Hunger strike survivors seek compensation

Former Subukia MP Koigi wa Wamwere addresses a press briefing in Nakuru on January 2, 2022. [File, Standard]

Four men who were among a group of persons who, on March 3, 1992, were at Freedom Corner within Uhuru Park in a peaceful hunger strike, agitating for the release of former Subukia MP Koigi wa Wamwere and 53 other political prisoners urged the Supreme Court to consider an order for compensation.

While faulting the Court of Appeal for failing to find that they had been brutalised by the police, Peter Njuguna, John Ndung’u, Joseph Njoroge and Henry Mburu argued that the lower court was bound by the apex court’s finding in Koigi wa Wamwere’s mother’s case, since they were beaten up together.

Their lawyer Gitau Mwara argued that his clients were with Priscilla Mwara Kimani, Esther Gathoni Shichimu, Lucy Waturi Kimani, Michal Maina Kamami and Koigi Wainaina at the Uhuru Park, the proceeded to the All-Saints Cathedral in protest.

He said that Justices Hannah Okwengu, John Mativo and Ngenye Macharia ought to have factored the circumstances and adopt Supreme Court’s verdict.

The three Court of Appeal Judges upheld Justice Isaac Lenaola’s judgment that the four men had not proved their case.

However, their lawyer Gitau Mwara told Chief Justice Martha Koome, Smokin Wanjala, Njoki Ndung’u, William Ouko and Mohamed Warsame that his clients were also victims of police violence.

“Five of the seven cases have been resolved. The Court of Appeal ought to have adopted the same compensation for persons.  They were at Uhuru Park together, they were at the cathedral together, they were beaten together; why would the cases not be similar?” paused Mwara.

In response, the Attorney General urged the court to dismiss the case.  Senior State Counsel Thande Kuria said that far from the other cases, none of the four men had provided before the two lower courts evidence to back their claims.

“Although the court decided the case of Monica Wangu on the basis that the lower court did not appreciate transitional justice, there is a question as to whether the appellants have fulfilled the obligation to provide evidence,” he replied.

Last year, a five-judge bench composed of CJ, her deputy Philomena Mwilu and Wanjala,  Njoki and Ouko ruled that  Wamwere’s mother, Wangu, was inhumanly treated by the State when she protested against her son’s arrest.

The court has also awarded Mwara, Gathoni Waturi, Maina and Wainaina equal amount of money.

According to the judges, the six did not require to prove that they were physically harmed for the court to intervene.

While disagreeing with the Court of Appeal and the High Court, the five judges were of the view that the trauma that the six suffered after the government violently disrupted their assembly at the Freedom Corner, Uhuru Park, Nairobi County.

“Although the appellants did not exhibit any physical injuries or medical reports, we are persuaded that the whole incident had a psychological/traumatic effect on them. This in our view can be equated to inhuman treatment which was a violation Section 74(1) of the repealed Constitution. This is because the respondent did not give any justifiable reason(s) whatsoever why it was necessary to violently disrupt and disband the protests by the appellants who were harmless,” the Supreme Court ruled.

In 2015, Koigi got Sh12 million from the Court of Appeal.  He had initially been awarded Sh2.5 million by the High Court.

On appeal, judges found that the amount was inadequate.

Koigi’s mother claimed that her house was razed by Government operatives and her land grabbed by senior State officials.

At the same time, the court heard that on March 3, 1992, while the group was still going on with their peaceful demonstration, they were brutally attacked and assaulted by over 100 police officers and General Service Unit (GSU) officers.

They claimed that they were harassed, arrested, taken to various police stations and thereafter ferried to their rural homes with a warning not to go back to Nairobi.

The caution, according to them, fell on deaf ears as the demonstrators were determined to see their cause through. About one to five days later, all the demonstrators found their way back in Nairobi. This time around, they continued with their demonstration at All Saints Cathedral Church, where they were holed in a bunker, until January 19, 1993, when the last lot of the political prisoners were released. However, the appellants contended that from time to time between March 4, 1992, and January 19, 1993, police officers continued to brutally assault them.