetrators of post election violence.

Should the court find that the Kenyan government has been shielding the evidence, it will be handed over to Assembly of States Parties for a decision.

The president had a difficult moment in deciding whether to attend the conference or respect the African Union resolution which was set by AU members in Addis Ababa in October 12, 2013. The resolution stated that international court should not open cases against the sitting African head of state.

The prosecutor, Ms Fatou Bensouda, said the President Uhuru will be charged as the accused and not the president of the Republic of Kenyatta. She, therefore, said the accused will be referred to as Mr Uhuru Kenyatta and not President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Moreno Ocampo, the former prosecutor of the ICC. He said Kenyatta's case may end,

The outcome of the status conference is very crucial to Kenyatta’s case. The former prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno Ocampo, told the BBC that the Kenyatta’s case was not “going well”. Kenyans read a lot from this statement and they expect the ICC to drop the charges against their president.