By Ogova Ondego
Published February 14, 2013
Germany has pledged continued support to Kenya ‘regardless of who will be elected President’ in the March 4, 2013 general elections.
Speaking during the launch of a book on peace and conflict management at Goethe-Institut in Nairobi on February 13, 2013, Margit Hellwig-Bötte, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Kenya, stressed that “Germany does not support any candidate for any office” and that it is upon Kenyans “to make wise decisions and elect responsible leaders.”
The Ambassador said her country “supports any effort to put an end to impunity and to enforce the rule of law in Kenya.” She stressed that “continued cooperation with the International Criminal Court is of vital importance to create accountability for political violence and to build a stable Kenya. Like the [rest of the] European Union member states, Germany is a state party to the Rome Statute and bound by its legal obligations as much as Kenya is.”
Hellwig-Bötte said the first Presidential debate in Kenya that had brought all the eight candidates together on February 11, 2013 had “set the tone for a peaceful campaign and a contest of ideas” besides raising “the issue of justice for the victims and the right to a fair trial for [the] alleged perpetrators of post-election violence.”
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Saying that peace and justice are interlinked, the Ambassador observed that there can be no peace without justice; that peace cannot be sustained without justice. It is for this reason, she said, that Germany and the European Union have “been helping to build a peaceful Kenya by supporting the judicial process of reconciliation following the December 2007 elections as well as the implementation of the new constitution [that came into force in 2010]. The EU and its member states have been supporting Kenya’s ability to hold free, fair and transparent elections this time round.”
“These elections are about implementing the new constitution, bringing government and development closer to the people by giving more power to the counties, granting the people more rights, making the government more accountable, fighting impunity and making sure that the rule of law prevails for the benefit of the people of Kenya,” the Ambassador noted.
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Hellwig-Bötte informed the gathering that Peace Building and Conflict Management, the book that was launched, “started as a project by students of Kenyatta University [of Kenya] and the University of Trier in Germany under the supervision of Prof Johannes Michael Nebe. Their aim, she said, had been to study the civil conflict management of the post-election violence of 2007/2008 in Kenya, to look into lessons learnt and to discuss the way forward with civil society organisations, women’s groups, peace committees and many other stakeholders, especially in the Rift Valley [region] and in the slums of Nairobi [that suffered the brunt of the conflict].”
Saying the book is written by youth for youth and about conflict management and peace-building through the eyes of youth, Hellwig-Bötte observed that “it is a contribution to discuss peace, reconciliation and healing as cornerstones for social stability and democracy.”
