AG set to release Tana Delta report

What you need to know:

  • The AG said the two commissions could not submit the reports to the President within the deadline because Kenya has been in transition.
  • He said the commission that investigated the Tana clashes was public initiatives formed to interrogate crucial issues.
  • He said witnesses who gave statements and evidence to the commissions spoke freely and without coercion or intimidation.

The report on the Tana Delta violence that left close to 200 people dead will be released within two weeks, Attorney General Prof Githu Muigai has said.

He said the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission report will also be released at the same time.

Speaking in in Geneva on Friday during the 50th session of the Committee Against Torture, the AG said both reports are ready and will be handed over to President Uhuru Kenyatta in less than two weeks.

He said the two commissions could not submit the reports to the President within the deadline because Kenya has been in transition.

“The report was prepared and it is ready, we were in a transition and the old President could not receive it because he was leaving office and we had to wait for the new President and we undertake that this will be done,” he said, in reference to the TJRC report.

The AG, who led the government delegation in Geneva, said the commission that investigated the Tana clashes were public initiatives formed to interrogate crucial issues.

He said witnesses who gave statements and evidence to the commissions spoke freely and without coercion or intimidation.

“The reports of these commissions are ready and in less than 14 days they will be able to be received by the new President together with all the recommendations,” he said.

TJRC was expected to submit the report to the President two weeks ago. It failed to meet the constitutional deadline of submitting the report. Parliament had given the team up to May 5 to submit the report.

The AG said the Government took the Tana River clashes seriously and that high level government delegations made personal visits to the region.

“What is happening in Tana River is tragic, we went there and we spent days there with the affected persons talking with the community there,” he said.

He said he advised formation of the judicial commission that investigated the violence for six months before compiling a report.