Paliamentary committee on a fact finding mission

BY GEORGE MUNYORI

NAIROBI, June 13 - Two parliamentary committees said on Friday that they were to visit Mount Elgon District on a fact finding mission, amid claims that suspects are being tortured by a security team conducting a military operation there.

The Administration and National Security Committee together with the Defence and Foreign Relations Committee will tour the area in the next two weeks, to determine whether allegations that the military was using excessive force in the ongoing operation there are true.

Defence Committee Chairman Aden Keynan Friday said they are yet to decide on a convenient date to embark on the tour.

“We need to know from residents what happened so that we can prepare a conclusive report for Parliament,” Keynan told journalists.

Military personnel have in the last few months been conducting a massive operation to root out members of the Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF), who are accused of reigning terror on Mt Elgon residents.

The operation has however drawn criticism from local and international human rights groups over allegations of killings, torture and rape of civilians by the military.

In May, the state-run Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) released a damning report that called for the prosecution of nine top security officials over torture.

Those named in the report include Defence Minister Yusuf Hajji, Chief of the General Staff General Jeremiah Kianga, Police Commissioner Major General Mohammed Hussein Ali and Army Commander Lt Gen Augustino Njoroge.

Speaking in Parliament after meeting KNCHR officials, Mt Elgon MP and Chairman of the House National Security Committee Fred Kapondi, said Keynan would lead them during the tour.

“I’m an interested party and therefore it would not go down well if I lead the committees to Mt Elgon. So I will take the back seat as the area MP.”

On Friday morning, Hajji appeared before the Defense Committee over the military operation there.

Keynan said the Defense Assistant Minister Joseph Nkaissery and a top military official also appeared before them as they got to the bottom of the human rights abuse claims.

The Minister had been summoned by the committee last Thursday to respond to reports that army officers were responsible for human rights abuses in the security operation in Mt Elgon.

Courtesy of:http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/Local/Parliamentary-committee-on-a-fact-finding-mission.html