Kenyans are expressing outrage afterthe coalition cabinet postponed a decision on dealing with alleged perpetratorsof 2008post-election violence.
Cabinet ministers are sharply split between using alocal tribunal or the International Criminal Court (ICC) which led to thepostponement of a decision until next week.
President Mwai Kibakiand Prime Minister Raila Odinga are reportedly in favor of using a localtribunal to put those accused of masterminding the post-election violence ontrial.
But a recent Steadman poll shows more than 68 percent of Kenyans favorsending the perpetrators to the ICC.
Political analyst Michael Tiampati told VOA that a local tribunal could be manipulated bypoliticians.
"Thegeneral reaction of Kenyans at the countryside is that of disbelief andfrustration. Because Kenya is confronted by a multiplicity of issues, and theimage of the country is at stake. And what is appearing is that there isdespondency at the cabinet level, which should not be the case," Tiampati said.
He said Kenyans arequestioning their leaders judgment on how to deal with those behind thepost-election violence.
"In terms of leadership,Kenya is currently suffering a leadership crisis? and Kenyans have said thatwith the coming together of the two sides and said it will get working, butthat is not the case anymore," he said.
Tiampati said divisionswithin the government contributed to its indecisiveness.
"The government has not beenone, has been pulling in two different directions. And this is playing out nowbecause when the envelope was handed to the prosecutor (Luis Moreno) Ocampo,then a section of the government started saying that people actually foughtbecause of President Kibaki and the Prime Minister Raila Odinga," Tiampatisaid.
He said some Kenyans favorboth the president and prime minister facing prosecution over the post-electionviolence.
"What they are saying isthat if there have to be people to be prosecuted, the two principals should bein the mix because people fought because of them," he said.
Tiampati said there isgrowing fear that sending the perpetrators to the ICC could undermine thecountry's stability.
"There is that fear that bytaking the culprits to The Hague, then that would plunge the country intochaos. My take is that that is what the president and the prime minister aretrying to forestall," Tiampati said.
He said Kenyans want theaccused to be internationally prosecuted.
"The people are unanimousthat the perpetrators should face justice at The Hague because the Kenyanjudiciary has lost credibility. There is a feeling that a local tribunal wouldbe prone to manipulation by the political elite?a cabinet minister said inbroad daylight that he wanted a tribunal that they could control," he said.
Earlier this month, theformer UN Secretary General Kofi Annan handed over an envelope containing thenames of 10 suspects to the ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. The moveis believed to put more pressure on the Kenya coalition government either toestablish a local court quickly or face international justice.
Meanwhile, it has come tolight that the names of some cabinet ministers are listed among the accusedmasterminds of Kenya's 2008 post-election violence. The violence left scoresdead and hundreds displaced from their homes.