African Woman and Child Feature Service

It was during the long Christmas holiday and like many other Kenyans, she had planned to travel up country to join relatives and friends. In fact the only reason why she had not travelled earlier as had been tradition, is because she had to cast her vote.

Being a resident in one of the Nairobi Constituencies, and elections being on the 27th of December, it meant that she would only travel after the voting exercise. But what awaited Teresia Katia will remain etched in her mind like a bad dream, just like most bad dreams do.

But unlike the relief that people feel when they wake up and realize that it was all but a nightmare, in her dream, it all happened when she was fully awake.

And she will never wake up from it.

“After I had cast my vote, I had the mind to travel that same night but I spend part of my bus fare on an emergency which meant that I had to postpone my trip until my sister sends me money to top up, “explains Katia.

“Which she did on the 29th by which time tensions could be felt in most parts of Nairobi, I knew I had to leave my house and go some other place because it all felt so unsafe.”

The single mother of two had already sent her children to her sister upcountry and she was ready to join them but these new developments provoked by political tension complicated matters.

On the morning of 30th, having been unable to travel with the night bus due to the already politically charged atmosphere, Katia left her house at around six in the morning for her rural home.

“Usually the ride to town takes about 30 minutes, and that is when traffic is heavy. On this particular day, we kept veering off the main road as the driver followed what seemed like the safer route,” she expounds.

“After meandering for about an hour but still far from town, the matatu was accosted by marauding youths who rained on the passengers with crude weapons, that is when my nightmare begun.”

Katia made a run for her life but there were youths at every turn, she was within minutes pinned to the ground and repeatedly gang raped.

“Luckily I didn’t conceive but am now HIV positive and my life will never be the same again,” she adds.

It has been more than two years now and Katia, just like many other survivors are yet to receive justice.

Against this backdrop there is need to interrogate what the post election conflict processes such as the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission have in store for women.

Since the Commission officially begun its operation in 2009, a lot of energy has gone into setting up its structures which includes recruiting for human resource, “funds haven’t been an obstacle so far and so in the upcoming months we will be on the road informing the nation about our mandate,” explains the chair of the Commission Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat

“This exercise will also involve getting information from the people about issues of concern to them, this information will also include their views on how to better run the TJRC process.”

It is a process in which the Commission says Kenya can find restitution for past injustices. Of more importance, the process, explained the Chair, is sensitive to gender issues not only in how it is constituted and in hiring human resource, but also with regard to the manner in which the hearings shall be conducted.

Although the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Act' objective does not narrow down to sexual abuses, it does however make two important provisions.

Firstly, it recognizes that sexual violence constitutes genocidal crimes, which legal experts say is critical and goes in line with the international thinking, particularly with regard to efforts towards eliminating violence against women.

Secondly and more importantly, in light of the previously heated amnesty debate, the Act clearly indicates that no amnesty shall be granted for all cases regarding sexual violence.

According to the Commission’s schedule, the process of reaching out to the people will begin in marginalized regions such as the Coast in this case panning to areas such as Kwale, Lamu, Malindi then move on to North Eastern. The schedule of places to be visited will be made public accordingly.

The process of opening files of problems bedeviling the country is by no means a small feat, further, handling these problems in a manner that elevates the marginalized in terms of both gender and region is a complex undertaking.

Consequently, in the next coming months the Commission has its work cut out and women sexually and physically assaulting during the post election violence have received this process with the expectation that finally justice will be served.