KHRC wants inquiry reports implemented

Business

By Athman Amran

The Kenya Human Rights Commission wants more than 200 Kenyans, including 27 current and 39 former Cabinet ministers and MPs investigated over alleged crimes.

Also in the list, which KHRC released on Wednesday are former leaders, high-ranking army and security officials, permanent secretaries, businessmen and women, former mayors, former PCs, and DCs.

The accusations include gross human rights violations, illegal and irregular acquisition of public land, alleged involvement in corruption and professional misconduct.

The allegations are contained in various commissions set up over the years, which KHRC has quoted in their report, Lest We Forget: The Faces of Impunity in Kenya.

The findings

Executive Director Atsango Chesoni and her deputy Davis Malombe launched the report on Wednesday in Nairobi. The commission demanded the reports on past human rights violations and economic crimes be published and their findings implemented.

The reports include the Parliamentary Committee on the murder of former Nyandarua MP JM Kariuki, the Triton Audit Report on the oil scandal by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the Kroll Report on the Anglo-Leasing scandal, Troon and Gicheru reports on the Dr Robert Ouko murder, Cockar Report on the Sale of Grand Regency, and Ambassador Ngali Task Force Report (2005-2006 on IDPs).

KHRC warned that it would sue the Government if it fails to make the reports public alleging that some of the reports are being withheld by the Executive or Parliament to protecting vested interests.

KHRC also wants full implementation of the ten other reports, which include the Nyenze report on the Pyramid Schemes, Kiruki report on the Artur Brothers, Akiwumi and Kiliku reports on IDPs, the Ndung’u report on the illegal and irregular allocation of public land, and the Bosire report on the Goldenberg scandal.

Verify Title deeds

Others are Prof Philip Alston report on police brutality and extra-judicial killings, the report of the Prime Minister’s task force on the conservation of the Mau Forest and reports on the taskforces established by the Ministry of Lands to verify those holding genuine title deeds in 2006 and 2009.

"KHRC recommends thorough investigations on the culpability of the alleged perpetrators to establish their level of involvement and taking legal and/or administrative actions against them," the report says.

The report recommends those found guilty be barred from holding public offices in future.

"In addition they should be subjected to the retributive and reparative measures that their violations or crimes demand," the report says.

Among measures the KHRC recommends is the revocation of ownership of land acquired illegally or irregularly and its use returned to the public and those found guilty of misappropriating public funds should have their accounts frozen and be surcharged to the extent of the misappropriation.

The Lest We Forget: The Faces of Impunity in Kenya report is based on a the KHRC’s Review of the Official Reports Project that has compiled a list of individuals recommended for further investigation or criminal proceedings in official reports on gross and systemic human rights violations and corruption.

Perpetrators

Level of truth

The KHRC boss said the objectives of the report were to review the official inquiry reports and profile the alleged perpetrators against the human rights violations and economic crimes they are alleged to have committed; and actions taken against them; and to develop a report providing both the findings and recommendations in order to ensure truth, retribution and reparations within the existing reforms, justice and accountability frameworks at the national and international levels.

She said the project is meant to address gaps in truth and justice seeking, including inadequate understanding and appreciation of the level of the truth already existing in the current official and other reports, inadequate review, harmonisation and presentation of the findings of the official and other reports over historical injustices in Kenya, inadequate analysis and presentation of both the patterns and perpetrators of impunity across the different regimes, reports and categories of injustices in Kenya, and finally, the inadequate interventions to ensure that the cross cutting findings and recommendations are applied to expose, lustrate and hold to account, the purveyors of impunity.

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