8 September 2010

editorial

Nairobi — Leadership wrangles at the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights are quite a shame. They undermine the organisation's credibility and bring to question its capacity to judiciously interrogate excesses in other institutions.

Principally mandated to promote human rights, the organisation's remit is wide, for it includes checking cases of abuse of power and oppression.

For this reason, the commission's operations must be above-board and its leadership beyond reproach. Any deviation from that narrow path is antithetical to its mission.

To underscore its significance, the commission has been constitutionalised and its powers expanded to include equality check. As such, the law provides for clear guidelines on how to handle complaints and how to remove any of its office-bearers.

Any complainant is required to petition Parliament, which, if satisfied with the evidence provided, sends a petition to the President. The President may suspend the official or set up a tribunal to investigate him or her.

Put simply, a group of commissioners cannot purport to remove one of their colleagues. That is unconstitutional. But by the look of things, they may have valid reasons to challenge the leadership of Mrs Florence Simbiri-Jaoko.

In quick succession this year, the former vice-chairman, Mr Hassan Omar Hassan resigned, claiming differences with the chair, then there were reports that one commissioner was leaking secrets about the post-election violence investigations, and now this leadership row.

Clearly, something is terribly wrong and this must be fixed. But the commissioners must pursue this through the law. Activism has its place, but not within constitutional offices where issues have to be handled in a dignified manner.