It is three months since Kenya’s Grand Coalition Government was sworn in – negotiated by an international team of mediators led by the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The two principles in this negotiated arrangement for power-sharing are President Kibaki and Raila Odinga the Prime Minister. 

There is also the sticky issue of whether or not to grant blanket amnesty for mainly youthful gangs and militia groups from both sides of the political divide that took part in the post-election violence which claimed over 1200 lives.  The worst hit areas were the towns and settlements in the Rift Valley, Western and Nyanza provinces and parts of Nairobi and its environs.

It is no secret that there are serious divisions within the coalition regarding how to deal with hundreds and possibly thousands of people arrested by police in connection with the violence that convulsed the country in the six weeks after the disputed election results were announced.

The calls for blanket amnesty have come mainly from the Prime Minister’s Orange Democratic Party (ODM), a notion that is rejected by the key players in President Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU) who want them to face the full force of the law.  However, the former argue that the arrests were targeted disproportionately against Odinga’s supporters while pro-Kibaki groups got off with little more than a rap on the knuckles.

Returnees find themselves between a rock and a hard place, with the government prodding them to reclaim their farms and homes on the one hand and the hostility of former neighbours demanding the unconditional release of their youth before anything else can be discussed.

Even then, the long-awaited Commission of Inquiry into Post Election Violence (CIPEV) is set to begin its hearings on 7th July and public expectations are high that the commission will shed light on what really happened.   

The commission is mandated to investigate the facts and circumstances related to the post-election violence and investigate the action or omissions of state security agents.  It will also make recommendations to prevent a repetition of electoral violence in the future and suggest measures to bring those responsible for the violence to justice and eradicate impunity.

Women are particularly keen to see what the all-male commission, led by Kenyan Justice Philip Waki will treat the distressing issue of sexual and gender based violations that were visited upon thousands of women and children in the worst hit areas. Through their various representatives who have already made contact with the commission, they are emphatic that they have no room in their hearts for granting amnesty to the perpetrators of violence.

Meanwhile, the Independent Review Commission, headed by retired South African Justice Johann Kriegler has been traversing the country to seek the views of Kenyans on the recent political turmoil.

The Kriegler team is expected to assess the Electoral Commission of Kenya’s (ECK) efficiency and capacity to discharge its mandate to investigate the post election violence.  The reputation of the ECK was largely discredited following the announcement of the controversial election results in early January leading to the eruption of violence around the country.

The commission is expected to recommend electoral reforms, including constitutional, legislative, operational and institutional aspects as well as accountability mechanisms for ECK commissioners and staff to improve future electoral processes.

Justice Kreigler chaired South Africa’s electoral commission in 1993 ahead of the elections that ushered Nelson Mandela as the country’s first black president in 1994.  He resigned in 1999.  It is hoped that he will bring his experience to bear in the case of Kenya’s transition to internal peace and the strengthening of democracy.

Both the Waki and Kriegler teams are the products of the international community’s intervention through Mr Kofi Anaan, who brokered the power sharing arrangement between Kibaki and Odinga.

Ultimately, only Kenyans can determine how to heal the deep social and economic rifts that exploded into the violence witnessed in early 2008.  This calls for ruthless honesty and the courage to deal with decades of historical injustices and systematic impoverishment and displacement of entire groups of Kenyans by years of bad governance and skewed economic and social policy.

It is the prayer of many that the current leaders will put aside their personal interests, party affiliations and ethnicities to enable Kenya heal and grow. Kenya can only emerge victorious if it avoids the temptation to grant those suspected of arson, rape and murder blanket amnesty. Leaders should instead fight for fair and speedy trials. Kenya has the capacity to rise up from the ashes victorious.