By Raila Amolo Odinga

"Ocampo Detectives in Rift Valley." That was how one newspaper headline read just before ICC Prosecutor Luis-Moreno Ocampo arrived in Nairobi last month. The implication was that the Rift Valley is where most of the violent crimes were committed in that terrible period of our history, which is of course completely false. Acts of great depravity took place in every part of the country.

It is not an accident that many Kenyans have come to identify the horrific post-election violence primarily with the people of the Rift Valley. From the very beginning of the crisis, that kind of cruel stigmatisation was the goal of powerful forces seeking to deflect attention from their own crimes.

To a considerable extent, these forces succeeded. To this day, many of those studying post-election violence, including international media, first head to the province. A columnist wrote that the Rift Valley was the only place in our country where you could be killed for expressing your democratic right.

This kind of focus and demonisation of one people ensured that only intermittent attention has been paid to the other crimes committed in the period. Foremost among these were the deeply flawed presidential election that triggered the violence, and the killings by the security forces, which far exceeded those by civilians in Eldoret, Naivasha, Kisumu, Kakamega, Nairobi and Mombasa.

Any prosecution of those who planned and committed violence must take serious account of the large number of police killings. Failure to do that will weaken support for the prosecution of other indicted suspects. On the issue of police killings, the language in the ICC prosecutor’s investigation request to the trial chamber needs to be more clearly articulated.

At the same time, we must not assume that the post-election violence we want to prosecute is restricted to December 2007 to February last year. Post-election violence has not ended.

Prof Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extra Judicial Killings, has highlighted in the last two years death squads have killed hundreds of young people, including human rights defenders and key witnesses to the planning and implementation of this violence

Impunity

In the absence of serious debate on the multiplicity of such crimes, there has been a dearth of discussion on the causes that led to the eruption of such intense violence, such as the bitter grievances that have built up for 40 years by policies of ethnic marginalisation, especially in land.

The Government and Parliament, to their credit, have tried to address all the crimes of that period. To prevent their recurrence, extensive legislation has been passed, with the help of a roadmap designed by the Eminent African Panel led by Dr Kofi Annan.

In that regard, Parliament’s approval of the new Land Policy produced by Minister James Orengo’s team is a milestone in reconciling Kenyans.

Even more important, the Harmonised Draft Constitution, with appropriate changes, will be a powerful force in promoting nationhood and ending of 45 years of impunity and lack of accountability, symbolised by the imperial presidency.

For true national healing to take place, it is vital that Kenyans do not think that post-election violence is the only crimes we are interested in. That would be wrong in principle, but no less important, it would also weaken the strong national support we enjoy for prosecuting those who planned and incited the violence.

None of this is to downplay the terrible post-election violence that befell our nation and constituted the greatest tragedy in our history.

Unforgivable acts of violence did take place in the Rift Valley, and also all over Kenya. All the planners and executors of this violence, including those who ordered the use of excessive force by the police to kill demonstrators, must therefore be brought to book if we are to avoid a repetition of the 2007 General Election disaster in 2012.

In pursuing those responsible for the violence, through the ICC and possibly an independent tribunal, we must scrupulously avoid any perception that this process is being influenced by the powerful, or is a witchhunt designed to eliminate political competitors.

The Government is serious about its solemn responsibility to indict those who planned and executed the killings, and an effective witness protection programme is about to be promulgated as part of that effort. Vigorous steps are also under way to comprehensively reform police operations, but quick action on the grievous shortcomings in the Judiciary pose greater legal challenges.

There is such little faith in our judicial institutions that an overwhelming number of Kenyans preferred the ICC to provide justice. No self-respecting country abdicates on justice for its citizens. That we are still struggling to provide this is the strongest indictment of the Judiciary and of the police.

Reconciliation

How we would handle post-election killings was among the most important decisions that Kenyans have ever needed to make, given the impact that this decision would have on our greatest national priority — reconciling our people so that our agendas for peace and development bear rapid fruit.

But Kenyans never really got a chance to get fully involved in the determination of how to dispense justice since easy sloganeering – such as "Don’t be Vague, Go to Hague" – took the place of the effort needed to inform the citizenry of the strengths and weaknesses of the various judicial options they could pursue.

As we confront the need to hold accountable all those responsible for the vicious killings, we must also hold ourselves accountable for allowing impunity and injustice entrench itself for nearly half a century.

None of my effort to highlight the multiplicity of election-related crimes is meant to downplay in any way the terrible post-election violence by civilians that befell our nation and constituted the greatest tragedy in our history. Our duty to those who died and to their loved ones requires us to identify and punish those who planned, incited and executed such violence.

If we cannot do so in a matter of such immense national importance and under such intense international scrutiny, the wicked among us will feel confident that they have the licence to continue and intensify their ruthless ways.