The unseemly standoff between the commissioners of the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission and the Ministry of Justice is unnecessary.
However, the seeds for this confrontation were sown even before the commission began its work, when some of them ganged up to demand that the chair step down.
Since then, the commission has lurched from one crisis to another. The TJRC as presently constituted cannot claim to have the full faith of the public after aspersions were cast on its Chairman Bethwel Kiplagat's integrity.
Those claims which we need not mention here, created acrimony in the commission, with some commissioners demanding the former diplomat to step down.
Following the lead set by ministers and other public officials rightly or wrongly linked to scandals or other misdeeds, Kiplagat stayed put. But Kiplagat's innocence or guilt is not the issue here. If indeed the commissioners were concerned that the chair is too 'tainted' to work with, then they should have all resigned and forgone their hefty allowances. This is an outfit that has little credibility in the eyes of the very people they are supposed to bring closure to, and giving them more money will not change that.
The Ministry of Justice, under which the Agenda 4 commissions created by the National Accord are domiciled, squandered a chance to correct things by initiating the process of reconstituting the TJRC.
Screaming 'wolf'
And so begs the question: Whose interests are the commissioners serving? They believe that having screamed 'wolf' against their chairman, they can continue earning allowances in peace. But impunity includes those who say no to corruption or bad leadership, yet continue eating from the same plate as those they 'loathe'.
These men and women should find better ways of serving their country. Had they resigned earlier , out of principle, a new TJRC would have been constituted that hopefully measures up to public scrutiny.
Source: The Standard | Online Edition
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