Three-Judge bench to hear petition on whether to open Waki envelope

A three-Judge bench has been formed to hear a petition seeking to make public contents of the Waki envelope that contains the suspected key perpetrators of the 2007/08 Post Election Violence.

This is after activist David Matsanga moved to the High Court to push for the publication of the names contained in the Waki envelope that was handed over to the International Criminal Court by the Commission of Inquiry on Post Election Violence (CIPEV) that was led by Justice Philip Waki.

Through his lawyer Ngaruiya Waithaka, Matsanga said that Kenyans can only reconcile after the 2007 post election violence if the contents of the Waki envelope are made public.

The case will be heard on April 26th, 2016.

This comes about three days after opposition leaders called for the opening of the Waki envelope as an initial step towards reconciliation in the country.

Speaking in Siaya County, Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo said this will help Kenyans pursue a more truthful process toward national healing.

“Begin to chart the way forward beyond ICC and the way forward is injustices of land the causes and sub-causes of the 2007 violence,” said Midiwo.

In October 2015, debate started on whether to make public the Justice Philip Waki envelope that holds names of individuals that were deemed the most culpable for the crimes of the 2007/08 post election violence.

A motion to form a 15 member parliamentary select committee to probe whether the investigations by the Waki led commission were compromised.

The Waki envelope is believed to have16 names of individuals believed to have born the greatest responsibility for the atrocities of the post poll chaos.

Members of Parliament differed strongly as the National Assembly sought to form a select committee to look into the investigations, with those opposed to  making the content of the envelope public,  questioning the timing.