Truth body to begin public hearings

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 18 - The Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) will conduct its first public hearing in November this year.

The sessions will begin in Mount Elgon, where the commission is has already taken statements from witnesses.

“We took statements from witnesses in Mount Elgon during the months of May and June, “ the Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Commission Patricia Nyaundi said on Wednesday.

She added that the commission would conduct hearings touching on individuals, institutions and events.

“Given the time limitations that we face, we will first start with the individual ones at the regional level followed by the institutional and thematic ones that would be outside of Nairobi. As we progress towards November you will see the commission slowing down and settling in Nairobi,” she pointed out.

Ms Nyaundi further explained that the institutional hearings would be aimed at promoting institutional reforms: “We will, for instance, have hearings revolving around the Prisons’ department, the Judiciary, the police and even the media; in the case of prisons we will use former prisoners to give us the account of the violations meted against them while behind bars.”

The commission also announced that it would train 300 officials next week who would be involved in taking statements from witnesses in other parts of the country.

“Those statements on receipt by the commission will then be processed and then the investigation team will follow up on them (statements) to confirm their veracity and selecting cases that will proceed for hearings,” she said.

The TJRC is expected to release its final report in November 2011.

Ms Nyaundi explained that the commission would give room to communities that had in the past been sidelined to air their grievances. It would also have regional offices in Coast, Nyanza/Western and North Eastern.

The commission will also organise itself into five committees to help in the process of bringing reconciliation and truth: “The TJRC commissioners have organized themselves into five working committees- we will have the human rights violations committee, the reparations and rehabilitation committee, the reconciliation committee, the amnesty committee and the administrative committee.”