Threats over Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission’s explosive report on past injustices

By Martin Mutua and Felix Olick

The explosive contents of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission report are causing powerful figures in Government sleepless nights, we can report.

TJRC commissioners are allegedly divided over a section on illegal land acquisitions that is said to name prominent individuals who could face prosecution.

 As they wait to hand the document to President Uhuru Kenyatta days after a deadline to do so, the commissioners are allegedly under pressure over the contents of the report.

Well-placed sources revealed that Vice Chairperson Tecla Namachanja has gone into hiding in fear for her life after receiving unspecified threats from unknown persons.

We could not establish whether she has reported these to the police. Namachanja, who temporarily took over from Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat when his leadership was challenged over alleged conflict of interest, is among the commissioners that want the report handed to the President in its original form.

Sources who have seen the report say the bone of contention is the chapter on land, which has captured historical injustices since Independence. It implicates senior Government officials in the current and former regimes in criminal acts.

TJRC is recommending the prosecution of these officials. This has alarmed some top officials in Government because the process, which was part of the National Accord of 2008, is “self-propelling”.

This means that, like the report of the Commission Investigating Post Election Violence (Waki Commission) also formed under the Accord, its recommendations must be implemented. The self-propelling mechanisms ensure that once the report is handed over to the President, the wheels of justice are set in motion and the culprits must be brought to book.

Highly placed sources say dozens of persons are recommended for possible prosecution in the detailed four-volume report. Apart from the explosive land chapter, others that could end careers include those on political assassinations, massacres and ethnic incitement.

Commission Chairman Bethwel Kiplagat was locked out from writing the sensitive chapters after integrity complaints from a section of the public.

Our investigations reveal that TJRC is under pressure from some Government officials to edit out sections implicating some powerful personalities. The demand has split the commission, with some opposing the move. Sources say a section of the local commissioners are up in arms against their foreign colleagues who insist the report should not be altered.

Reparation

“Some commissioners want the report changed for fear of falling out with the current regime since it implicates some of its leaders,” our sources say.

Attorney-General Githu Muigai and Head of Public Service Francis Kimemia have played down concerns over the delay in handing the report to the Head of State.

The AG, speaking to The Standard On Saturday in Geneva, said it would be handed to the President “within the next two weeks”. Kimemia, on the other hand, put the date as Thursday or Friday next week. Both said transition issues were responsible for the delay, with Kimemia adding that the President’s busy schedule had contributed to the delay. The AG said he expects plans for post-election violence reparations in the report.

“We hope TJRC will set guidelines for the establishment of reparation funds that will have an administrative mechanism,” he said.

TJRC’s mandate ended in the first week of May after a nine-month extension to complete compiling its final report. Initially, the commission was expected to complete its work on August 4, last year.

In a recent paid advertisement, the commission announced that it would submit its report on May 2 and, thereafter, publish an abridged version in three newspapers. But it has since gone silent. Chairman Kiplagat says this is because the President has a crowded diary.

“It is just the second week after the May 3 deadline,” he told the Standard On Saturday. “We are waiting for an appointment. Remember the President had to dispense with the issue of Cabinet Secretaries.”

Kiplagat maintained that the commission is independent and cannot be coerced from any quarter. Our sources, however, say the divisions are real. Commissioner Ronald Slye, who authored the chapter on political assassinations, is also under pressure from some of his colleagues.

“One of the commissioners went to his office and banged his door insisting that he has to co-operate,” our source says. “He was told this is Kenya and things have to be done the Kenyan style.”

The source says some of the tensions within TJRC arise from possible appointments to the implementation committee. According to Article 48 of the TJRC Act, a team shall be formed to spearhead the implementation of the report’s recommendations. Contacted for comment, Prof Slye dismissed the allegations insisting that all is well in the commission. He, however, admitted that they have not been able to secure an appointment with Uhuru since May 2, a fact also confirmed by Commission Chief Executive Officer Tom Aziz.

“I don’t know anything about the split in the commission. All I know is that the commission is waiting for an appointment with the President,” he said by telephone.

Aziz denied that there are any attempts to doctor the report. “This is not the first commission to be faced by such allegations. As far as we are concerned, the report is secure,” he maintained.

Others TJRC commissioners are Ahmed Farah, Gertrude Chawatama, Margaret Shava and Prof Tom Ojienda. Betty Murungi, the ninth commissioner, resigned two years ago.

The mandate of the commission was to lead the inquiry into gross human rights violations and other historical injustices in Kenya between December 12, 1963, and February 28, 2008, when the National Accord was signed.