By JOE KIARIE
Kenya: An international human rights group has warned against failure to bring to account perpetrators of the 2007/08 Post Election Violence (PEV).
The Geneva-based Centre for Civil and Political Rights group notes that the failure would hinder the reconciliation process.
The group’s Director, Patrick Mutzenberg, has said it is difficult to reunite people in the absence of proper investigations and prosecutions of those found guilty of perpetrating the violence.
“This has been proved elsewhere in the world; the truth must first be put on the table,” he told The Standard over the weekend in Nairobi.
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Accompanied by the United Nations Human Rights Committee member Cees Flinterman, Mr Mutzenberg noted that in Kenya, there has been lack of political goodwill to punish the perpetrators. This, he said, might not help the country in future.
Lack of evidence
In February, Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko dropped over 4,000 cases relating to the post-election violence citing lack of evidence.
The two officials were on a three-day visit of the country to review progress made in implementing three key recommendations made on the Kenyan government’s third periodic report submitted to the UN Human Rights Committee in July 2012.
The recommendations included prosecution of PEV suspects and compensation of victims, enactment of the two-thirds gender rule as well as decongesting prisons.
Mr Flinterman expressed concern that Kenya has refused to submit a follow-up report on its implementation of the recommendations as required by the committee’s rules of procedure. The deadline for the submission of the information expired in July 2013.
During the visit, the two held meetings with officials from the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, the Parliamentary Caucus on Human Rights, the National Gender and Equality Commission, the Federation of Women Lawyers and the Independent Medico-Legal Unit among others.
On the implementation of the two-thirds gender rule, Mutzenberg applauded measures taken by the country, including the setting aside of elective political seats for women.
“The introduction of women representatives is a very positive step,” he stated. But Mutzenberg expressed concern that representatives are often seen as second-class legislators.
