KENYA'S JTRC-DOOMED NOT WORK?

I am not writing this to exploit the distress and stress of the Kenyan people even though this seems to be one of the most flooded themes or topics in the Kenyan Society and the good-will international community focusing on Kenya with their son of soil Barack President Obama of the U.S. But this is a topic so broad yet so narrow. Broad in that if well addressed, we shall be able to tame and reorganize such a broad socioeconomic infrastructure of once a successful economy and post-colonial independent African civilization or community.

South Africa, post-apartheid regime did it under the inspiration and great leadership of one of the ever-living true religious leaders in Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He is regarded as the creator of and the instrumental inspirator for the formation and running of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission well run to settle the bitter scores from apartheid. Of course not all were reconciled and not all were punished; there were some who escaped or remained unpunished thanks to their socioeconomic statuses. But still, it was and still is a great idea worth applause and imitating.

Approximately 20 years ago in India, radical Hindu groups and political parties incited the demolition of an Islamic temple/Mosque- The Babri Masjid in broad day light and it was even broadcasted and photojournalists did their best to capture the moment neutrally as supposed. Subsequently an inquiry team was formed to look into the case and help bring the culprits who inspired the demolition as well as the ground workmen who participated in the action and this was expected to take less than a month being the fact that a lot of evidence in video and in printed media was available. But this has taken 20 good years and it was only last month that the Commission of Inquiry delivered its final report about the demolition to the government of India. Most of the culprits are long dead, migrated, or even now more powerful in the well complicated political infrastructure of the world's largest democracy so much so that pointing back to one may jeopardize a regional government if not the central govt.! There is also the Gujaratti Riots where thousands of Muslims were slain and also the Anti-Sikh Riots where thousands of Sikhs were annihilated and their property destroyed or replaced in ownership (looted); commissions of inquiries were promptly formed and as usual, it took them decades to hand over their final and conclusive reports to make the culprits face the law.

That is just about India. There have been many incidences world over where the perceived minority groups socially (cultural/tribal, political, religious) or economically have had their rights and freedoms violated with incomprehensible amount of violence or atrocities. Rwanda, for Africans, should be more fresh if not familiar to our minds and the post-election violence in Kenya that threatened or almost did dump the once perceived island of peace (hakuna matata) in Africa into turmoil, the path trailed by almost all of the 52 African States. Rwanda took the rare way out, taking a leaf from South Africa's Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) in a successful attempt to heal the almost incurable of wounds and trauma, harmonize and dilute the unending tension and divide between the country's two great tribes of Hutus and Tutsis. The result is obvious: Rwanda is currently not only exhibiting the unexpected economic prosperity but also the most essential social fabric stitch and blend of an oil-water two tribe relationship to something more of milk and honey!

Kenya did not face or near the amount of violence and animosity between tribes, political parties, religions and individuals as India has experienced before in Gujarrat and Punjab or even to the lifelong emotional trauma and physical atrocities experienced by South Africans under the Apartheidic regime of De Clarke and Company and more less still in comparison unless I wish to insult the Rwandans in the categorical worst ever degree of genocide that our generation dictionary uses to explain or define genocide. The trouble faced by Kenyans is even far less if we compare to what the neighbours, the Ugandans have been facing or faced for a period spanning over 30 years! But what is so special about them and what is it about Kenya that makes all the difference?

South Africans and Rwandans are healed or healing thanks to a committed drive and motive to punish and reconcile the nations. We won't have the same happening in Kenya for sure as I predict just by looking at the historical global trends. The Nazi perpetrators were not entirely punished but just a pocket of scapegoats were used and majority of the instrumental scientist and psychologists were simply reallocated to new areas of life. India's political structure allows delaying tactics well known now as a culture of "tomorrow-you-come-and-we-see-about-it" (kal-yarr!) If Kenya and the political machinery will not be applying the Indian form of delaying tactics, then they will surely employ the scapegoat technique instrumented not by Moses in the desert but the 20th Century post-Nazi Germans and now most of the world's governments.

We are seeing indeed how the Kenyan politicians if not the government has been toying around with the issue of punishing the post-election violence mongers with the culture of impunity, immunity, and delay tactics of bean-bag games. Kenya is on records to be one of the countries with the highest number of ever formed commissions of inquiries some of which were even formed to investigate other commissions of inquiries and on record, one out of ten delivered their report findings if at all on time! It is such a delay tactic and tossing around of blames that breeds impunity and delayed justice. After all, delayed justice is denied justice!

If you think that Kenya's post-election violence suspects will ever be tried, then you are in for a rude shock if not being in a reality hidden submarine and you don’t know what you are talking about or where the world is at the moment. Just barely weeks after the Commission, TJRC-Kenya, was formed, the politicians have launched the first delay tactic: Filing of a legal suit against the Commission's Chairperson Mr. Kiplagat. By the time he will be through with the legal clearance or issues, time, governments and lives will have passed and hence long overdue to run and prosecute the suspects.

The second tactic: The Kenyan government deliberately decided to add on the portfolio of responsibilities for the commission issues dating from the first day of independence in 1963! That the commission will be in charge of looking into issues of human rights violations and socioeconomic atrocities among Kenyans since 1963 is an absurd mandate and that should be addressed by the courts, not the Commission so established to look into an issue of the new century! Such a mandate or responsibility is a deliberate attempt to dilute the real magnitude of the case of 2007/08 election violence and it openly underrates it. Legally, first things first and that means, the commission will have to start from 1963 where most of the victims of 2007/08 Post-Election Violence, dead or alive, were not yet even born then gradually after 20 more years when Vision 2030 will be expected to be achieved, that is when most likely the commission will have reached to address the 2007/08 Post-Election Violence!

The third delaying tactic: Haven't you seen or heard the JTRC team or commissioners going to press stating that 2 years wont be enough to accomplish their mission? Now, two years! It took two years for the government of Kenya to agree to form the Commission to look into the 2007/08 Post-Election Violence and now they only give them two years to accomplish this with another mandate added to it about the post-independence crimes by the government machineries. Couldn’t the Narc Govt. form a commission for that last era after ousting off the government KANU, a time when most of the NARC M.P.s and functionaries comprised active victims of post-independent regimes' atrocities? Where was Raila and Kibaki the big profile victims of Nyati House to sue or punish KANU regime when the opposition made of them came to power in 2002? Why wait until now?

The best tool to punish the suspects of the 2007/08 Post-Election Violence and even of post-independent Kenya lies within Kenyans. Kenyans might not have been well educated and in fact deprived in the academic system with the rational knowledge and ability training to discern what is good and bad, but time and experience has done a good part as expected with costly fee: deaths and trauma. It is high time that Kenyans do away with some politicians. The tool to punish them lies among Kenyans. Ignore them and not to vote for them back to power is enough to punish them. The media houses, are all biased but at least if one media hippocratic oath is taken where they don’t get biased or pro-parties or individuals, they can give a blackout of coverage to destructive 19th Century-minded politicians.

Kenya needs to grow before small countries like Rwanda come from behind and steal from Kenya of her already tattered economic sheen and battered social fabric and grim international image, just as Malaysia did or Singapore, thanks to focused and visionary leadership that works! Unfortunately, it is evident that Kenya is lagging behind along other African nations with the lack of political will to establish real and functional change politically and administratively due to unknown leaders' or politicians phobia and greed with desire to protect their selfish interests!