Kiplagat team’s future in doubt

A parliamentary committee holds the key to the future of the Kiplagat commission which is facing a financial and credibility crisis.

That’ appeared to be the verdict as the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee concluded Tuesday’s meeting with members of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission.

Committee chairman Ababu Namwamba led members Mutava Musyimi, Njoroge Baiya, Millie Odhiambo, George Nyamweya, Amina Abdalla, Abdikadir Mohammed and Olago Aluoch, in putting the TJRC on notice about its future.

While the MPs did not say they would disband the commission, they were categorical that the question of the credibility of the chair, Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat, was a key issue that had to be resolved quickly.

Eight months since the last meeting with the commission, the MPs noted that the crisis at the commission had not been resolved and the commissioners were telling the “same old stories”.

The MPs said they expected the commissioners to offer a solution to the problem, yet the commissioners were not keen on doing so.

“We will be cheating ourselves if we say that this commission has achieved what it ought to have achieved.
“We’ll also be cheating ourselves if we say that we can go on for the next one year,” said Mr Abdikadir Mohammed.

“The biggest problem at the commission, in my opinion, is not the money. We all know what it is.”

Mr Nyamweya and Mr Namwamba said there were only two options: To either disband the commission or ask the Treasury for financial support.

The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission had met with the MPs to persuade them to ask the Treasury to release Sh480 million in the next two months.

Without the money, Ms Patricia Nyaundi, the TJRC’s chief executive officer, said it would be impossible for the commission to fulfil its mandate.

The chairman, Mr Kiplagat, whose leadership is being questioned in the light of his past position in government, also said that the commission had a Sh1 billion deficit.