Top officials blocking publication of TJRC report, say activists
The Executive Director of Mazingira Institute Davinder Lamba (left), Njonjo Mue of the International Centre for Transitional Justice (centre) and Davis Malombe of the Kenya Human Rights Commission (right) during a news conference at Intercontinental Hotel, Nairobi June 21, 2013. They accused top government officials of blocking the publication of the TJRC report. JEFF ANGOTE
What you need to know:
- Activists say they have written to Prof Muigai to ensure the report is tabled in the House.
Key officials in the Office of the President are frustrating the publication of the truth commission report and its tabling in the National Assembly, human rights activists said Friday.
Addressing a news conference at the Intercontinental Hotel, Nairobi, the activists said Attorney General Githu Muigai, as the driver of the implementation of report, should weigh in to ensure it is published and tabled in the National Assembly “forthwith”.
Davinder Lamba of Mazingira Institute, Davis Malombe of the Kenya Human Rights Commission and Njonjo Mue of the International Centre for Transitional Justice called for high-level investigations of all those involved in blocking the publication.
They said the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission had submitted the report to the Government Printer for publication in the Kenya Gazette, but, more than a month after it was published, it had not been published.
They said the delay in the publication, tabling and circulation of the report in public was a clear breach of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Act. The law requires that the minister in charge of the process should table the report in Parliament within 21 days after it is presented to the President.
“The commissioners have tried to meet that obligation (to publish the report in the Kenya Gazette) but they have been met with interference from people in the Office of the President, who have asked the Government Printer not to publish the report,” said Mr Malombe.
He said the international commissioners of the TJRC had said that officials from State House had pushed for the alteration of the TJRC report, and “it appears the same people do not want it published in the Kenya Gazette”.
Mr Mue said: “The TJR Act is a law. You have to comply with it, because, it is not merely offering suggestions. The Government Printer has failed to comply with the law."
The activists said the Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations should investigate the delay and all those found culpable should be taken to court.
“We do know that there are people interfering with the publication of the report, we are asking the relevant investigative arm of the Government to investigate the purported interferences and the culpable parties brought to book,” said Mr Malombe.
The activists have written to the Attorney General to ensure the report is tabled in the House, and for Parliament to support the process to ensure the victims of the historical injustices, including illegal detention and land grabbing, have recourse.
The group threatened to go to court if the report is not tabled in Parliament within the next fortnight.
"The longer we delay the process, the more we extend the suffering of the victims and deepen the perpetuation of impunity in the country,” said Mr Lamba.
The worry is that the government is not supporting the implementation of the report which was meant to address some of the core reasons as to why Kenyans fought during the post-election violence in 2007/2008.
“We cannot say as a country that we are uncomfortable with the history as has been uncovered by the TJRC report. This report should be implemented to the letter because it is one of the building blocks of a new Kenya,” said Mr Mue.
