KENYAN MPS LAUNCH WEBSITE O DRUM UP SUPPORT FOR TRIBUNAL

DAILY NATION
By OLIVER MATHENGE
August 11 2009 a

The website was launched in Nairobi with a call on the civil society, religious groups and the public to give their input to improve the proposed Bill.
Bill is currently before Parliament’s legal department after which it will be forwarded to Speaker Kenneth Marende for approval.

Kenya MPs pushing for a special tribunal to try post-election violence suspects on Tuesday launched a website to seek public support.
Led by Imenti Central MP Gitobu Imanyara, the MPs have asked Kenyans to send suggestions on the creation of the special tribunal.

The website www.endimpunityinkenya.org was launched in Nairobi with a call on the civil society, religious groups and the public to give their input to improve the proposed Bill.

“We want to make the process as interactive as possible,” Mr Imanyara said at the launch organised by the Law Society of Kenya and the International Commission of Jurists.

Other MPs who attended the launch included: Mithika Linturi, Charles Onyancha, Alango Aluoch, Joseph Nkaissery, David Eseli, Yusuf Chanzu, Chachu Ganya, Martin Ogindo and Silas Muriuki.

Also in attendance were former MP Paul Muite, civil society leaders Harun Ndumbi and Ndungu Wainaina and representatives from LSK, ICJ and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.

The MPs who spoke voiced their support for the bill and vowed to lobby their colleagues to raise the required two-thirds majority.

They, however, asked legal experts to help fine-tune the bill so that it is not rejected in parliament as it happened in February.

“The local tribunal that MPs rejected earlier was too porous. And in this bill I see the attempt to deal with all those loopholes,” Mr Ogindo said.

The MPs are still concerned over the definition of ‘persons bearing the greatest responsibility’ and whether such individuals will be asked to step aside once indicted.

“There are powerful individuals who when indicted may interfere with the investigations and the proceedings,” said Mr Eseli.

Mr Muite said that the bill deserves the support of all Kenyans. He also defended the backbench MPs who he said had not changed their mind but were improving on what they had rejected.
The Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill 2009, borrows extensively from the one the Cabinet rejected in favour of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission.

The Bill seeks to amend the Constitution to allow for the formation of the tribunal and Mr Imanyara says it was developed after wide consultation among MPs following the Cabinet move.

The Bill is currently before Parliament’s legal department after which it will be forwarded to Speaker Kenneth Marende for approval.

Mr Imanyara said that the suggestions will be considered before next Tuesday when he expects the Bill to be published by the Government Printer.

The legislator also defended a proposal to deny the executive any role in the setting up of the proposed tribunal. He said that since the Bill requires a two thirds majority to become law, there was no need to have it go to the President for assent.

It proposes the insertion of a new section 3A in the Constitution, which among other things, vetoes the President’s power to assent to the Bill into law.

The draft bill says that section 46(2) of the constitution shall not apply and suggests that the Speaker publishes it through a Gazette notice once it is passed.

The constitution gives the president powers to assent bills into law once passed by parliament. The president may refuse to assent to a bill sent to him from parliament and instead return it with suggested amendments.

Parliament has the option of making the changes but the MPs through a two-thirds majority vote may force the president to assent to a law as presented to him.

The bill also suggests that the Speaker appoints Special Magistrates to serve in the tribunal once the nominees are approved by parliament.

The bill rejected by cabinet two weeks ago suggested that parliament vets the nominees and the President appoints them in consultation with the Prime Minister.

In another departure from the earlier bill presented to Cabinet by Justice and Constitution Affairs minister Mutula Kilonzo, the new one says that the report by the tribunal be handed over to parliament.

Previously, tribunal reports are surrendered to the president and often times are never made public.