So a lot of ink has been spilled over the last few days over the Waki report. The general consensus, even among the typically skeptical echelons of civil society, is the report is well done. The Commission actually has a pretty decent website, but the report – of all things – is not available there. You can get the full version here.
There are now rumblings of an imminent split in the coalition government over how to handle the report (I highly doubt this will split the government…too many vested interests and no one is interested in REALLY rocking the boat). And of course their is the usual competition among the politicians to make the dumbest pronouncements about the whole thing (Ruto, the guilty are not afraid).
Sidebar: I’m wondering if Raila is hoping that this will finally give him the opportunity to nip the “Ruto problem” in the bud…it’s only a matter of time before ODM becomes too small for both of them.
The best assessment of the way forward, in my view, comes from Musikari Kombo, who said, “Reconciliation without the truth is meaningless because it entrenches the culture of impunity which we have been fighting against. The report is based on investigation and whether someone thinks of it as fair or not, it is our only saviour from our violent political culture.” There might be strong arguments for amnesty, or a local tribunal, or the Hague etc., but what really concerns me is that we should not try and “move forward” as a country without addressing what has really become a culture of impunity in Kenya – be it among the politicians who hurtled us towards the violence; the security forces who abdicated their duties; the ECK (the less said about them the better); or the ordinary mwananchi who took the law into his or her own hands during that time. If we do not draw a line now, we will be sending a message that anything goes.
Sidebar 2: Must read on using the Waki report to absolve ourselves as a nation – Gukira. (Gukira, BTW I do think the naming and prosecution of the politicians involved is just as important as self-examination, to the extent that we are still by and large a country of followers of bozo politicians, don’t underestimate the powerful effect of seeing them being held accountable or being brought down to size).
How do I feel about the fact that no one has been named? I kind of agree with Waki’s logic that it would have been more damaging to name people of nothing will be done…of course, this argument only works if a tribunal of some sort comes in to place (and lets face it, in between all the reports that have come out, we kind of know who the usual suspects are). I am secretly hoping for someone to leak the names on Wikileaks though 
Back to my bunker…
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I do hope something will be done to the said people wherever/whoever they are.
Perhaps I just need to believe that the justice system, the judiciary, can and will work I need to spend more time with hopeful people–and the occasional lawyer.
I think that Waki and his team were actully quite clever in handing the names over to a person outside Kenya politics (Annan) and then – potentially – to a body outside Kenya politics (the International Criminal Court) . In a BBC interview, Waki said that if the matter is not referred to a Kenyan tribunal, the fallback provision kicks in: i.e. reference to the ICC. That is our only insurance policy that this report, like many others, will not simply gather dust.
I hope that the names will NOT be leaked; that will undermine the potency of the safeguard that the Waki team have commendably built into the mechansim. We know our local political culture: once the names are known, bandied about and discussed ad nauseum in public, we will all quietly forget the matter which will by theh have been stripped of the momentum that the Waki mechanism has built into it.
Also, if the names are not revealed at this stage, we can watch and see what the Government does with the report; once the names are leaked, the Government will find it easier t o do nothing and thus be less accountable as the matter will get procedureally murkier, with claims that the potential defendants have been prejudiced by being named in advance of any charges etc etc.
The Waki report is also a test for the Kenayn public and Kenayan activists; do we have the staying power to keep the pressure up? Or, will we, as often, be sidetracked onto the next scandal?
I’m planning on slogging through the report this weekend, but am I correct that it clearly links Mungiki to some of the violence? If so, what does this mean for Mungiki and for the Kenyan Nat’l Youth Alliance?
And, by the way, what is Muite doing getting cozy with KNYA?
Lets not lie to ourselves, can you start a fire right down your own tail? Thats what you are asking them to do to themselves. They cant, they wount, they’ll never, ever, ever, ever. Please lets be real with ourselves. Lets accept the facts, lets live with IT.
Lok at it this way, if given this job yourself, with a team of office mates or neighbours or in a matatu or a bar or wherever, just five (5) of you. Wouldent you have come up with a perfect recomendation, observation, analysis, proposal and that other technical jaggon gibberish….. would’t you? YES you would have, and a better one as a matter of fact. But truth is, they see us to be stupid, which I guess we are.
Wake up, smell the coffee or lemi say smell the rat in them politicians.
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