Cabinet to discuss report on Thursday

The Waki report on the post-election violence will be tabled before Cabinet next Thursday.

President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga said on Wednesday that this will give the minister’s a chance to offer leadership on implementation of its recommendations.

Speaking at Harambee House on Wednesday afternoon after receiving the report, the two principals said they were committed to ensuring that recommendations in the 500-page report are implemented.

“I believe that this report provides us with an opportunity to learn from the past in order to avoid future pitfalls.

Accordingly, it marks an important step forward in our efforts to resolve the social and political challenges that have faced our country,” said President Kibaki.

The President added that the recommendations will provide the way forward in building a stable, united and prosperous country that Kenyans will be “happy to call our home”.

He made the remarks outside his Harambee House office an hour after meeting the entire Philip Waki-led team.

Others present were police commissioner Hussein Ali, attorney-general Amos Wako and Cabinet ministers George Saitoti, James Orengo and Martha Karua.

President Kibaki and Mr Odinga spent an extra 30 minutes with Mr Justice Waki in the office before emerging to authorise release of the report to the public.

Thanked Kenyans

Mr Odinga noted that just like many other Kenyans, the country’s leadership was eager to read the report, arguing that Kenya cannot fully recover unless it understands the cause of the chaos.

“We have and are still seeking reconciliation in this country, but this will not be possible until we know the truth. We hope we are going to find the truth in this report, which is going to set us free,” he said.

He reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to fully implement the report. Both leaders praised Mr Justice Waki and the other commissioners for their hard work.

They also thanked Kenyans for their patience in waiting for the report. The Waki report blames the January violence on tribalism, a culture of impunity and poor police conduct.

According to the Waki team, the violence following the disputed General Election was “unprecedented, the most deadly and destructive violence ever experienced in Kenya.”

The report is highly critical of State and security agencies, which, it claims, were unprepared, uncoordinated and in a number of cases, directly behind the violence.