from wainaina ndungu

Advisory Note

RE: International Center for Policy and Conflict monitoring report on the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission: “A case of Concealing Truth to Reward Impunity”.

With the enactment of the New Constitutional dispensation a genuine process and efforts to deal with Kenya’s past authoritarian history and the social conflicts legacy that has nurtured and entrenched culture of impunity must begin with earnest. Kenyans have been aspiring and pushing for establishment of an effective truth commission which would: uncover the truth about the past atrocities; name perpetrators; provide redress for victims, and promote national healing and reconciliation.

Such a truth Commission should be: founded on the principles of openness and transparency; based on fact of genuine principle of tackling and dismantling impunity and upholding accountability; avoiding “plastering over the cracks” and instead should foster a culture of accountability in government; timing for setting up the documentation process; a clear action plan for what will happen to the records after the commission; and use of the media and civil society as critical vanguard to encourage public support for the process.

Kenyans have overwhelmingly said that the truth about the past must be known, that perpetrators must be identified and punished, that victims must be accorded justice, and that reconciliation is only possible after the truth is known and justice is done. But Kenyans want an effective and credible truth commission, an institution that will not engage in a witch-hunt or a whitewash.

There is no any other better time than now to institute a truly people’s Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission. Establishment of a truly People’s Truth Seeking Initiative is unstoppable.

International Center for Policy and Conflict( ICPC) has been monitoring and evaluating the current Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission and arrived at a conclusion that it suffers from serious conceptual and operational weaknesses that would severely compromise the ability of a truth commission to operate in a credible, independent and effective way.

The ICPC has a longstanding commitment to the development of genuine justice initiatives in Kenya and rest of Africa and maintains solid partnerships with civil society organizations focused on the redress of past abuses, historical clarification, and sustainable reconciliation. The objective of this monitoring and analysis is to contribute to an informed and constructive discussion on the fundamental task of official truth-seeking.

One of the reasons the TJRC project failed to gain traction was that its ownership and form, loosely modeled after South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, raised significant doubts among human rights groups, intellectuals, and victims’ organizations. It is in no doubt that the differences between the nature of the transitions in Kenya and South Africa was not taken into account.

Herein attached find our detailed Monitoring report of the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission Titled “A case of Concealing Truth to Reward Impunity”

Signed by

I hope you will make use it. It give details on

—
Ndung’u Wainaina
Executive Director
International Center for Policy and Conflict
P.O.Box 44564 -00100 Nairobi, KENYA
Tel: +254 722 425 167 +254 20 247 3042
E-MAIL: admin@icpcafrica.org
wainaina.n@gmail.com
Website: www.icpcafrica.org

Read or d/l the document;

TJRC MONITORING REPORT A Case of Concealing Truth to Reward Impunity.pdf
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