Lawyers fault draft law on setting up poll chaos court

A lawyers conference on Wednesday faulted the draft statute on the formation of a special tribunal to try post-election violence suspects.

At the conference, two MPs revealed that there was intense lobbying in Parliament to hurriedly have the tribunal formed.

The lawyers said the draft law lacks capability to shield the tribunal from political manipulation.

It also contradicts sections of the Constitution that allowed the President to pardon convicts and the attorney-general to terminate the proceedings.

Rights abuse

Drawing lessons from similar tribunals elsewhere in the world, two prosecution experts attached to the International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) advised the country to analyse the draft further.

ICTJ is an international organisation that assists countries seeking accountability for past mass atrocities or human rights abuse.

“The draft as published on Wednesday in newspapers seems to be unclear in several aspects. For example, what danger is there in tabling the Bill before a political agreement has been signed?” ICTJ prosecutions director Marieke Wierda noted.

The workshop’s guest speaker Gitobu Imanyara said implementation of the entire Waki report, that is leading to the formation of the tribunal, lacked political will.

The Imenti Central MP noted that the issue should remain an international affair since the formation of the Waki commission was an initiative of the African Union and backed by the United Nations.

He noted that impunity was not likely to be dealt with conclusively, leading to higher human rights violations in the future, if a local tribunal is not properly constituted.

“The statute to be brought before Parliament must address the weaknesses noted by the Waki report such as lack of sufficient evidence to try suspects internationally,” said Mr Imanyara.

He said if the formation of the tribunal was left to politicians the country would fail to deal with impunity.

He therefore felt the involvement of the international community was central in the establishment and running of the tribunal.

Ndaragwa MP Jeremiah Kioni, who said there was intense lobbying in Parliament to hurriedly form the tribunal, also shared Mr Imanyara’s sentiments.