The Cultural Face of Impunity 103

Together with other faces, impunity in Kenya can be seen as having a cultural face. A cultural dimension of the type of impunity being experienced in Kenya today can be supported by the presence of various pre-colonial cultural councils that were set up to deal with lawlessness. For example, writing about the customs of the Ameru8 of Kenya, Nyaga (1997:39) reveals that the Ameru had several governing structures that were set up to punish criminals and curb impunity. These structures included the famous njuri nceke9 which was the main council of elders. Under the watchful eye of the njuri nceke, impunity was minimized among the Ameru and the people enjoyed a just society.

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The cultural face of impunity becomes more glaring when a consideration of marriage and the dowry system is evaluated. Marriage and the ‘dowry or bride price’ (John Mbiti, 1992:140) system had their usefulness and made for a lot of meaning in society. Nevertheless, they also had their disadvantages and opportunities for misuse. Although dowry10 differed from community to community, the dowry system generally gave undue advantage to the man and became a cradle for impunity in marriage. Although Mbiti (1992:141) ignores all the negative connotations on dowry, blaming them on “outsiders” the dowry system remains a lee way for many inequalities in marriage. During the CBS (OI: 26/06/2012) it was noted that impunity is prevalent even in today’s marriages because the dowry system still exists and gives the male partner an upper hand in the union.

Apart from marriage and the dowry system, several other cultural institutions were seedbeds for impunity including tribal circumcision, and systems of tribal leadership (Osogo, 1987; Muriuki, 1987). In the place of initiation and circumcision for example, Mbiti (1992:122) argues that the occasion presented to the initiates privileges and advantages which were not open to those not initiated. It elevated them to another level of existence altogether. This elevation, if unchecked presented several avenues in which impunity thrived in societies.

Given the presence and prevalence of impunity in culture, several communities devised systems of governance that helped curtail but at the same time propel impunity. For example, Saberwal (1970:73) writing about the

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Embu people of Kenya, observes that among the Embu, a council of elders maintained order in the community and hence fought impunity. By giving several cases of disregard of elders directives, Seberwal reveals that impunity was rife among the Embu even before colonial contacts. At some point he reveals that the body of elders did not adequately deal with impunity. As such it is observable from his argument that if the elders failed at whatever point, then the community would device its own mechanisms of fighting impunity. For example, he writes that,

…if a man was determined to evade an obligation or a liability, his adversary could find little redress in the elders council. The relationship between them would probably be strained and some informal sanctions applied. Individuals who had managed to antagonize a large number of neighbours no doubt felt the force of informal ostracism; this could be made a formal act through the laying of a public curse (Saberwal, 1970:81).

Several other Kenyan communities had ways of containing society hence addressing impunity. The Akamba of Kenya also had governments that ensured cohesiveness of the society. In the face of impunity and case of disregard of the their law, Ndeti (1972:104) writes that in case of individuals acting in ways that threatened the existence of the community, the most serious and collective retaliation was evoked. The Akamba community took responsibility to protect itself against outlaws to the extent of killing some and banishing others.

The Agikuyu of Kenya, as Muriuki (1974:111) writes, had “knit family (nyumba) systems. Each family was regarded as a social and administrative unit under the headship of the father.” The father was supreme in all family

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matters. Beyond the family, was the clan or mbari, whose affairs were co- ordinated by a mbari council and thus the kikuyu controlled impunity.

Unfortunately, for many African societies many of these structures were male dominated and were controlled by a certain class of people. Therefore, impunity in pre-colonial Kenya can be seen to have had a gendered face which was mainly patriarchal. Different forms of patriarchy presented women with distinct “rules of the game” and defined for them how they were to live. Under patriarchy life options were minimized with varying potential for active or passive resistance in the face of oppression. Under such options, conditions for the proliferation of impunity were multiplied. Even though, it needs to be noted that impunity in pre-colonial Kenya though given impetus by culture and patriarchy, had a subtle face in that it was not outright.

It is not in the interest of this study to venture deeply into a cultural aspect of impunity. However, what can be noted is that there is a cultural side however minimal to the face of impunity that is experienced in Kenya today. Admittance is therefore made of the fact that not all impunity being experienced in Kenya today emanates from colonial contacts.

Impunity mostly is couched in male dominated structures which not only trade but dominate structures of power and authority. This means that impunity and authority or power over thrive together. It can also be said that although there was impunity in Kenya before contacts with the colonialist it was not at the level as it is experienced today. It is probable that colonialism and imperialism gave Kenyan impunity the face that it wears today.

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3.2.1.1 Gendered Perspectives

Cultural transactions necessarily yield impunity that has a gendered face. Although gendered impunity is very detrimental to both gender, the worst effects bear upon women in Kenyan cultures. As was noted during the CBS, women’s experiences are varied depending on their social location and proximity to the empire. Even tough, their experience under any form of patriarchy is one of second class or lower citizen status. Therefore, gender perspectives become necessary in reading empire and impunity because of the impetus gender positions are given by the struggles for power.

It will be acknowledged that Kenyan women have been recipients of impunity in almost all sectors: in the homes as spousal abuse, on the roads where women drivers are bullied, in employment spaces where they are sexually exploited, silenced, harassed and violated; in all these sectors, women bear the blunt of impunity in Kenya (OI: 03/05/2012). This experience is worsened if it is given impetus by texts of the empire and the Bible in particular.

Readings by a myriad of postcolonial feminist writers have exposed how the Bible has conformed to its social-historic setting to condone patriarchy and impunity in all its status quo. This is to say that postcolonial texts propound relationships of profound inequality (Dube, 2007:17). Most of these relationships are driven by expansionist aims that exhibit fear of difference while promoting authority of certain groups over others (Ibid).

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