The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission of Kenya

The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission of Kenya (TJRC) was set up in 2008. Kenya’s modern history has been marked not only by liberation struggles but also by ethnic conflicts and political violence, including the coup d'état of 1982, the Shifta War, and the 2007 Post-election violence.

The toll of the 2007 Post-election violence included approximately 1,500 deaths, 3,000 rapes, and 300,000 people left internally displaced. The most severe episode of this conflict unfolded over 59 days between Election Day, 27 December 2007 and 28 February 2008. A political compromise was reached that saw the two conflicting parties sign a National Accord, following the mediation efforts by the African Union Panel of Eminent African Personalities chaired by Mr. Kofi Annan.

Despite the reputation of the Rift valley as the cradle of humanity, the peoples living there suffered through mass human rights violations in the later part of the 20th century. The mass violence in Kenya occurred throughout a period of over 40 years making it difficult to define concretely as post-election violence. To understand the events following the 1992 and 2007 elections in Kenya, one must first understand the complicated ethnic makeup of the Kenyan state. The two tribes primarily involved in the political violence are the Kikuyu people (22 percent of the 2008 Kenyan population) and the Kalenjin people (12 percent of the 2008 Kenyan population), however many other smaller tribes also inhabit Kenya. These ethnic tensions originate in events occurring before independence when British colonists forced the Kalenjin pastoral tribe off their land to develop the Rift Valley agriculturally. With the colonists came Kikuyu farmers to work as sharecroppers in the British fields. Continued competition for economic wealth and power also drove the two tribes apart.

Later when selecting government officials after independence in 1963, the tension between these two tribes increased as, Jomo Kenyatta, a Kikuyu, became president and Daniel Moi, a Kalenjin, became vice-president. After Kenyatta's death, Moi took power and tightened his hold on Kenya through censoring and human rights violations. In 1991 a constitutional reform passed allowing for multipartyism in Kenya. Shortly after in 1992 the first multi-party election since independence took place. Moi won the elections but many doubted the legitimacy of his victory. Violence ensued as Kalenjin supporters of Moi raped, killed, and displaced Kikuyu opposition supporters. Despite Kalenjin attacks on Kikuyu making up the majority of the ethnic violence in Kenya, ethnic conflicts between tribes remained much more complicated. This violence persisted long after the 1992 election with postelection violence reports in 1998, 2002, and 2007. Similar to the 1992 election, in December 2007 incumbent president Mwai Kibaki won an election called “deeply flawed” by observers. The Kalenjin, who supported the opposition leader Raila Odinga, burned down the houses and hacked to death Kikuyus who supported Mr. Kibaki. Weeks after the election, Kikuyus violently took revenge forcing other ethnic groups out of Kikuyu dominated areas. This post election violence took the lives of over 800 people and displaced at least 300,000.

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