Endless Commissions of Inquiry/Tribunals in Kenya

1. JM Kariuki inquiry on the brutal assassination of charismatic Nyandarua North MP
2. Ouko inquest into the death of Cabinet minister Robert Ouko
3. Akiwumi Judicial Commission of Inquiry on tribal clashes
4. Tribunal on the purge on Judiciary
5. Busia Airplane crash
6. Goldenberg (scandal) commission
7. Ndung’u Land commission
8. Kiluki commission on the Artur brothers
9. Krieger commission on the 2007 post-election violence

If there is one thing that Kenya prides about is the culture of impunity. From the Kenyatta regime to the current Kibaki administration, numerous commissions, tribunals and task forces have been constituted, albeit with state blessings, to unravel some mystery into past moments of dark events. None of the reports by any of the commissions, however, has been acted on. The country has disappointing history of commissions of inquiry.

Again issues to do with how to treat official information, considering that is produced by public officials in the course of duty at the taxpayers’ expense, have always been subject of heated debate. The Kenyan law remains highly insufficient. Even in circumstances where claims of secrecy are justifiable, only the President and the Ministry of Justice have access to such reports in their un-edited version. Normally, the president receives such reports at State House with only the Presidential Press Service (PPS) present, and then embarks on the “study” of its contents at his own pleasure though he is under no legal obligation to do anything else. He can choose to keep it for himself and let the media and the public to speculate.

Goldenberg commission

It was set up by President Kibaki in 2003 immediately after his landslide victory. Kibaki-led opposition coalition, Narc, had campaigned on the platform anti-corruption and good governance. The commission was set up to unravel the truth about the Goldenberg Scandal, Kenya's biggest corruption scam in which the country lost up to USD600 million through questionable exports of gold and diamonds between 1990 and 1993. Business Tycoon Kamlesh Mansukural Damji Pattni, now a city pastor was the scandal’s chief architect through his dubious firm Goldenberg International Company (GIC) Limited.

But even as the proceedings at KICC were going on, the commission’s operations were almost scuttled abruptly following the suspension of its Vice-Chairman, Daniel Aganyanya, who was among the victims of an investigation into malpractice in the judiciary.

The contents of its exact finding remain unknown. One of the scam’s chief architects, Prof George Saitoti is a top figure in the Kibaki administration and one of his likely successors at State House. Pattni has just secured amnesty after he agreed to hand-over Grand Regency Hotel, one of the precious assets he built from the proceeds of the scam.

Purge on the Judiciary

The famous “purge on the judiciary” a.k.a “radically surgery on the judiciary” was hailed as landmark but the subsequent judicial commissions/tribunals were bogus in operations and ended achieving little as some of the suspended judges were later on re-instated. A record 23 High Court judges had been suspended following a damning dossier from Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) indicating that corruption was rampant in the Kenyan legal system, with almost half of the country's judges and close to a third of its magistrates said to be corrupt. The judges were given the option to either resign and leave quietly or be investigated by tribunals. By then, KACC had stated in its report that it had evidence to the effect that corrupt judges took bribes from litigants to rule in their favor, delayed ruling on cases in return for bribes, had engaged in business outside the judiciary and were living beyond their known means.

The two tribunals were mandated to investigate six of the country's nine judges in the Court of Appeals and 17 judges out of the 36 in the High Court. The tribunal investigating the High Court judges was chaired by influential Kenyan constitutional lawyer Lee Muthoga, while the panel investigating the Court of Appeal judges was headed by prominent Ghanaian Judge Akilano Akiwumi. Muthoga is prominent lawyer in the region, a past chairman of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and is currently an alternate Judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) based in Arusha, Tanzania. Akiwumi on the other hand is a veteran Ghanaian lawyer now sitting at the COMESA Court of Justice (CCJ) in Lusaka, Zambia.

JM Kariuki inquiry on the brutal assassination of charismatic Nyandarua North MP

Josiah Mwangi Kariuki, popularly known as “JM” is said to be one of the most charismatic political leaders in Kenya’s history and was seen by many as the most obvious successor to Kenyatta following the exit of an equally charismatic Cabinet minister Tom Joseph Mboya through an assassination by the State. JM was nationally popular due to his unwavering stand on issues touching on the poor such as equal distribution of land. He was Kenyatta’s private secretary between 1963 and 1969 before the two differed over key Government policies. He is mostly remembered for his statement: “Kenya has become a nation of 10 millionaires and 10 million beggars”. This could have, perhaps, have convinced Kenyatta on why the fireband politician should be eliminated.

A Parliamentary Select Committee was immediately established to investigate the circumstances surrounding JM’s murder. None of those who were implicated into the death were ever punished. Today, many analysts say, the committee was used as a means by Kenyatta's government to mitigate a potential revolt during the time when just a little discontent was enough to stir a (military) coup. When the (censored) report was finally released, the anger had subsided and likelihood of revolt much lower.

Ouko inquest into the death of Cabinet minister Robert Ouko

He was Kenya’s (best) foreign minister ever and Kisumu Town MP by the time he met his death. He defended his motherland with zeal and steadfast sense of patriotism. He was increasingly becoming popular, something that did not go well with top State House power brokers in the Moi regime. He was found murdered on the foot of Got Arila hills in his Kisumu backyard days after he was reported to have disappeared from his Koru Home in Muhoroni. The state was uncomfortable with him due to his spirited criticism of rampant corruption within the Government he served. New of his death were received with countrywide demos that almost made the country ungovernable.

Due to local and international pressure, Moi hired the services of a British detective – John Troon - from New Scotland Yard to investigate Ouko's death. In October 1990 Moi appointed a public inquiry into the case chaired by Justice Evans Gicheru, now Kenya’s Chief Justice. The inquest suggested that Ouko had been compiling a report on corruption on the Kenyan government and how it had affected his attempts to reopen a molasses plant on the outskirts of Kisumu City. Ironically, the plant was later in 2001 used by Moi as an “inducement gift” to lure Raila Odinga into a short-lived political marriage that saw the latter dissolve his party and cross-over to Kanu party as its national Secretary-General.

The inquiry was abruptly terminated by Moi in November 1991, ahead of the 1992 polls. Several government officials, including then larger-than-life Energy minister and Moi’s right-hand man Nicholas Biwott and Internal Security PS Hezekiah Oyugi, were detained for questioning in relation to the murder but released after two weeks for "lack of evidence". A former District Commissioner, Jonah Anguka was tried for Ouko's murder in 1992 and acquitted, with the crime remaining unsolved. Anguka later fled into exile in the United States, fearing for his live. He later published a book, "Absolute Power," denying his involvement in the Ouko Murder.

In March 2003 the newly elected Kibaki-led Government opened a new investigation into Ouko's death through a Parliamentary Select Committee. The inquest, however, turned into total theatric exposing the incompetence of its chairman, Gor Sungu (Immediate former Kisumu Town MP). Attempts to summon former President Moi to give evidence were strongly opposed by his lawyer and now Cabinet minister Mutula Kilonzo. Its findings – now in the custody of the State - are yet to be made public. Moi and Biwott remain close friends of the Kibaki Government.

Akiwumi Judicial Commission of Inquiry on tribal clashes

President Moi appointed the Akiwumi Commission in 1998, and it submitted its findings in March 1999. Ten years later, no one knows the findings, which remain as much a mystery as the true identities of the individuals behind the orgy of violence. Even after numerous letters, correspondences, and meetings at State House with religious leaders and diplomats, Moi never made the report public. Today, a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission is set to take effect following the publishing of a bill intended to give birth to such an institution. Such a commission could be the last remaining option for Kenyans to permanently halt the cycle of violence that normally emerges during the electioneering period.

So damning was the report that it cost the life of Roman Catholic priest Father John Anthony Kaiser. On August 23, 2000, Fr. Kaiser was shot dead. His body was found at 6 am at a junction of the Nakuru-Naivasha Highway. At the time of his shooting and subsequent death, Kaiser was carrying documents – considered too damning (to the Moi regime) for public consumption - he intended to present to the Akiwumi Commission. He was also to testify against the Moi government before the International Criminal Court ICC in The Hague, Netherlands in less than a month’s a time.

Less than a week after Fr. Kaiser's death, 14-year old school girl, Florence Mpayei dropped her rape case against then National Security minister Julius Sunkuli. The priest had used his influence to assist the young lass to access legal justice through Federation of Kenyan Lawyers (FIDA). The two events were later on to haunt and shape political direction of then powerful Cabinet minister years after losing his Kilgoris parliamentary seat. He is considered by many among the State forces behind the assassination of Fr. Kaiser. In spite of a four-year long inquest, the killers of the priest are yet to be identified for prosecution and Sunkuli is still walking free and is among the top contestants for the Kilgoris by-election next month.

Busia plane crash

Less than a month after Kibaki took power, a serious crisis hit his Government. A plane carrying senior members of his new government crashed in Western town of Busia, killing one minister and the two pilots, and leaving three ministers and several members of parliament seriously injured.

The 24-seater Gulfstream aircraft crashed into a house on takeoff from Busia in far western Kenya. The crew was coming from attending a victory party for Moody Awori in his Funyula constituency. Then labor minister, Ahmad Mohammed Khalif, died shortly after being admitted in hospital. Three cabinet ministers, Raphael Tuju (Tourism), and two of Kenya's first women to make the cabinet: the minister of State in the Office of the President, Linah Jebii Kilimo (now an assistant minister), and the Water minister, Martha Karua (now justice minister) were among those seriously injured. By then Kibaki was recuperating in his bed at Nairobi Hospital following a fatal accident few days to the 2002 general election. Lawyer Lee Muthoga was later appointed to chair a commission that would investigate the cause of the crash but whose results were never made public.

Ndung’u land commission

The commission was the work of a veteran Nairobi-based lawyer, Paul Ndung'u. It was formed to look into the unlawful allocation of public land. Its report was handed over to the President in 2004 and ‘released’ in 2005, stirring much controversy as it implicated top Government officials including the country’s topmost families – Kenyatta, Moi and Kibaki – together with their associates.

According to a ‘leaked’ version of the report, the commission had recommended the establishment of a Land Tribunal with powers to cancel fraudulent land title deeds.

On sensing public impatient, the Government through then Lands minister Amos Kimunya released a “mutilated” version of the report on the floor of parliament. But even this occasion, none of the recommendations - as contained in the mutilated version – has ever been implemented.

Kiruki/Muite commission on the Artur brothers

For the first time, the country had two commissions running parallel to each other but with the mandate to perform a similar task. The parliamentary one was chaired by immediate former Kabete MP Paul Muite and current Changamwe MP Ramadhan Kajembe, while the presidential one by former Police Commissioner Shedrach Kiruki.

The two teams attempted to unearth the truth concerning the (mercenary) activities of the two brothers of Armenian origin – Artur Margaryan and Artur Sargaryan – and their alleged links with various Kenyan top personalities and security forces, and the circumstances surrounding their deportation.

Some felt that the Kiruki (Presidential) commission could not be trusted to investigate an issue touching on the President and his family, official or unofficial. Again, Kiruki was by the time serving as a “special” security adviser to Internal Security minister John Michuki who was said to have directly hired the services of the two brothers.

Kriegler commission on the 2007 post-election violence

It is the next addition to a string of commissions whose work is only to slow down the wind of change and in essence silence the popular opinion.

The Kriegler commission was formed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the controversial 2007 general elections and the subsequent chaos that almost sent Kenya into a civil war.

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