Tough questions as Tana Delta clashes report gathers dust

Pupils of Kirembe Primary School in Kisumu County in a class with the e-reading tablets received from USAID in partnership with the Ministry of Education. The school received 30 devices.  [PHOTO: TITUS MUNALA/STANDARD]

By WILLIS OKETCH

TANA; KENYA: Over five months after concluding its public inquest the Commission of Inquiry into the Tana Delta tribal violence between ethnic Pokomo and Orma, is yet to publish it findings or hand a report to the President.

The most immediate cause of the delay, according to some reports in Mombasa is Justice Grace Nzioka, who chaired the Commission, was sacked from the Judiciary early April before handing it to either former President Kibaki or the current President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Before her sacking, the judge was kidnapped on January 23 at her Nairobi home but she was quick to disassociate this from the Tana Delta investigation. “I want to assure the country the report is safe,” she was quoted as saying after the kidnap, but this has not won her favour among Garsen constituents who suffered the most. They suspect mischief.

On April 17, Garsen MP Ibrahim Sane told supporters that an investigation should be opened into the delay. “If the commission fails to issue the report immediately then it misused public resources and should be investigated,” said Sane.

Meanwhile, officials who sat on the commission formed on September 21 last year, remain tightlipped on what happened to the report. While forming it, Kibaki promised to publish the findings in 30 days.

In some quarters, Government operatives claim the report cannot be handed to President Uhuru following Justice Nzioka’s sacking, but Mombasa Law Society of Kenya Chairman Eric Nyongesa argues the judge is still considered a judicial staff.

Other lawyers in Mombasa also say the law governing commissions of inquiry allows Emily Ominde who was Justice Nzioka’s deputy to present the report to the president.

Meanwhile, The Standard On Saturday has learnt although Kibaki never received the report in public, operatives at the Office of the President (OP) informally received an advance copy from the Commission, raising more eyebrows.

Our investigations show the report is in the hands of a senior official in the Internal Security Ministry who has already read it, prompting the reluctance to publish the findings. Inside reports show one of the most startling findings was that bullets used were manufactured or supplied at the Kenya Ordnance Factory in Eldoret.

Officially, these bullets are supplied to the military, police and Kenya Wildlife Services, raising questions about how the ammunition reached civilian hands.