The move by Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka’s change of heart to support the implementation of the report is laudable.
Justice must be pursued either through a local tribunal or in The Hague so long as the truth is finally established. It’s better to safeguard truth and justice for 38 Million Kenyans instead of shielding a few politicians. This will also give the thousands of Kenyans who lost their loved ones to get justice.
The truth is always a reliever to an agony even if there is no gain. A British tycoon whose daughter was killed in Kenya 20 years a go has not given up his quest for justice. The agony experienced in Naivasha where people were killed by power saws, men circumcised with testicles tied on electric poles are all tragedies whose truth must be told without favour.
Leave alone the victims who perished in an inferno inside the Kiambaa Church in Eldoret and women who died on labour pains while hiding in tea plantations in the Rift Valley. These are unforgivable crimes that require full truth and perpetrators found guilty must be punished.
They can’t be can’t be left to go scot-free. When the Waki envelope is finally opened, those mentioned must stand in the dock to face justice, just like Charles Taylor of Liberia and former Yugoslavia President, the late Slobodan Milosevic. This must be done locally or in The Hague .
Why should we be the first to point fingers at Kabuga of Rwanda to face The Hague when our own Kabugas who masterminded the mayhem and destruction are on our backyards? Alleged perpetrators of the violence must be ready for three verdicts whose outcomes encompass this: The hangman’s noose, life imprisonment or forthright acquittal if found not guilty.
This is the true measure of justice in any Country. Politicians must stop perpetuating political cronyism through the Waki report. This old Kanu mentality does not have room in modern Kenyan. Leaders of this calibre are not worthy their weight for national leadership.
Ganging up in tribal cocoons to call the report shoddy and mere hearsay is being dishonest with the truth and Kenyans cannot trust such leaders for political office. Critics of the Waki report like honourable William Ruto, Ababu Namwamba and previously Uhuru Kenyatta are new generation leaders who must lead by example and stop whining to shield the truth.
Let them sober up and let justice take its own cause. Kenyans expected them to be the best friends of the report if they were true patriots ready for a positive revolution on justice in our Country. The person who shepherded the Commission is a man with exemplary integrity who survived a purge that brought many judges down over allegations of corruption in the Judiciary after he was proved innocent.
No doubt, Justice Waki’s report is an authentic document that will help Kenya to unravel the truth and thereafter, the nation will start to heal. Wanting the Waki report trashed to perpetuate impunity which has bedevilled Kenya for decades is unacceptable.
Truth and justice does not impress all people but without it, it’s elusive to talk about harmony and reconciliation. The Country will achieve reconciliation and harmony after the truth has been told. This is how we can spur our institutions of justice and bring sanity in our governance systems by ending atrocities and human rights violations instigated by politicians for their selfish ends.
Uhuru and Ruto should stop whining over sealed Waki envelope
Justice Waki is a reputable judge. In his judicial career, he survived the purge that brought many judges down over allegations of corruption in the Judiciary after he was proved innocent.
That is why; the finding in his report on post election violence has ignited more fire than Kriegler’s and therefore, must be handled with utmost seriousness our politicians and even the general public.
Waki understands the consequences of any unfounded allegations to persons. That is why most of the purported perpetrators of the post election violence who are aware of his judicial integrity have developed butterflies in their stomachs even before the sealed envelope is opened.
Kenyans can’t buy the latest stand by PNU, ODM and ODM Kenya for rejecting the Waki report in total. It’s better to sacrifice the future of 100 politicians so long as we safeguard truth and justice for 37 million Kenyans.
Despite Thursday’s chorus of rejection from the two ODM parties, it has been nationally observed that the report hit the nerve centre of key leaders in Central and Rift Valley Provinces the hard way. They have openly shown a guilty conscious through their public utterances.
I therefore disagree with many of the MPs in the Rift valley led by William Ruto and those from Mount Kenya led by Uhuru Kenyatta for dismissing the Waki report. By calling the report shoddy and mere hearsay will not bring justice to the thousand of Kenyans who lost their loved ones in the post election violence.
The killings in Naivasha were done by power saws; men were “circumcised” with testicles tied on electric poles, women died while on labour pains while hiding in tea plantations in the Rift Valley. Leave alone those who perished in an inferno inside the Kiambaa Church in Eldoret.
Are these forgivable crimes? The truth must stand. Perpetrators can’t be left to go scot-free. When the Waki envelope is finally opened, those mentioned must stand in the dock alone to face justice, just like Charles Taylor of Liberia and former Yugoslavia President, the late Slobodan Milosevic. This must be locally or in The Hague .
As a Country, we should not be the first to point fingers at Kabuga of Ruanda to face The Hague when our own Kabugas who masterminded the mayhem and destruction of property early this year are left free.
The alleged perpetrators should defend themselves with facts and the outcome will encompass three verdicts: The hangman’s noose, life imprisonment or forthright acquittal if found not guilty. This is the true measure of justice in any Country.
Honourables Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto with their ambition, vigour and vibrancy should remember that they are on the sunrise years of their political career. Wanting the Waki report thrashed will jeopardise their future completely.
Kenyans are tired of political cronyism; Ruto and Uhuru must stop hiding behind their tribal enclave and sycophantic cronies to justify inequities as it will not take them far in terms of national leadership.
Uhuru Kenyatta almost won the Presidency in 2002 and this was not because of his Kikuyu Community but many Kenyans across the Country. Simeon Nyachae buried himself in an ethnic cocoon in Gusiiland, and his quest for the presidency in 2002 was a disaster. The way Ruto and Uhuru are currently behaving does not portray them as true nationalists.
And as new generation leaders, Kenyans expected Uhuru Kenyatta, William Ruto, and Ababu Namwamba amongst others to be the best friends of the Waki report if they love Kenya and if they want a positive revolution of justice in our Country.
They must slow down, show leadership and act with sobriety instead of jumping into conclusions especially to a thorny issue that almost brought our country to total collapse. They both braved the circumciser’s knife and they must brave the “political knife” on the Waki report. If it touches them, they have a right to defend themselves.
Those who value the sanctity of human life must relish and cherish the truth. We therefore wonder who will protect the average Kenyan if our leaders want to perpetuate the culture of impunity that has bedevilled this Country since independence.
How can our leaders preach reconciliation and harmony when they want to shield justice and truth?
This is a clear indication that even the laws they pass in Parliament cannot safeguard the interests of Kenyans and therefore, we can’t trust them.
The Waki report unlike others which have gathered dust must be implemented in totality. This will spur our institutions of justice which have boggled us for so long.All alleged perpetrators of the post election violence in the sealed envelope must face the law.
This will serve as a starting point of bringing sanity in our governance as well as laying a firm foundation for a viable justice system that will liquidate atrocities and human rights violations instigated by politicians.
No comments:
Post a Comment