What Kenya can learn from CIA torture expose` in the US

The just released report by the US Senate commission of Inquiry into the CIA torture claims in the aftermath of 9/11 terror attack, cast US’s spy agency in darkness in the wake of non-conventional practices it deployed in arresting, interrogating and holding terror suspects.

The report was released amidst opposition from Republicans-under whose watch the now infamous “enhanced interrogation techniques” were implemented by the administration of former president George W. Bush and Vice-president Dick Cheney.

The damning report revealed that CIA agents tortured and wrongly held suspects in contravention of international treaties upheld by human rights bodies which prohibit torture. The senate report asserted that detainees were subjected to “water boarding and sleep deprivation” to an extent that water boarded suspects lost consciousness and became “completely unresponsive.”

The 528 page document exposed that “CIA officials allegedly deceived their superiors at the White House, members of Congress and even sometimes their own peers about how the interrogation program was being run and what it had achieved.”

The report found out that at least 26 suspects were brutalised, wrongly held and detained without trials. Surprisingly, the senate report concluded that “enhanced interrogations were ineffective” to achieve desired results.

Yet, it is inexplicable why the USA put this report in public to be scrutinised by the whole world considering that it could subject US government and its officials to prosecution and a gazillion of civil suits. The report could as well put at risk American global interests and jeopardise American security at home and abroad.

It seems to me, however; United States counted the cost before releasing the report. The positives outnumbered the negatives. Even though the report may subject some US official to prosecution and potentially open floodgates of civil suits, it presents a teachable moment from which the US and the world can learn, improve justice systems and uphold human rights even when such positive changes makes us uncomfortable.

Moreover, coming in the wake of civil unrest among African Americans in the US who are demonstrating against police brutality and racial profiling, US seems to have wanted to reclaim and reassert her buttered image as a global moral leader who upholds human rights, protects freedoms and promotes principles of democracy.

So what can Kenya learn from expose’ on CIA torture? Coming hot on the heels of allegations of human rights abuses, extrajudicial killings, police brutality, corruption, government dishonesty and denial of truths in most cases in Kenyan government, this report presents us with moral lessons that are critical to propagating an open society that abides by the rule of law, punishes lawlessness, protects freedoms and promotes principles of democracy.

Although United States of America is the super power and the biggest economy on the face of the earth, releasing this report revealed that it is humble. Without a doubt, US has its fallibilities against the backdrop of slavery and racial discrimination; but its desire is to learn from her past mistakes and remake her union into a more perfect union. The report shows that US has the audacity to admit and learn from her wrongs.

That is the moral lesson we, the Kenyan people and the Kenyan government ought to embrace and internalise. Our history is dark. It is marked by police brutality, corruption, negative ethnicity,  and  intimidations against press.

We even formed government-led commissions of inquiries which included Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) that inquired into our darkest past. We anticipated reports from these commissions of inquiries will become a mirror in which we can see our weak image and repair it so as we could look beautiful in the future and put our nation on a firmer footing.

To date, the government has refused to release the findings from these reports. The findings also cost tax payers billions of shillings. What is even saddening is that we are yet to learn from them and we are predisposed to repeat our historical mistakes.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and Jubilee administration should borrow a leaf from the US. Yes, we are fallible. Yes, we have a dark past. But our past mistakes should not dictate our future. Our future should be dictated by our ability to learn from history. By admitting our mistakes and learning from it, we will be rebuilding our society into a lighthouse of hope. Denial of truth leads to destruction.

The writer is a Kenyan Working and Residing In Philadelphia, USA. Email: jsambuka@yahoo.com.