Wednesday October 13, 2021
Nairobi (HOL) - An American-based professor at the SUNY Buffalo School of Law has become the first prominent Kenyan to ask President Uhuru Kenyatta to respect the ruling handed down by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Tuesday.
Prof. Makau Mutua, who teaches International Human Rights, International business transactions and international law, said that it would be vital that Kenya respects the decision made by ICJ.
"In the ruling on the border dispute with Somalia, despite the court's reliance on illegitimate colonial cartography- Kenya must remember that respect for the rule of law matters most when it is inconvenient to you. Nairobi needs to "accept and move on."
Prof. Mutua - who has also served as a dean at the SUNY Buffalo School of Law - maintained that by doing so, the two countries would relate well in future.
His sentiments come just a few hours after President Kenyatta said that Kenya had decided to reject the judgement by the UN's highest court after it granted Somalia most of the territory it had requested.
"Kenya wishes to state that it rejects in totality and does not recognize the findings in the decision," the Kenyatta said.
However, for Somalia's President Mohamed Farmajo- the ruling was a clear indication that the country has been on the right track since it first moved to the court in 2014 over the matter.
Delivering a victory speech, Farmajo asked Kenya to respect the decision that was made by the court to ensure that stability was maintained in the region. He also chastised Kenya for what he called "deliberate and persistence meddling" into Somalia's affairs.
He also congratulated the Somali People and thanked the legal team, keenly following the matter since the case kicked off.
Already President Kenyatta has been backed by other Kenyan leaders, including Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Kamau Macharia, who was the first to announce that Kenya had withdrawn from the case.
Agriculture CA Peter Munya also said that he would not hand even a portion of the land in the Indian Ocean.
Analysts have noted that electioneering among both leaders could be the reason behind the political posturing.