In Africa, ODU Professor Sees Benefits of Kenyan-style Mediation

Professor Victoria Time on campus at Old Dominion University.

By Sam McDonald

Victoria Time spent a year in Kenya probing that country's approach to crime, punishment, and reconciliation.

The Old Dominion University professor of sociology and criminal justice saw many benefits to the Kenyan model, a set of practices promoting social harmony as well as fairness.

Those values are written into the nation's constitution. Article 159.2 recommends Kenyans seek alternative, informal ways of settling disputes — mediation, arbitration, or traditional methods — and avoid battling it out in court.

"The basis for mediation in Kenya is to restore peace in society. It's harmony," Time said. "The mediator is more like a referee who listens and makes sure that both sides articulate everything they have to say."

"At the end of it all, he would ask them, how do you think you can resolve your problems? The parties themselves come up with a solution. It's not imposed on them, so it doesn't create acrimony. There's no finger pointing."

Egregious crimes like rape or murder must be tried in Kenyan courts, she noted.

"But even after the judge has pronounced a verdict, he still sends the case back for mediation because he wants peace to be restored."

Victoria Time sits with residents of Kibwezi, Makueni County, Kenya. Citizens gathered near the chief’s office.

On Thursday, Oct. 19, Time will give a talk detailing her discoveries during her year at University of Nairobi as a Fulbright Scholar.

Her lecture, "Justice at the Grassroots Level in Kenya: A Fulbright Sponsored Research Project," will take place 3 p.m. in Room 9024 of ODU's Batten Arts and Letters Building.

Time, who has submitted an initial journal article about her research, observed 31 local trials, taking notes on how Kenya's brand of mediation operates. She also interviewed 52 chiefs and elders as well as 10 professionals including judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and law professors.

Time plans to explore the subject further in a book about alternative methods of conflict resolution. For that, she'll collaborate with her friend Dr. Kivutha Kibwana, a former Kenyan governor and constitutional scholar.

"I know there's debate about comparing countries, particularly when they are so dissimilar as the U.S. and a relatively smaller country like Kenya," Time said. "But we can always learn something."

The United States is the most litigious nation on Earth, she said. In contrast to the American style of justice, the Kenyan approach doesn't seek winners and losers. It seeks peace.

Victoria Time poses with Chief Anthony Munyao, who served as a mediator in his community.

"Wouldn't we all like to live in a peaceful environment? What benefit is there when mom sues her son for 50 bucks? Now, there is this big rift in the family," Time said. "It makes no sense."

"Almost everyone deplores the violence that's become so commonplace in American life," she said. Adjusting how we handle conflict could turn down the temperature, creating better growing conditions for cultural harmony.

That's one of the lessons she learned in Kenya.

"We can live in peace if we have the will to do so."