KENYA: Truth Commission's capacity questioned

"It was in 1967 when contingents of armed military invaded the villages in Wajir town .They beat women and gang raped them in turn. Men were bundled into Lorries and assembled at different destinations. Some were tied at the neck and towed at the back of a moving vehicle until their body is cut into pieces," said Mrs. Abdia Warmoge, when she gave her testimonies to the Kenya's Truth, Justice and Reconciliation commission (TJRC) recently. It was against such backdrop the commission was formed in Kenya to lead an inquiry into gross human rights violations and other historical injustices in Kenya between 12 December 1963 and 28 February 2008. But the burning issue is whether the commission is equal to the task. From the onset TJRC has suffered credibility crises. Some argued that the then chairman of the commission Ambassador Bethwell Kiplagat was the Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary at the time when some human right abuses were committed and therefore belongs to the "witness box". Critics, including former political detainees and human rights activists have questioned his credibility to chair the commission due to his perceived involvement with the former president Moi’s regime which is accused of gross human right violations. But Kiplagat says he is innocent. Critics, for instance, believe that he attended a Wajir district security meeting prior to the infamous Wagalla killings. “I did not attend any meeting related to organizing the Wagalla massacre. I had just arrived from London and, as the Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary; the affair was not in my docket. The National Security Council meeting which I attended was a briefing and not an operational meeting and did not involve decisions at the district level,” he said during an interview with the Nairobi-based Star newspaper. It is widely understood it was in the said meeting the execution of the massacre was deliberated. Further, a prominent Kenyan foreign affairs minister Robert Ouko was assassinated when Kiplagat was the late minister’s Permanent secretary. “I do not know who killed the Late Hon Ouko. I appeared before the Ouko murder inquiry and spoke openly as a friend of the deceased. No claim has ever been made linking me to the assassination. In fact the family of the Late Ouko has appointed me as Patron of the Ouko Memorial Library. They clearly would not have done so if they believed I was involved with his murder” he says. While still defiant to quit amid the mounting pressure, the deputy chair of the commission, lawyer Betty Murungi, resigned saying that she found it difficult to discharge her duties given the accusations facing the commission’s leader, Mr. Kiplagat. He later succumbed to the pressure and stepped aside. A tribunal was later constituted by Kenya’s Chief Justice Evan Gicheru in October last year to probe the past conduct of Kiplagat as a Kenyan civil servant. Mrs. Tecla Namachanja was afterwards appointed as vice-chair and at the same time took over the chairmanship of the commission on an acting capacity. The commission started its public hearing on April 11, 2011 in Northern Eastern Kenya. Mrs. Namachanja said the Commission decided to launch the public hearings in Northern Kenya because the region has suffered grave human right abuses and economic marginalization. "Some of the injustices which have affected this regions (Garissa, Wajir, Isiolo, Marsabit, Mandela and Moyale) include torture, economic crimes, land issues, extra judicial killings, sexual violence, serious injuries, prolonged detention among others and the Commission is committed to guaranteeing the participation of women, children, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups from this region in the public hearings," said Namachanja. But some disagree. “We do not expect much from TJRC because the perpetrators are still holders of influential government positions,” says Mrs. Habiba Shiekh Abshirow who lost many of her family members in the Wagalla massacre. But Abdia Warmoge is hopeful, though. “We demand official apology and compensation from the government” says Abdia. “We want the killers of our husbands and sons confess the crimes they committed” She continued. The Commission is expected to present its final report to President Mwai Kibaki in November 2011. Source: Adow Mohamed, AfricaNews reporter in Wajir-North Eastern Kenya < Prev   Next >