By Evelyne Owiye Asaala
Abstract
On 27 December 2007, Kenya held its General Elections which were marred by violence. The post-election violence period witnessed the establishment of the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation Committee (KNDRC). This became the avenue through which the then ruling party (Party of National Unity) and the opposition (Orange Democratic Movement) discussed an agenda for power sharing as well as specific issues of reform. In the course of the deliberations, a need for the establishment of various transitional justice mechanisms came to the fore. Thus, the KNDRC agreed on the establishment of a truth mechanism, a prosecution mechanism and a constitutional reform process. As Kenya oscillated between its gruesome past and its probable transition, the Kenyan Parliament enacted the International Crimes Act in 2008 which law incorporated the Rome Statute.
This contribution takes further the discourse on the implementation of the Rome Statute in Kenya by looking at how the process of implementation and in particular the ICC aspect is impacting on the various transitional justice mechanisms – the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission, constitutional, legal and institutional reform process and the prosecution outfit. In addition, the contribution looks at the manner in which the ICC has informed the local perspectives on justice. It also analyses the principle of complementarity and the extent to which Kenya has adhered to it.
URL:https://www.kas.de/de/web/mned-bruessel/publikationen/einzeltitel/-/content/power-and-prosecution
