No to a tribunal in Kenya: Letter to Ban Ki-moon

In the year 1991, over 800 Kenyans were killed in similar circumstances as in 2008, and no action was taken by the Kenyan government to apprehend the killers. What convinces Mr Annan that the Kenyan government can this time be trusted at all in the prosecution of the perpetrators of the violence? In very simple language, Kenyans, through their members of parliament, are telling the world that setting a tribunal in Kenya to try the perpetrators of the post-election violence is a waste of valuable time and money. Furthermore, failure to hasten the prosecution of these killers at the Hague will give the Kenyan government enough time to organise internally state-sanctioned terrorism, allowing Kenyan politicians in authority use the police to kill Kenyans and foreigners in the guise of thugs.

The Kenya Government has failed to resolve many political murders and crimes. The political murders of the former assistant minister for tourism and wildlife, Mr J.M. Kariuki, the former minister for economic planning, Mr Tom Mboya, the former minister for foreign affairs, Dr Robert John Ouko, the former superintendent of police, Mr Patrick Shaw, Father John Kaiser of Minnesota, USA, Former Superintendent of Police Mr Ngangira, Former Superintendent of Police Mr Kahumbi, the former minister for lands and settlement, Mr Ronald Ngara, Mr Masinde Muriro, former university student, Mr Mururi, British tourist Ms Julie Ward, former secretary of the Release Political Prisoners (RPP) organisation, Mr Karimi Nduthu, Mr Pio Gamma Pinto, Bishop Alexander Kipsang arap Muge and many others remain unresolved up to this day.

Thousands of junior police officers have been killed for disobeying orders to kill the challengers of atrocities and the many crimes committed by those in authority. On the night of 25 December 1998, men driving cars bearing foreign registration number plates went to my house and demanded for the opening of the door. When the door was opened, they rushed in brandishing guns in one hand and walky-talkies on the other hand. Luckily I was away from my house that night.

When the newsmen asked Mr Andrew Kimeto, who was the assistant commissioner of police responsible for the town, whether he had sent anyone to enter my house, he said none of his staff had gone to my house on the night in question. When I read the news in the newspaper, I knew my death was eminent and that I was surely going to die because of challenging corruption [read the Kenyan Daily Nation newspaper of the 27 December 1998 under the title ‘Buglers attack priest while asleep’]. I fled Kenya that same day I read the newspaper. Not withstanding that on 7 of January 1998 I was pierced with an object which nearly killed me.

At the peak of the pressures for the introduction of the multiparty system of governance in Kenya, the wife of the former US ambassador to Kenya, Mr Smith Hempstone, was attacked at a highway in Kenya. Another US ambassador to Kenya, Ms Aurelia Brazil was harassed at Mai Mahiu in Naivasha. The last time Mr Tony Worthington of the Labour Party of London visited Kenya, he was insulted and called ugly names for denouncing poverty and the rampant corruption in Kenya.

Numerous commissions of inquiry established in Kenya over the last three decades remain unresolved. The Kenyan government has been unable to resolve so many corruption scandals. What is it that convinces Mr Kofi Annan and others who support the formation of a tribunal in Kenya that there would be judicial transparency in a Kenya tribunal? Who knows the Kenyan system better than the Kenyan members of parliament and ordinary Kenyans? The voice of the Kenyan members of parliament is the voice of the Kenyan people and the world should listen to it.

The perpetrators of the post-election violence should be taken to the Hague with immediate effect. Delay in the prosecution of the perpetrators of the post-election violence will sustain the government’s state-managed insecurity, an insecurity which has been common in Kenya whenever those in authority are identified and challenged over the atrocities and crimes they commit against ordinary Kenyans. This happened in the 1980s, when those in authority were identified with corruption and political murders. It also happened during the struggle for the multiparty system of governance.

Insecurity of the highest order is likely to be experienced in Kenya this time round. Many people are likely to be killed and many other frightening happenings such as car-jackings, attacks on highways and attacks in homes will occur. This will all be in a bid to divert the attention of Kenyans and the international community from the recommendations of the Waki Report in regard to the prosecution of those responsible for the post-election violence, some of whom may be high-ranking individuals in authority. Twice the Kenyan parliament has recommended the prosecution of the perpetrators of the post-election violence at the ICC at the Hague, the Netherlands. The Kenyan parliament has twice objected to the formation of a tribunal to try the perpetrators of the violence in Kenya.

A few months ago, Prime Minister Hon. Mr Raila Odinga and the Minister for Agriculture Hon. Mr Ruto aggressively demanded for a blanket amnesty for the perpetrators of the violence. The Waki Report recommended the prosecution of the perpetrators of the violence at the ICC or by tribunal in Kenya. The Waki Commission gave a deadline for the formation of the tribunal in Kenya. The Kenyan parliament objected to the formation of the tribunal when the matter was taken to the Kenyan parliament for the first time. Later, after the defeat of the bill in the Kenyan parliament, Hon. Raila Odinga incidentally met Mr Kofi Annan at the World Economic Forum meeting and discussed an extension of the deadline, in direct violation of the Waki recommendations. Kenyans living abroad and those at home have expressed their wish to have the perpetrators prosecuted at the Hague. Haste is necessary in the prosecution of those perpetrators.

Failure to prosecute the perpetrators of the post-election violence quickly and at the right place will cost Kenyans in the shape of the freedom of those perpetrators. The freedom of those perpetrators will mean a recurrence of similar killings in 2012, during the next Kenya general election. 2012 may be an extremely dangerous moment in Kenyan history, especially now that all power-hungry Kenyans know that the ticket and qualification for power sharing is to own a powerful secret militia that can cause enough havoc. Havoc that can command recognition and acceptance for governance and hence power sharing.

Stop diluting the Waki recommendations by providing new alternatives. Stop violating the Waki recommendations. The Waki recommendations are likely to be completely distorted and rendered useless if the ongoing trend of introducing new issues and making changes to them is entertained.

If Mr Kofi Annan continues to make changes which undermine the Waki recommendations, what will stop Kenya’s powerful corrupt politicians from making similar changes and corrections of the Waki recommendations in their favour? Wouldn't the Waki recommendations become a toothless bulldog in the end? Please go by the Waki recommendations. The Waki Commission was right in every aspect of the recommendations. Kenya was unable to prosecute anyone in 13 years of senseless killings. It failed to prosecute anyone for the 1991 killing of over 800 innocent and defenceless children and women lost their lives. It failed to prevent the killing of over 1,200 innocent mothers and their children in January 2008. Even now, nothing tangible should be expected from a Kenyan tribunal. The ICC in the Hague is the answer.

Sincerely,

Isaac Newton Kinity

Former Secretary General
Kenya Civil Servants Union

cc.
World leaders
UNO
UNHR
President Mwai Kibaki
Prime Minister Raila Odinga
Kenya Media
Kenya Standard
The Daily Nation [Kenya]
Kenya Human Rights Commission
Kenya National Commission of Human Rights
The Law Society Of Kenya
International media
Transparency
International human rights organisations

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