Business Daily (Nairobi)
28 March 2008
editorial
The signing of a peace deal by the main political parties and the subsequent enactment of new laws to actualise it has set the stage for the county to have a hard look into the violence that rocked the country in the wake of last year's general election.
Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) is in the process of analysing and documenting the violence that gripped the country following the disputed outcome of the presidential poll.
This is only as it should be. It should however be clear to the KNCHR that it faces the Herculean task of ensuring that perpetrators of the violence, be they security forces or civilians, especially in Nairobi, the North and Central Rift as well as parts of Central province do not go unpunished.
To serve its mandate, the KNCHR must speak for who suffered loss of life, limb or property. Maina Kiai, the head of the rights body had a taste of how a section of the Kenyan public views the institution he heads when he was booed at an internally displaced person's camp.
He can only regain these people's confidence with a bold report that unravels the perpetrators of the violence whatever their political leanings.
That will not be an easy task but it is the reason Kenyans pay a heavy price to have the organisation running through their taxes.
It will indeed be sad if the KNCHR comes up with findings that do not help restore lost livelihoods.
If investigations by the KNCHR implicate senior politicians, let them come out strongly and state it, let them not shy away from naming and shaming such men and women.
Lastly, let the KNCHR not play to the whims of any outside force that financed its investigations into the post poll violence.
It is in the interest of every country to safeguard own economic interests.
In such instances he who pays the piper should not call the tune, Kenyans should call the tune in this instance, even though they might not have financed the investigations as much.
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