Justice is not just about jailing anyone

There is no doubt that the success of “No case to answer” motion in favour of DP William Ruto and Joshua Sang has elicited a lot of political and legal discourses especially on matters of justice and fairness.

The fact that victims, who live among us and are powerless to punish the offenders, suffered some irreversible loses, highlights the weighty issues underlying the dropped cases at the International Criminal Court.

The concept of justice however seems elusive and is evading many Kenyans. This begs the question: What is justice? Does jailing just anyone mean justice has been served? Does restorative or punitive justice actually do anything to lessen the untold suffering victims of post-election violence (PEV) actually went through?

While I am aware that most of our domestic institutions meant to ensure justice are weak, and thus making the system easily manipulated by the elite and powerful, we should be careful not to always perceive the “elite and powerful“ as the offending party and therefore on the wrong.

In a nutshell, all Kenyans, big and small, rich and poor, weak and strong are all guilty of allowing the PEV to take place.