Judge rejects bid to block TJRC report
President Uhuru Kenyatta receives the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission report from commissioners at State House in Nairobi, Tuesday May 21, 2013. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- Among the recommendations the petitioners want the court to quash is the requirement that the President, police, military and chief justice offer a public and unconditional apology to the people of Kenya for all injustices and gross violations of human rights between 1963 and 2008.
The High Court has, for the second time, declined to stop Parliament from receiving the Truth team’s report on past human rights violations.
Mr Justice Isaac Lenaola ruled that although the petition by novelist Kiriro wa Ngugi and others raised serious questions about the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation
Commission’s report, there is clear separation of powers between the three arms of government and it is not the court’s duty to interfere with their constitutional mandate.
“I am not satisfied with the prayer to stop Parliament from receiving the report or stop its implementation. In any event, Parliament is only performing messenger duties since it has no role in debating or implementing recommendations in the report,” the judge said.
Judicial review
He, however, allowed the petitioners to apply for a judicial review of some sections of the report they claimed were unconstitutional, inaccurate and incomplete.
Among the recommendations the petitioners want the court to quash is the requirement that the President, police, military and chief justice offer a public and unconditional apology to the people of Kenya for all injustices and gross violations of human rights between 1963 and 2008.
The proposal that the Lands ministry design and implement measures to revoke illegally obtained titles and begin surveying, demarcating and registering all remaining government land should also be reviewed, they demand.
