Implement recommendations in TJRC report, Raila tells govt

CORD leader Raila Odinga has told the government to make the findings of the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) public and implement its recommendations.

Speaking during the unveiling of a monument to honour Mau Mau veterans at the Freedom Corner at Uhuru Park in Nairobi, Odinga said implementation of the recommendations will help bring closure to victims of post-independence injustices.

TJRC was formed in 2009 to investigate the atrocities committed during the British colonial period and other human rights violations thereafter, including the post elections violence.

The commission handed over its findings to President Uhuru Kenyatta in May 2013 showing a record of complicity in serial human rights abuses in Kenya.

The government has however shown reluctance to publish and implement the report with cases being sent in court to expunge aspects of the report or block the implementation of its recommendations.

According to Christopher Ndungu, the Head of International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) Kenya office, the report implicates several army commandants for their alleged involvement in violence during the Shifta war which affected communities in Northern Kenya in the 1960s.

Honouring freedom fighters  

The former PM lauded the team that worked on getting the Mau Mau monument adding that all heroes countrywide deserve recognition.

He said that the monument is a little way of remembering the pain and suffering that freedom fighters went through.

“This must be the start and not the end of the journey to honour all who fought for freedom,” said Raila.

Prof Makau Mutua, who serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors at the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), said colonialism and its atrocities were illegal.

“Today marks a new dawn in which humanity will be respected. Mau Mau fighters were the pinnacle of our humanity and the monument should be the grave and tomb of tribalism,” said Mutua.

Responding to Attorney General Githu Muigai’s announcement that the government will compensate Nyayo torture victims, Raila said that such a move would promote reconciliation.