TRUTH JUSTICE AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION HEAR OF TERROR ON THE MOUNTAIN.
By Agwanda Jowi
The Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission continued its hearings in western Kenya today.
At Kibuk Catholic Church in Kapsokwony, Mt. Elgon, the Commission heard from divergent witnesses who narrated their perspectives and experiences of the cyclical violence on the mountain.
began to hear from witnesses in Mt Elgon a district that has experienced some of the worst episodes of violence in the country.
Mr. George Walukhu spoke of persistent harassment he attributed to joining an opposition party during former President Moi’s regime.
Ms Gladys Nanjala Obabi broke down and wept throughout her testimony. She recounted how her husband was pulled out of their home late at night by Sabaot Land Defence Force militia.
“ Young men came to our home late at night and knocked on the door. My husband declined saying it was late. The men grew in number and continued banging on the door saying they would break it down, which they did and pulled my husband out. We screamed for help but none came. I could hear him crying out for mercy and in pain. They told him to say his final prayers and killed him right there at the front of the home,” Mrs Obabi said weeping.
One of the young men then shone a torch into my face and hit her with a metal rod, knocking out four of her teeth and leaving her traumatised and in shock. She went on to tell how Police from Kopsiro came to her house took her husband’s body to Bungoma and advised her to seek medical attention.
Mrs. Obabi said she survived but was told never to return again to their farm. She said they lost, their home, cattle, and she left with the clothes on her back.
“ I am now an internally displaced person living at the Kimabole market place with my children. We have nothing. My children are not going to school and yet my father gave me an education. If I could be given just a small piece of land we could work and fend for ourselves,’ she pleaded with TJRC.
Messers George Walukhu and Jocktan Wepukhulu recounted harassment , arrest and torture during former President Moi’s regime accused of being members of the February 28th Movement which allegedly sought to destabilise the Moi regime.
“ I was extensively tortured by security officials trying to get me to admit to being a member of FERA. When we were arrested I was blindfolded with my shirt and my hands tied with my belt and thrown onto a lorry like a sack of potatoes,’ Mr. Walukhu said. He attributed his troubles to belonging to the opposition party FORD at the dawn of multiparty democracy when it was considered bordering on treason.
Mr. Mayu who also suffered unlawful detention told the hushed hearings how he had been tortured until he became impotent.
But it was 27 year old Helen Nakam’s testimony that kept the hearing riveted in horror.
A simple trip to fetch firewood in 2002 turned into a rape ordeal that left her HIV positive and led to the loss of her daughter. Ms Nakam said she was abducted by SLDF militia who accused her of disrespect.
“They said they would beat me until I told them why I was calling them janjaweed ( orginal name for SLDF ) and yet they were officers. They blindfolded me with a dripping, bloody cloth and I had to swallow blood not knowing where it came from as they walked me to Kipsis forest. The 5 men raped me and I told them ’you are hurting me and I have not done anything to you’,” Ms Nakam said.
“ They held me captive for days beating me with blows, kicks and clubs and keeping me blindfolded. One of them relieved himself into my mouth telling me to drink the water and I swallowed it. They made me go down on my knees and crawl back and forth on stones. They raped me again, all five men and I pleaded with them not to hurt me as I had done them no wrong,” she lamented in tears pouring down her face. She said she could she could hardly move as every part of her body was in pain
Ms Nakam said they would leave her and return but the last night they asked her to choose between life and death. If she wanted to live they would take her to a church in Kipsis from where she could walk home. If not they would kill her on the spot.
“They took me right to the house and told my husband they had returned his wife to him and infected her with HIV Aids.
“ My husband left me and I returned home. Soon after the baby I had been expecting died and that is my story, Ms Nakam ended her testimony.
The TJRC held a women’s forum concurrently at which those whose testimony could not be heard at the formal hearing could be given a platform to tell their story.
Most women spoke of how their husbands were taken away by SLDF despite their pleas for mercy or offers of cattle in exchange. The militia told them they did not want cattle but their husbands heads.
One woman told the session punctuated by open weeping, “ My 18 year old son was slaughtered and cut into pieces and I was forced to carry his head. The man who slaughtered my son and husband went off to drink chang’aa (illicit brew) with blood stained clothes to show that he had made a kill of her son and husband.”
The mandate of the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission is to inquire into human rights violations including those committed by the state, groups or individuals. It includes but is not limited to politically motivated violence, assassinations, community displacements, settlements and evictions.
It will also inquire into major economic crimes, in particular grand corruption, historical land injustices and the illegal and irregular acquisition of land especially as these relate to conflict or violence, between 12th December 1963 to February 2008.
The Commission will receive statements from victims, witnesses, communities, interest groups, persons directly or indirectly involved in events or any other group or individual; undertake investigations and research; hold hearings and engage in activities as it determines to advance national or community reconciliation.
Parliament enacted the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Act 2008 on 24th October 2008. The Act was assented to on November 28th 2008 and the Act came into force on 9th March 2009.
The Commissioners were appointed by President Mwai Kibaki on 22nd July 2009 and sworn in on 3rd August 2009.
Commissioners are: Tecla Namachanja Wanjala ( Ag.Chair Kenya) , Gertrude Chawatama (Commissioner Zambia), Amb. Berhanu Dinka (Commissioner Ethiopia), Ahmed Sheikh Farah (Commissioner Kenya), Prof. Tom Ojienda (Commissioner Kenya), Margaret Shava (Commissioner Kenya), Prof. Ronald Slye (Commissioner USA). The Commission CEO/ Secretary is Patricia Nyaundi