Kiplagat’s time at commission is up, says LSK

The Law Society of Kenya has asked Mr Bethuel Kiplagat to resign as head of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission for it to run smoothly.

Mr Akide told the Press that the issue of Mr Kiplagat’s resignation was not about the legal aspects, but about his moral integrity and dignity.

“It would be regrettable if Mr Kiplagat was to make Kenyans go through a tribunal, yet we know how long it would take and yet the results of the work of some tribunals are yet to be concluded years after they were set up,” he said.

Mr Akide added that it would not be prudent for a tribunal to sit for a year to investigate a man who heads a commission that should be investigating other people.

LSK asked the President and the Prime Minister to act and enable the commission to go on with its work. Mr Akide said, although “the ingredients needed for the TJRC team to work effectively do not exist,” the it should not be disbanded but should continue with its work without its embattled chair.

At the commission’s Delta House headquarters, in Nairobi, all appeared normal, with the secretariat at work and the commissioners said to be at a meeting when the Nation team arrived. Work continued normally despite the Tuesday fallout between the commissioners and the chairman.

Lobby groups oppose Mr Kiplagat’s leadership on grounds that he would have to appear before the commission for ills he is alleged to have committed during his tenure as a civil servant in the Moi regime.

Procedure

Specifically, he would be expected to answer queries on the murder of Foreign Affairs minister Robert Ouko and the Wagalla Massacre.

Meanwhile, Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Mutula Kilonzo on Wednesday asked members of the TJRC to follow the correct procedure if they want their chairman investigated. He warned that the TJRC’s outcome could be undermined by bickering among the commissioners.