Kenya accused of waging half-hearted war on graft

The British government has accused Kenyan leaders of doing little to eliminate impunity and fight corruption.

Speaking during debate in the House of Commons, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband also criticised Kenya’s Parliament for failing to push for the formation of a special tribunal to try perpetrators of post-election violence.

Mr Miliband said Parliament had let one of the best chances of securing justice for violence victims go begging.

Some 1,133 people were killed and 600,000 displaced from their homes during the post-poll mayhem.

Mr Miliband said Britain remained concerned about the country’s future and emphasised the need for progress in the National Accord reform agenda to prevent a repeat of the crisis.

“We remain concerned about the country’s future. There are signs that the reform process begun 15 months ago might be losing momentum,” he said.

He accused the Grand Coalition Government of making insufficient efforts to end impunity and address corruption.

“Corruption and mismanagement are still significant problems. Recent allegations underline why Kenyans are calling on their government to show that they are accountable and transparent and to uphold the rule of law,” he added.
Mr Miliband warned that unless the pace of political reform picks up, the country’s outlook was bleak.

“We want progress on the National Accord in order to avoid a repeat of last year’s violence,” the Foreign secretary added.

The British government’s call comes a few days after a Kenyan government delegation returned from Geneva, Switzerland, where they attended a conference dubbed “Kenya National Dialogue: One year Later”.

The conference sought to appraise the government’s progress one year after the formation of the Grand Coalition Government. Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi led the government delegation that comprised Cabinet ministers Martha Karua, James Orengo, Moses Wetang’ula and Sally Kosgei and Attorney-General Amos Wako.

During the conference, the International Criminal Court warned of swift action on the Kenyan case if Parliament fails to establish a local tribunal to try the poll chaos suspects.
ICC’s intervention, a special advisor to the chief prosecutor, Mr Louis Moreno-Ocampo warned, will be relentless, firm and unstoppable.

Ms Beatrice le Fraper Du Hellen said The Hague started collecting information on the crimes against humanity after the 2007 elections in December and will not take long to issue warrants of arrest to suspected architects of the violence once it takes up the case.