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Kenya: 'Secret' Report Reveals Sponsors of Poll Violence

Stephen Mburu

16 August 2008

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Nairobi — The state-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights had two disparate reports on perpetrators of post-election violence - one that listed politicians and business people linked to both PNU and ODM, and another that appeared to leave out most suspects linked to ODM, the Sunday Nation has learnt.

A source at the human rights watchdog confirmed the 159-page preliminary report, titled On the Brink of the Precipice: A Human Rights Account of Kenya's Post-2007 Election Violence, that Commission Chairperson Florence Simbiri-Jaoko released a week ago was an edited version of another document that had the full list of alleged perpetrators of violence.

Unedited version

The preliminary report Mrs Jaoko released on August 8 linked two ministers - one from ODM and another from PNU - to the violence that rocked the country between January and February this year after the disputed presidential election results were announced on December 30 last year.

However, the Commission's unedited version, titled Back From the Precipice: A Human Rights Account of Kenya's Post-2007 Election Violence - Unedited, gives a much longer list of alleged perpetrators, their backgrounds, the Commission's findings and its recommendations.

The list includes six Cabinet ministers - one from PNU and five from ODM - a bishop, and Christian and Muslim preachers.

And unlike the preliminary report published this month, the unedited 300-page document published last month recommends the ministers be "forced to resign" from the Cabinet. It also indicts some leaders - who have since died - but mentions their names "for the record only".

While releasing the preliminary report, Mrs Jaoko declined to give names of the suspects, saying they would be mentioned in the report the Commission is expected to present to the Waki Commission on post-election violence as well as to Attorney-General Amos Wako for action.

The unedited document recommends the Attorney-General institute further investigations of the suspects with a view to prosecuting them.

However, Mrs Jaoko has since claimed the report was not a genuine KNCHR document. By the time of going to press, she had not responded to our request for her comments of the existence of the alleged unedited document.

When asked about the same, the Commission secretary, Mburu Gitu, told the Sunday Nation, "We only have one report."

On asked why the preliminary report claims perpetrators of violence were mainly from one side while the earlier document alleges the suspects were from both sides, Mr Gitu said he was not aware of another version.

Internal affairs

However, a KNCHR source conversant with the internal affairs at the human rights organisation acknowledged the existence of another document, adding that, "Wakora wa Kanu (Kanu thugs) are circulating."

The source was referring to the controversy the document created among top Kanu leaders, who are threatening to sue the Commission over the contents of both the unedited and preliminary reports.

"We are not saying that it is not our document. But it was a draft report...It's a rough draft," the source said. The Commission, the source added, had appointed "a team of national experts" to compile and analyse the data the organisation had collected from the field since January.

However, according to the source, the report the "experts" brought was not credible as the evidence appeared to have been falsified since it did not corroborate with the organisation's data.

Asked why only politicians and business people associated with one side appeared in the preliminary report, the source said, "Their names only appear in the body of the report and not the list. It's a mere mention. We had no time to verify. We will be verifying. Those are some of the things we are going to clean up. Some names will go."

The unedited document claims perpetrators of violence include religious leaders, top politicians including Cabinet ministers in the grand coalition government, sitting and former MPs, former military officers, serving and retired police officers, provincial administrators, and teachers as well as a university lecturer.

The document claims a bishop "was among the attackers" in the province. The witness interviewed by the KNCHR said he was kicked by the bishop and alleged the man led the youth in unleashing violence in the area.

The report says the clergyman "stored looted property in his house" and "used the looted iron sheets to fence his compound".

The report says the bishop worked closely with a pastor who "coordinated" some youth against members of another community. Another preacher, the report says, had started a microfinance company long before the elections, and reportedly funded the violence.

Ferried warriors

The document claims a church elder had been "called upon to pray for and bless the youths before they went off to war". That the elder "offered traditional prayers and read a verse from the Bible to the youth attackers in support of violence".

The report claims a secondary school teacher used his vehicle to ferry petrol, telephone airtime cards, as well as money "to mobilise the youth for the violence", while a university lecturer "ferried warriors" to attack their neighbours.

The lecturer, the report says, was allegedly "the custodian of funds collected to finance violence" in a certain area .

The preliminary report had said the violence was both spontaneous and planned. It says the spontaneous type of violence occurred almost immediately, after the announcement of the disputed presidential election results, while the planned violence was organised with the help of politicians and local leaders.

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