Versions of Truth and Collective Memory: The Quest for Forgiveness and Healing in the Context of Kenya's Postelection Violence

The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) in Kenya was set up in the aftermath of the 2007/8 postelection violence with the mandate of providing a platform for those who had experienced political injustices. This crucial organ in the project of national reconciliation has unfortunately spent most of the first half of its tenure dealing with internal squabbles. There have been claims that some of its commissioners do not merit holding positions in such an esteemed body. The chairman of the TJRC faced criticism regarding his integrity, which has led to his resignation. The TJRC's problems were further compounded by "the ethnic angle" the debate took when members of one community declared that they will not participate in the TJRC if the chairman is removed (Kenya National Accord Monitoring Project). Against this backdrop, this review essay discusses selected narratives in Billy Kahora's Kwani? 5 The Fire This Time as an alternative repository of stories, memories, and versions of truths that could perhaps guide the country on a path of truth, justice, forgiveness and reconciliation.

The significance of Kwani? 5 to our understanding of the postelection violence hinges on the journal's retrieval of stories that evoke contrary memories to those in circulation, and in so doing, provide alternative accounts to the official government version of the causes of ethnic tensions and violence in Kenya. The versions of "truths" from official political organs are in conflict with the "truths" as narrated in Kwani? 5. The journal uncovers a form of repressed knowledge, widely unacknowledged within the official political discourse. As such, Kwani? 5 is an important tool for victims and perpetrators of the election violence who need to tell their stories. The importance of this text lies in the multiplicity of voices and stories told, often contested, sometimes contradictory and incomplete.

With five print editions to date, Kwani? is an avant-garde journal that includes both fiction and creative nonfiction. Its title—Kwani—is the shortened form of the Kiswahili term "kwa nini," which means "why." The use of the word "kwani" as the title of the journal gives indications of the possible directions the contents take, asking questions that bear on the country's creative space. Kwani?5 is part of a twin edition comprising a collective narrative, with contributions from over fifty writers, photographers, poets, and cartoonists on what Kenya was before, during, and in the aftermath of the 2007 violence. Billy Kahora, the editor of Kwani? 5, states that in light of the journal's driving force of posing the question "why," the twin editions boldly attempt to articulate the issues why Kenya exploded in violence in late 2007, early 2008. Like previous editions, the contents of Kwani? 5 include short stories, poetry, cartoons, travelogues, and narratives.

In reviewing this text, I have selected five narratives from the Kwani testimonial project (40-71), and the nonfiction travelogue by the Canadian journalist Tim Querengesser (202-18). The physical locations of the testimonial project and the travelogue constitute some of the most volatile hotspots of the post-election violence. The five narratives forming the testimonial project capture the testimonies from people who were involved on all sides of the conflict, stories that were not told by mainstream media. In the words of Kwani? 5 online editor Arno Kopecky, "[W]hatever name they went by, we wanted Kenyans to speak for themselves. We wanted them to speak at length and not be reduced to a brief quote in support of someone else's story" (48). The travelogue is a reflection of Querengesser's actual experience with victims, perpetrators, and bystanders of the violence in Kisumu. The title of the travelogue is "Victoria Rising," a reference to the upheavals the writer, Querengesser, captures in his journey through the city of Kisumu, an urban center in western Kenya, located on the shores of Lake Victoria. Kisumu was one of the hotspots of the postelection violence. The greatest number of deaths and displacements were in the densely populated and fertile region of the country-the Rift...