Credible Commitment or Sham Devotion to the International Criminal Court: Whither Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda?

What is it about?

This is an inquiry into the nature of commitment that African countries show to the International Criminal Court (ICC) established under the Rome Statute. The paper discerns two patterns of behaviour shown by countries and tries to ascertain the pattern exhibited by these three countries. The paper uses quantitative and qualitative methods. It finds that Nigeria with a total score of 30 percent shows sham devotion to the ICC. Although Kenya and Uganda scored a total of 60 and 50 per cent respectively, the paper finds that these two countries show sham devotion and credible commitment in mixed and inconsistent patterns to the ICC. The paper uses these findings to predict the status of these three countries vis-a-vis the ICC by 2022. It predicts that Nigeria will not domesticate the Rome Statute by the end of 2022. Kenya may withdraw from the Statute by 2022. Uganda will remain a member of the Statute by 2022. The paper finally reflects on the implication of these predictions on the viability and credibility challenges facing the ICC. The situation of Nigeria may serve to discourage other African countries from domesticating the Statute. The fact that Kenya and Uganda shows credible Commitment and Sham devotion to the ICC in mixed and inconsistent pattern may also have the same discouraging effect on other African countries and this is not good for the viability and credibility challenges facing the ICC in Africa.

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