Group wary of next Kenya elections

The Kenyan government has failed to prove its commitment to keeping peace during elections, a human rights report has indicated.

The Amnesty International 2012 report said that though the government on a number of occasions stated it would investigate crimes committed during the 2007/8 post elections violence, it did not take steps to bring perpetrators to justice.

Country Director Justus Nyang’aya on Sunday said this was a bad indicator of what would happen in the next elections.

Gender violence

“The government has not done very much to deal with those who took part in the maiming, raping and looting and these people are walking around as if nothing happened,” he told the Nation on phone. He said this exposes Kenyans to human rights abuses.

The report also cited observations made by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (Cedaw) in April that expressed concern that perpetrators of sexual and gender-based violence, including rape committed during the post-election violence, remained unpunished.

Mr Nyang’aya said the government should have established a local judicial mechanism for those involved in committing such crimes adding that it would bring justice for the victims and perpetrators alike.

However, he commended the efforts made by the International Criminal Courts in charging four Kenyans for Crimes against humanity committed at the same period.

The annual report cited that there was little progress on Kenya’s housing rights, which were being violated through forced evictions.

It also castigated the State for not having an eviction policy. “People are still being kicked out without safeguards which should be derived from such policies,” the country director said.