Eric Shimoli
30 June 2008
Sharm El-Sheikh — Kenya Sunday pledged to deal with ethnic and other problems which contributed to post-election violence.
Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang'ula said the country had committed itself to following up on recommendations of the proposed Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission and the Ethnic Relations and National Cohesion Commission.
"These will give us a mechanism for dealing with ethnic diversity and ensuring equitable distribution of resources to avoid conflicts," Mr Wetang'ula said.
The Government's performance on issues of ethnic relations will be audited and a report made at the next African Peer Review meeting in January next year, he said.
Tabled report
President Kibaki, who had been expected to make Kenya's presentation to the Nepad group was not present and Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 minister Wyclife Oparanya tabled the country's report.
Although President Kibaki was to make a presentation of the first annual report on the implementation of the programme of action for Kenya, the next agenda of discussions and recommendations was skipped. The President arrived later in the evening.
Mr Wetang'ula told the Nation that this was in order as Mr Oparanya was the minister responsible for implementation of the programme and he had tabled Kenya's report. It transpired from Kenya's submissions that a previous audit of the African Peer Review Mechanism had warned Kenya about the possibility of inter-ethnic clashes ahead of the post-election violence.
More than a year before the disputed General Election, the Government had been warned to put in place measures to deal with ethnic tensions.
Mr Wetang'ula said: "We scored highly in the areas of economic governance and management, corporate governance, democracy and political governance but did not fare well in the agenda of ethnic relations."
The review for Kenya was conducted by a team including former South African First Lady Graça Machel.
Meanwhile, a Kenyan law expert, Professor Githu Muigai and a Ugandan judge were Sunday elected to a commission which will pioneer the establishment of an arbitration court.
They will serve a six-year term as members of the African Commission for Human and People Rights to be based in Arusha, Tanzania.
Mr Wetang'ula said the court will deal with conflicts between states and individuals with complaints against certain states and also inter and intra community disputes.
"It is envisaged that creation of this commission will reduce conflicts such as those being witnessed in Darfur and other African trouble spots as we will have created a resolution mechanism that does not require armed struggle," said Mr Wetang'ula.
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