Four agendas were agreed on and the first agenda was, of course, the cessation of hostility. And then the second up to the fourth had to do with the forming of the government. So our own Commission was among five or six others of what we call “Agenda Four Commissions”. All the others were interim or temporary commissions. They came in under specific themes, did their work and submitted their reports. When we came in, ours was controlled by an Act of Parliament created for us in 2009. We had a negotiating team from all the disputing parties. They sat down and through their wisdom felt that this, our Commission, was supposed to be a permanent and long term Commission mandated with looking at ethnic issues. Ethnicity is a big problem in Kenya and perhaps in other African countries. We came up with a mission, which looks forward to a peaceful existence and harmonious and integrated Kenyan society whose values are harmonious and not discriminatory. We wanted to facilitate equality of opportunity and good relations, one community. We also wanted to eliminate all forms of ethnic, religious and racial discrimination in the Kenyan society through civic education. How were the Commission members appointed? An advertisement was put in major daily papers and for all to respond. A short list was made by the National Assembly or Parliament. Shortlisted candidates were interviewed by the National Assembly’s Committee that was responsible for national cohesion at that time. We were also vetted to ensure that we could meet the test of integrity required. Fifteen names were submitted to the President to appoint nine. Eight from each region and the chairman would come from one of the eight provinces. Ethnicity was an issue and so was regional representation. We were appointed to the Commission for three years renewable for another three years. Things have changed and in 2010 we had a new Constitution, which we had been writing for twenty years. The truth is Constitutions are never written in times of peace. So when we went to “war” we achieved that in 2010. Now the constitution has changed the interview process, which is now initiated by the President who appoints a selection panel to carry out the interviews. The selection panel shortlists, vets and eventually sends the names to Parliament. The Parliament can either approve or reject and all Commissioners work for six years non-renewable. So it’s a transparent process because there are two levels. One is the executive who does it through a selection panel and the names are submitted to the Parliamentary Committees responsible for national cohesion and then to the full parliament who can either accept or reject the names. 58 The Second International Conference on Transitional Justice in Zimbabwe