The first documented report on possible crimes against humanity in Kenya was compiled in 1984 and handed over to an American diplomat, Barbara Lefkow, who smuggled it out of the country in an envelope.
It was she who blew the whistle on what is today known as the Wagalla massacre — the killing and maiming of innocent villagers at a sun-baked airstrip in northern Kenya.
Lefkow was lucky to get away with the envelope. But Dr Annalena Tonelli, the Italian nun who compiled the report, was declared persona non grata and chased out of her Catholic mission in Kenya.
She settled in Somaliland and was killed four years ago just as the Narc Government promised to reopen the case. The case was never reopened and the seeds of impunity planted in north-eastern Kenya have spread.
Today, Dr Tonelli's grave lies alongside hundreds of other bodies she buried in unmarked graves inside Wajir Catholic Rehabilitation Centre. Her story, and parts of crucial evidence, are gone.
Unknown to many, the Shifta war, or rather the war against Somali secessionists, created a culture of impunity, which was institutionalised via the Indemnity Act Cap. 44.
This Act gave provincial administrators and security officers immunity from prosecution for anything they did in northern Kenya.
The law actually says that “no proceeding or claim to compensation or indemnity shall be instituted or made in or entertained by any court, or by any authority or tribunal established by or under any law” for anything done in the interest of public safety after the 25th December, 1963, and before 1st December, 1967 when Somali President Ali Shermarke signed a ceasefire with President Kenyatta.
That was the genesis of the impunity we are talking about these days. It gave security officers the right to wage war in the interest of public safety and Government officials the right to trample on people’s freedoms and liberties without fear of ever facing the law.
Today, despite of the incriminating evidence collected by Dr Tonelli, nobody has ever been prosecuted, even though the Wagalla Massacre took place later in 1984. But there were many other killings by security forces that were recorded.
Sadly, Dr Tonelli’s envelope and its details are long forgotten. Even as we run after those behind the recent post-election violence, there is little talk about this particular envelope.
This tells us a lot about our collective amnesia and the road we have travelled towards the current impunity that runs deep in our system.
It tells us why President Kibaki, who was in Government when these crimes were committed, is talking about forgiveness and not retributive justice.
Both the post-election violence and the Shifta war were triggered by a fallout at the ballot box.
The violent crackdown on Somalis was after they unanimously voted in an informal referendum to rejoin the greater Somalia shortly before independence. It had all along been expected, and Somalis were psyched to believe that they would be united.
But there was pressure from James Gichuru, Tom Mboya and others to the settlers that they would not accept independence without North Eastern Province. Britain gave in.
One reason why the Wagalla envelope may never see the light of day is because it is traced back to the colonial deceit done on Somalis on the eve of their independence, including the rigged referendum in Djibouti.
It later became part of the cold War and military alliances against Somalis via a treaty signed by Kenyatta and Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie.
Most atrocities done in NEP were documented but it is only the Wagalla Massacre where a key witness put everything on paper, prompting then Internal Security minister Justus ole Tipis to throw her out. Dr Tonelli, who arrived here in 1969 after the initial war had ended, talked of hundreds.
While it is in order to dwell on the Waki envelope, it is improper to forget the Wagalla Massacre envelope. Those who committed these atrocities should also pay.