An editorial by Mutuma Mathiu in Kenya’s Daily Nation expresses frustration with the Kenyan government’s continuing failure to bring to account those responsible for last year’s abuses of human rights in the wake of the disputed election results. Mathiu raises a very pertinent question, given that a number of members of parliament are believed to be suspects: “How can you expect justice in a country where suspects take decisions about their own punishment?”
The two options presented to Kenya by Kofi Annan as part of last year’s negotiations which ended in a truce between the warring parties were: establish a special tribunal in Kenya to try the suspects, or have the suspects tried before the International Criminal Court. The Kenyan government has so far prevaricated and been unable to make up its mind, although the weight of opinion seems to favour the ICC option, largely because it conducts long trials which result in very few convictions.
According to Mathiu, “Kenya wants to be a country that does not take any hard decisions or bear the pain of its own weaknesses. It wants someone else to come and clean up its own messes.” He says that there is an unspoken fear amongst the political elite that, if the police engaged in extrajudicial killings, as has been alleged, investigations will be made into who gave the orders.