Talks on in new push for tribunal

The Kenya Government has began new talks on the formation of a local tribunal to try post-election violence suspects.

Unlike the first attempt which was rejected by Parliament last month, this time the government is determined to build consensus over the Bills - the first to entrench the special tribunal in the Constitution and the second one to pass the statute establishing it.

Final drafts

On Tuesday, Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Martha Karua said political parties and MPs would be engaged in the talks before the final drafts of the Bills were taken to the government printer for publishing.

“We intend to carry out extensive consultations with political parties and members of Parliament on the Bills before we table them for debate. Discussions on the next step regarding the local tribunal are on,” she said.

Ms Karua underlined the seriousness with which the government was taking the establishment of the local tribunal as proposed in the Waki report to bring justice to Kenyans who suffered during the poll chaos. “We have serious intentions of resolving this issue so that we can move forward as a nation,” she said.

The government will take to the House the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill and the Special Tribunal for Kenya Bill when the third session of the 10th Parliament begins next month.

The two Bills were supposed to have been passed by Parliament by March 31 in line with the timelines set by the Waki Commission, which identified six ministers and five MPs among other prominent people as architects of the post- election chaos.

A total of 1,333 people were killed and another 600,000 displaced during the violence.