When Kenya wasted chance to end clashes

Destruction after tribal violence at the coast in 1998. INSET: President Moi receives the Akiwumi Report

By WAWERU MUGO

Of all attempts to end tribal violence, nothing has perhaps excited this country more than the report by the Akiwumi Commission.

The release of the report in 2002 could as well have been the perfect opportunity for the country to deal decisively with ethnic violence, which has flared in election years since 1992.

Like others before it, the report had been withheld from the public since 1999, raising concerns it would never be acted upon.

But as it was made public, Attorney General Amos Wako issued a statement that effectively showed the government would not act on its findings.

The government also issued an unsigned statement dismissing the report, even as the AG said it was biased and prejudiced against certain communities including the Kalenjin and the Maasai.

Small fish

Wako said 1,324 people had been taken to court in 1991 and 1992 over the violence. But as was the case then, it was felt that those arrested were “small fish” and those with the biggest responsibilities like bankrolling and planning the violence escaped unscathed.

The report named big people in government ranging from Cabinet ministers to permanent secretaries and senior police officers.

Between 1991 and 1994, about 800 people were murdered in politically instigated violence around the country. Another 130,000 people were displaced.

Wako said: “The government is of the view that that the report was not objective in its analysis of the evidence before it. It took extrenous matters into account, ignored some evidence and gave a lot of weight to some evidence than was warranted.”

He added: “The government has decided to publish the report in public interest. The report was not published earlier because investigations were being undertaken. The investigations have reached a level where it is possible to publish without unduly prejudicing the due process of law.”

However, the truth was that just three-days before, the Government had been ordered to publish the findings following a suit filed by a Kwale farmer, Roshanali Karmali. He believed the violence that hit Coast region, especially in Likoni in 1997, was well planned and police failed to stop it.

In the case, he asked the court to force President Moi to give him the report, as it would enable him to pursue a compensation case he had filed against the government. He was demanding Sh100 million.

In August 1997, his farm was used as a training ground by raiders who attacked Likoni. In an attack at the local police station, six officers were killed. The raiders stole 20 rifles, 5,000 rounds of ammunition and killed seven other people. Karmali argued it was the constitutional right of Kenyans to know the contents of the report, as the commission was paid for by taxpayers.

In a ruling in July 12, 2002, Commissioner of Assize Joyce Khaminwa ordered the AG to collect the report from Moi and hand it to Karmali.

Sitting in Mombasa, she ruled that the issue raised was a public matter in which taxpayers money was used. The AG, she said, failed to give good reasons why the findings would not be made public.

“Considering what had happened in this country during this period, one can say that the AG’s actions were lackadaisical,” she said. “The AG, as the government’s chief legal adviser, refused to enforce the statutes, leaving everyone to think that the government was protecting these persons who were raiding, stealing and killing.”

The AG obtained orders temporarily stopping the release, but again failed to give good grounds for keeping the report secret.

Moi had appointed the judicial commission on July 1, 1998 to probe the cause of clashes that hit the country in 1992 and 1997 and the preparedness of police to contain such violence. It was asked to recommend the prosecution of people who may have been responsible.

According to the report, the push for multi-party democracy, which took centre-stage in 1990, led some leaders in a campaign to solidify their positions as they saw it as a threat to their power. Some leaders in the Rift Valley started agitating for a majimbo system of government to counter the campaign.

“The majimbo rallies appeared to be intended to pass a message to the Kalenjin community that the path their leaders had taken was to stick to Kenya and any other political thinking had to be resisted even by the use of arms,” said the report. It said the people who attacked non-Kalenjins in the region were well trained.

Civic education

The report castigated police saying: “The police and the provincial administration were well aware of the impending tribal clashes and if anything, connived at it.”

Among the recommendations of the report is that the government help displaced people to resettle, enact land laws and issue title deeds and arrest and charge people who whipped up tribal animosity.

Among those who the commission wanted investigated were powerful Cabinet ministers, MPs and senior government officials. They were eventually not charged.

The commissioners recommended that communication should be improved in remote areas to enhance security, and that the government should carry out civic education in areas prone to clashes.

It recommended that police be delinked from the provincial administration and that the commissioner of police be made autonomous.