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Kenya: Justice Commission is the Way to Peace
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The Nation (Nairobi)
EDITORIAL
21 January 2008
Posted to the web 21 January 2008
Nairobi
Not too long after the Kibaki government came to power, we spurned the opportunity to establish a kind of truth, justice and reconciliation commission.
It is probable that at the time, there were fears that such an exercise would open up old wounds and turn out to be a witchhunt that would divide rather than unite.
Perhaps, we are paying the price for that missed opportunity. The terrible toll we are paying right now may be directly linked to the disputed outcome of the presidential election, but it reveals the deep schisms in society we have preferred to gloss over but which have now exploded to the surface.
The violence and bloodletting we are witnessing has served to convince many different groups that we can no longer continue to bury our collective heads in the sand.
The latest call for a truth and reconciliation mechanism came over the weekend from a group of officials from President Kibaki's PNU. Although their approach was rather self-serving, that the truth is President Kibaki won the elections so Mr Raila Odinga should accept defeat, the very fact that the idea has been broached might be a step forward.
So the next thing might be to discuss the shape and form such an exercise could take. As former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan comes to Nairobi this week to mediate between the warring sides in the political arena, one of the ideas that must be put on the table should indeed be the search for reconciliation.
Even as we discuss the urgent political settlement required to end the violence and bloodshed, that will only be short-term solution.
To establish a lasting peace and deal with the demons that confront us calls for a comprehensive solution that must include a truth, justice and reconciliation process in addition to a new constitutional order.
We have witnessed, particularly, the depth of ethnic rivalry, mistrust and suspicion which has been so efficiently capitalised on by politicians to serve their own selfish ends.
It is easy to say that leaders have exploited the base sentiments of the poor and downtrodden, but we must recognise that young men would not rise up in their thousands on the command to kill, rape, loot and burn unless they had some pent up up fury that was just waiting for release.
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Even as we seek to make political leaders accountable, we must deal with the deep-seated social and economic divides that makes this country such a powder-keg. A truth, justice and reconciliation commission is thus long overdue.
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