Geneva: A vigorous dialogue after all

The Constitution. Equality. Land. Transitional justice. Youth.

As summarised by Kofi Annan at his public closing of the meeting, the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation was a positive response to our national crisis — but the space to make it a cure rather than a band-aid is shrinking.

The coalition is not widely viewed as implementing the mediation agreements or prioritising public needs.

But it is not too late for statesmanship. Confidence must be restored in all public institutions.

Accountability rather than impunity will enable movement forward. Multi-stakeholder dialogue is the way to go. The regional and international community remain available to contribute — but the primary responsibility rest with Kenyans.

Kenya provided a model for the rest of Africa in 2002. We provided a different kind of model in 2007 — that Ghana averted conflagration during its own elections is attributed, in part, to the awareness of our own conflagration.

In conclusion, in 2002, Kenya lost the opportunity to move on both the economic and the political agenda.

The focus on the economic at the expense of the political brought us inexorably to the brink in 2007/8.

Now, given the imperatives posed daily by the economic consequences of the crisis — coupled with the impacts of the global financial crisis — we must resist the temptation to do the same thing expecting different results.

L. Muthoni Wanyeki, executive director of the Kenya Human Rights Commission, participated in the Geneva meeting. The article above, while attempting to broadly distil discussions at the meeting, is nevertheless her own personal reading.