Address root causes of conflicts, delegates told

By ALEX NDEGWA

Kenyan panellists told the ongoing meeting of Commonwealth MPs that parliamentarians must do more to foster peace by addressing the root causes of conflict and pressing for action against those culpable for violence.

Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference delegates at KICC, Nairobi, on Friday.

Lands Minister James Orengo, Gichugu MP Martha Karua and university lecturers, Prof Githu Muigai and Prof Peter Wanyande, made presentations on the role of Parliament in peace building with a case study of how the country resolved the 2008 post-election violence.

Delegates attending the 56th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference at Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi, heard of the importance of an independent and credible electoral body and the urgency to purge intimidation and violence from the electoral culture.

political interests

Karua said lawmakers need to identify and redress the main causes of instability before they ‘boil down to conflict’ and abandon short-term political interests that breed impunity.

"By not punishing those implicated in violence we risk enhancing the level of impunity. Hopefully, the new Constitution establishes new institutions that alongside the International Criminal Court would help deal with the problem," she said.

Karua recalled as the Justice minister last year, Parliament rejected a Bill she presented seeking to establish a special tribunal to try post-election violence suspects. She added MPs must lead community peace building efforts and address the exclusion from socio-economic activities, which she blamed for the rise in outlawed militia.

Orengo, who also cited the failure to address exclusion for the post-election violence, told participants the first step to addressing a crisis is "accepting there is a problem." President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, he added, had acknowledged the post-poll crisis went beyond an elections dispute. "Unless we are also live by the dictates of the Constitution there would be no success," Orengo said.

Muigai said there’s need for Africa to rethink the traditional role of MPs and Parliament "outside the historical responsibility" to embrace other social duties like peace building.

Wanyande challenged parliaments to strengthen their research capacity to enable MPs come up with viable solutions to fundamental problems.