Kenya’s TJRC Takes Critical Step

Late last week, Kenya’s Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission unveiled its work plan, initiating its work in earnest.  At the forefront, this includes provincial visits to educate residents of all eight provinces of the nature of the TJRC’s work.  The KBC reported that this would involve statement-taking, but the Daily Nation subsequently corrected that, quoting the commission’s chairman, Mr Bethuel Kiplagat, who “said the first phase of their engagement with the public ‘was not to hold hearings or take statements’ but to ensure a clear understanding of the TJRC’s mandate.”  Some were concerned that the TJRC’s actions would be limited by the pending lawsuit from Kenyans Against Impunity, which challenges the selection of commissioners, but those concerns appear to have been unfounded.

Many remain skeptical of the commission’s viability.  In an editorial published in the Daily Nation, Gabriel Dolan expressed serious concerns.  First, he notes that truth commissions typically reflect a later stage of the transitional justice process and that Kenya is still early in its transition – if that transition has even begun at all.  He also bemoans the commission’s decision to restrict its focus to political matters instead of using its broader mandate to explore socio-economic abuses.  As Dolan writes, “In other words, the pain of millions of Kenyans is a result of the gain of a few dozen villains, who looted the country’s coffers and who must now be held accountable.”  However, based on the commission’s early actions, it appears those crimes will go unaddressed.

Dolan is highly critical of South Africa’s TRC’s failure to address the economic impact of apartheid, and it is a fair point.  Of course, efforts in that direction of South Africa may well have torpedoed the commission’s work and the peaceful transition to democracy.  Still, was that short-sighted?  Economic reparations and sanctions seem to be the most difficult part of the transitional justice process.