TJRC cites meddling from Kiplagat

The truth commission wants its embattled chairman Bethuel Kiplagat stopped from interfering with its work.

Members of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) claim they cannot carry on with their mandate because Mr Kiplagat has been interfering.

They accuse him of threatening and intimidating staff, and demanding access to the report they are compiling.

The commissioners want an order restraining Mr Kiplagat from accessing TJRC’s offices, intimidating workers or interfering with the work of the commissioners.

“We have demonstrated that we have a case to warrant being given permission to file a judicial review against the conduct of Mr Kiplagat. There are new facts and circumstances which have emerged from the time he stepped aside as the commission’s chairman,” said Mr Waweru Gatonye, the TJRC lawyer.

The commission wants the court to compel Chief Justice Willy Mutunga to constitute a tribunal to investigate Mr Kiplagat after the tenure of another one set up by former CJ Evan Gicheru expired before it completed its work.

Allegations against Mr Kiplagat’s past led to his stepping aside as TJRC chairman in 2010, with a tribunal being set up to investigate him.

He moved to the High Court and stopped the tribunal’s proceedings, claiming they had no jurisdiction to investigate his conduct.

He was later cleared by the court and given the go- ahead to resume his duties at the commission.

Mr Kiplagat’s return to the commission was, however, not welcomed by the commissioners, who wrote to him asking him to stay away from the office.

The chairman ignored the request, stating that the appointing authority, President Kibaki, had not replaced him.

The commission argues that Mr Kiplagat had appeared before it as a witness when it was conducting public hearings into the 1984 Wagalla Massacre and he could not preside over a report that contains his evidence.

“The commission still intends to call Kiplagat as a witness in its further public hearings concerning illegal land allocations,” the commission submitted.

However, Mr Kiplagat has dismissed the allegations terming them a witch-hunt since the commission failed to bring up the issues during the hearing of a petition he filed against the tribunal formed to investigate him.