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"id": 118303,
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"content": "and will never give up because of afro-pessimism. We also have in this nation men and women who have always stood firm at the moments of trial and have, themselves, been tried falsely and otherwise. We have in this nation people like my friend, hon. Imanyara here, who have slept in police cells and chained to hospital beds for their political convictions. They have more right to stand up and speak in high moral tones. But others who, because of opportunism, try to do so, history will judge them harshly. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, as I stand here today, I have said before and did say when we went to Githongo with hon. Gitobu Imanyara, Right Honourable Raila Amolo Odinga and hon. Orengo that we were for this Bill. That is because when the Government brought a Bill to this House for the formation of a local tribunal, Members of this House turned it down. It would have been better if that Bill was debated and the kind of amendments that hon. Imanyara has now brought to the House made, to make a local tribunal stronger. But because of populism, that Bill was turned away lock, stock and barrel. No opportunity was given for sound minds to prevail, reason and take the order of the day and amend it so that it could provide an opportunity for a process of justice for the post-election offenders to be brought before the law. So, we should not falsify history, claim easy victories and tell any untruths. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, this Parliament was categorical that a local process would not be fair, just or transparent. This Parliament joined a national chorus saying âdo not be vague, go to the Hague,â and that is history. It cannot be falsified. As we stand here today, therefore, we must confess our sins and say we made a false step. We should have looked at the issue more critically, made the necessary amendments to that Bill and soberly distinguished between a local process for justice and an external process for justice. What was going to be different was that, that external process was going to deal with certain specific forms of alleged crimes and violations of human rights. The local tribunal was going to deal with issues that it could handle locally. But when we, in populist tones, dismissed any local process saying âdo not be vague, go to the Hague,â we forgot that the Hague cannot handle everything and that if, indeed, we want justice for post-election offenders, we, as a nation, must take responsibility and ensure that the institution we put into place can rise up to the international standards of justice, promotion of human rights and democracy. Parliament was and still remains doubtful of the ability of the local Judiciary to deal with this issue. It is in that regard that hon. Imanyara found it fit to propose a process that would be locally based, but would not be subject to the vicissitudes of the local Judiciary. The hon. Member for Gichugu was Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs and claims that she was responsible for trying to bring reforms to the Judiciary. Time is now ripe for the hon. Member to write a book and let us know exactly what trials and tribulations she went through, the proposals she made, how tenaciously she pursued them and who stood in her way. That is because if, indeed, we were going to have a constituency of reformers in and outside the Government, we should have known those proposals and become champions, being mobilized by her noble self. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I have personally supported hon. Imanyaraâs Bill for good reasons and not any chanciest sentiments or populist inclination. The reason is that this nation knows that on our television sets, we did watch people driving to Naivasha, stopping matatus, pulling passengers out of those matatus and hacking them to"
}