Commissioners ask Kiplagat to resign

The controversy over the leadership of the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) has taken a fresh twist with two commissioners openly demanding the resignation of its chairman, Mr Bethuel Kiplagat.

Vice-chair Betty Kaari Murungi and one of the foreign commissioners, Mr Ronald Slye, want Mr Kiplagat to quit on the strength of three allegations facing him.

In an opinion article published elsewhere in this paper, the commissioners argue that the chairman’s decision to go to court to clear his name should not hold the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission hostage.

The two say they were chosen to perform a specific task at the TJRC and not “to serve as a court of law to determine the guilt or innocence of an individual”.

While they say they support Mr Kiplagat’s right to pursue his innocence or guilt in court, the two note that this issue should not be a fight for the commission.

The demand by the two commissioners comes two weeks after the three foreign commissioners in TJRC cautioned that their silence on the controversy surrounding Mr Kiplagat’s position should not be construed to mean they were indifferent to problems facing the commission.

It also follows a one-day retreat that one of the commissioners described as enabling the TJRC “to get its act together”.

Mr Tom Ojienda told the Sunday Nation that the retreat was aimed at resolving issues quietly and ensuring there was truth and justice to both the accuser and the accused.

One of the three foreign commissioners said during a forum for civil societies and government institutions convened in a Nairobi hotel two weeks ago that their voices would soon be heard.

While the participants at the forum talked of the inconvenience placed on the foreign commissioners at TJRC, the three said it was Kenyans who were more inconvenienced by the ongoing events at the commission.

Mr Kiplagat is faced with criticism from the civil society for having accepted two pieces of land in Nairobi’s Kileleshwa and Lavington estates and another parcel of land in Uasin Gishu district.

He is further named in the Parliamentary report on the inquiry into the murder of former Foreign Affairs minister, Dr Robert Ouko.

Other Kenyans have questioned Mr Kiplagat’s role in the Wagalla massacre.