Victims of the Wagalla massacre record their statements during the second day of TJRC public hearings in Wajir, April 19, 2011. Prominent personalities expected to testify in connection to the massacre failed to turn up for hearings Wednesday. STEPHEN MUDIARI
Posted Wednesday, April 20 2011 at 13:34
Prominent personalities expected to testify in connection to mass killings and other human rights violations in Wajir failed to turn up for hearings Wednesday.
Bethwel Kiplagat and former provincial commissioners Joseph Kaguthi and Benson Karia were all no-shows in the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) hearings in Wajir that ended Wednesday.
Also listed as one of those invited to the hearings was former Cabinet minister David Mwiraria.
Expectations had been high among the residents that the persons would appear at the hearings after their names were adversely mentioned in connection to various human rights violations in the area, chief among them the Wagalla massacre.
But acting TJRC chairperson Tecla Namachanja played down the no-shows, saying they still stood a chance of being heard.
“We notified them in good time and expected they would appear,” she said in an interview with the Nation.
She said one of the top witnesses was ready to travel to the region but failed to get a flight.
“We will give them a chance to be heard in Nairobi,” she said.
Ignore accused
Mrs Namachanja said it would be wrong for the Commission to hear only one side, that of the accusers, and ignore those accused from being heard.
Some of those adversely mentioned are accused of attending a security meeting in Wajir days before the Wagalla massacre in which forces are said to have killed 57 people in a security operation, according to government records.
But residents claim the operation killed 3,000 people. The TJRC has a daunting task confirming the right figure of those killed 27 years after the massacre happened.
Mrs Namachanja said Mr Kiplagat was willing to attend the hearings but found it difficult since he was facing a tribunal investigating him.
She said another high profile witness had offered to present a written statement to the commission.
“We encourage all of them to come and present their views to us so we can compile a balanced report,” she said.
Mrs Namachanja said the Commission made the right decision to start from North Eastern province, which she said had witnessed the worst form of human rights violations in the country
It is only Justice Waki who broke the tired cycle of the typical Kenyan commissions of inquiry. Maybe he ought to have been its chairman.
A lot of money spent on commissions in Kenya. Very little done by them. When was there any meaningful accomplishment done by an independent commission in Kenya?
They should be jailed for contempt and the fact that they are absent means they are part of the problem and they should resign from current public ofices.
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