Museveni has no mandate to mobilise against ICC - MPs
MPs Theodore Ssekikubo (R) and Banabus Tinkasimire (L) address a press conference in which they appealed to President Museveni to “get his hands off the operations of ICC”. PHOTO BY Geoffrey Sseruyange
Kampala- Legislators are considering petitioning the UN Security Council over President Museveni’s attack on the independence and influence of ICC.
The MPs; Mathias Nsubuga (Bukoto South), Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga), Abdu Katuntu (Bugweri) and Barnabas Tinkasiimire (Buyaga West), while addressing a press conference at Parliament yesterday, said President Museveni does not have the mandate to mobilise other African countries to pull out of ICC without consulting Parliament.
President Museveni, in his address to the 68th UN General Assembly in New York last month rebuked the West for what he called its patronising arrogance toward Africa, and said a “biased” International Criminal Court was “shallow” to tackle complex African issues.
The background
In May, the AU, in a resolution sponsored by Uganda, demanded ICC refers adjudication of the war crimes and crimes against humanity case against President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto to Kenya’s “credible” judiciary.
Mr Nsubuga wondered why President Museveni was decampaigning the ICC yet it seeks to punish leaders subscribed to it for atrocities they commit and ill governance.
Mr Katuntu said leaders must not interfere with ICC’s due process of the law by making threatening statements.
Speaking at the inauguration of Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto in April, Mr Museveni accused the court of blackmail, incompetence and self-interest. President Museveni said the ICC had been “grabbed by a bunch of self-seekers and shallow minded people whose interests is to mint revenge on those who hold opposing views’’.
Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto stand indicted by the ICC for crimes against humanity following the 2008 post-election violence.
