Moi’s rule: Why forgiveness is empty without justice for victims
What you need to know:
In my books, oligarchs and despots must atone for their sins.
They must directly identify and personally apologise to their victims and survivors by name.
They, or their estates, must return stolen loot and compensate victims and survivors.
ODM leader Raila Odinga has loudly protested the political narrative pitting the so-called “dynasties” against “hustlers.”
Unless you live on Mars, you know this insidious narrative has been woven by DP William Ruto and his Tangatanga acolytes to de-legitimise any presidential ambitions Mr Odinga and Senator Gideon Moi may harbour.
Mr Ruto seeks to paint himself as the poor man’s hero and his likely competitors as the scions of Kenya’s evil political hegemony. It’s a clever turn of the phrase, but it’s deeply hypocritical and utterly meritless.
What’s true, however, is the proclivity of Kenya’s ruling elite to canonise and whitewash their own. Unless you are a blind plutocrat, you saw the elite brazenly sanctify Moi.
I listened and watched carefully as Moi was escorted into the afterlife. I was particularly interested in the voices of the hoi polloi and select former Kanu mandarins. It was clear Kenyans under 40 suffer from a poverty of philosophy about Moi and the Kanu regime. Their ignorance was painful.
Not only are they poorly educated, courtesy of Mr Moi’s destruction of Kenya’s educational system, they are shockingly susceptible to head-fakes and naked propaganda. This tells me they neither read nor think critically. They are the lost generation — lost to Mr Moi, Kanu, and ignorance. They only remember maziwa ya nyayo (Moi’s “free” milk). OK, let me forgive those under 40. It’s not their fault. The society lied to them and under-educated them. After all, these are the victims of the benighted 8-4-4 system. It’s their elders — us — that we should blame for their woeful and warped brains. But what excuse do the rest of us have?
Those over 40 are either congenital liars or Kanu’s beneficiaries if they don’t tell the truth. Even worse is Kenya’s print, electronic, and social media.
The media lied to us save for a few sane articles. Reading, watching, and listening to Kenya’s media was akin to leafing through Nineteen Eighty-Four; the dystopian hit by English novelist George Orwell.
I am not Orwellian, and so let me peel your truthful eyes. I lived through Mzee Jomo Kenyatta’s and part of Mr Moi’s reign before he forced me into exile. Therefore, I can speak with moral clarity, intellectual honesty, and political neutrality. Throughout that week, I was harangued by all manner of pedestrians and elites to forgive Mr Moi.
Most were personally offended, hurt, and pained I rebuffed their entreaties to forgive the dictator. I realised the elites who beseeched me to forgive the despot were his direct beneficiaries, and many so recounted publicly.
The dictator illegally gave them public land or used taxpayer money to do them favours, including in one case buying them a cellphone.
I never met Mr Moi personally although I was once in a meeting he addressed at Nairobi’s Intercontinental Hotel. My point is that the only “favour” Mr Moi did was to detain and force me into exile.
Some sarcastically suggested that exile was a real favour because it gave me a chance for a great education. That’s a story for another day. Forgiveness is a deeply personal thing. It’s like faith. Mr Odinga said he’d forgiven Mr Moi. That’s valid for him for his own reasons.
He and his family suffered immensely under the Moi-Kanu regime, and so he’s entitled to make that personal decision. This is also true for others. I don’t begrudge their decisions.
As a general rule, dictators and oligarchs who’ve ruined society and destroyed lives through torture, murder, exploitation, and repression ought not be forgiven carte blanche. They shouldn’t get a free get-out-of-jail card. In my books, oligarchs and despots must atone for their sins. They must directly identify and personally apologise to their victims and survivors by name. They, or their estates, must return stolen loot and compensate victims and survivors.
An equivocal empty statement for forgiveness — the one Mr Moi issued to an amorphous crowd — is a mockery of victims and only perpetuates impunity.
Dictators who don’t really atone must be prosecuted and their ill-gotten wealth repossessed.
That’s what Portugal, at Angola’s urging, is doing to Isabel dos Santos, the billionaire daughter of ex-dictator Eduardo dos Santos.
That’s justice. Forgiveness is empty without justice for the victims. Mr Moi never gave justice for most of his victims.
The Kenyan State failed to exact justice for his victims from him. In 2003, as Chairman of the Task Force on the Establishment of the Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission, I was approached by emissaries of Mr Moi to work out a “deal” in exchange for impunity.
The late Nicholas Biwott also approached me in the presence of former CJ Willy Mutunga with a similar request. I declined both offers. They knew what they did was wrong, and feared public sanction. Both never atoned. That’s why I can’t forgive.
Makau Mutua is SUNY Distinguished Professor at SUNY Buffalo Law School and Chair of KHRC. @makaumutua
