“If Kenya is not willing to address those historical injustices, then grievances will fester, and at some point erupt into further violence,” he told IWPR. “That was the lesson of the 2007 election.”
“The TJRC report is not the ultimate answer,” Slye continued. “But it provides one entry point into what should be a broader and more intense process of addressing the past in order to create a more just and united future.”
Last month, Martha Karua, the leader of NARC Kenya, a political party, called on the government to implement the report’s findings in the interests of national cohesion.
“Kenyans no longer feel safe in the country because of inadequate responses by our security agencies on terror attacks,” she said. “The government needs to implement the TJRC report, which has been pushed under the carpet.”
CIVIL SOCIETY PRESSURE
The 2008 law on the TJRC provided a clear schedule for the government to formally publish the report and implement its recommendations. But more than a year after the report was submitted to Kenyatta, this has not been done. The report was tabled in parliament last year but it has yet to be debated or officially published.
According to the TJRC Act, the implementation process should have started within six months of publication of the final report in May last year.
The Act states that the government must set up an implementation mechanism with a committee to oversee the process, with quarterly reports on progress in implementing the recommendations.
Last December, however, Kenyatta signed the Truth Justice and Reconciliation (Amendment) Act, which enables Parliament to revise the report’s findings. The amended wording says that the findings should be implemented “in accordance with recommendations” from the lower house of parliament.
Some of the individuals criticised in the report have already filed court cases to challenge its content. They include relatives of the President who have accused the commission of linking them to irregular acquisitions of land under the rule of his father, Jomo Kenyatta.
Senator Beth Mugo and her brother Ngengi Muigai have filed cases at the High Court in which they deny having acquired land by improper means. Mugo wants the court to block the TJRC from implementing its recommendations.
Some advocacy groups argue that those who support the TJRC process and want to see its findings acted upon should file counter-claims in court to challenge such moves.
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