Soldiers’ kin desperately wait for compensation

In a dusty village on the outskirts of Othaya, Nyeri, carpeted by rows and rows of tea leaves, a wrinkled old man stares at a grave tucked at a corner of his piece of land. His face appears aged by the torment of losing his only son.

Maina Karari remembers it as if it happened yesterday. Nearly two years ago he buried his son, 24-year-old Army Private George Karari who had gone missing in action in the battle for Miido, Somalia, in June 2012. For weeks, the 51-year-old was on tenterhooks waiting for any news of his missing son.