Open Wound

Feature-length article on Kenya in yesterday's Público, Spanish daily national newspaper geared towards a younger left-leaning readership. The journalist, Isabel Coello, contacted me a few weeks ago, for my thoughts on where we are one year after the signing of the mediation agreement.

The article does a terrific job of highlighting the state's role in the post-election violence, pointing out that 35% of the deaths were police killings. It also brings us the stories and voices of Kenyans who lost families, homes, livelihoods, and have still not received justice. One error, though - it quotes me as disagreeing with my colleague, Kwamchetsi Makokha, fellow member of Kenyans For Peace, Truth and Justice (KPTJ), on the proposed Special Tribunal to try politicians named in the Waki report as drivers of the violence. In actuality, we both reflect KPTJ's position that:

a) There can be no impunity for politicians responsible for the violence
b) For a domestic tribunal to be effective in any way, it would have to be totally independent of the state actors implicated in the Waki report.