Former soldiers awarded Sh55m over 1982 attempted coup

By Lucianne Limo

Nairobi, Kenya: The High Court has awarded Sh55 million to ten former ex-service officers of Kenya Air Force for torture they underwent after the failed 1982 attempted coup.

Justice Isaac Lenaola ordered that each of the petitioners receive Sh5.5 million after they were detained for eight months from August 1982 to March 1983.

“It is clear to my mind that holding of petitioners for eight months without a charge and not being arraigned in court was unlawful and was a clear violation of Section 72 (3) (b) of the repealed Constitution,” Justice Lenaola ruled.

The petitioners had told the court that immediately upon their arrests, they were stripped naked in public, were made to walk on their knees on concrete floors, whipped, kicked around and bludgeoned all over their bodies as they were being taunted that they were ‘educated rubbish’.

They further recalled how they were moved into custody in military trucks whilst naked and in full view of the public.

“In the circumstances, I find and hold that the petitioners were subjected to torture, cruel and degrading treatment. I will quickly dismiss the Attorney General’s submission that the petitioners may have been involved in a mutiny. Torture is not permissible or excusable under any circumstances,” Justice Lenaola said.

The petitioners in the case are David Njau, Shaban Mwadosho, Johana Kisorio, Hassan Mohamed, Daniel Koi and Khamisi Mwamgute.

Others are Peter Mungai, Jacob Wangai, Alfred Mwathethe and Graham Njau.

They told the court that they were all arrested on diverse dates between August 1 and 4, 1982 on suspicion of participating in the failed coup on mere accounts of them being officers of Kenya Air Force.

They alleged that they were frequently moved from one place of detention to another and held in communicado without access to any persons from the outside world who would assist them, including family, friends, lawyers and doctors, in violation of their constitutional rights.

Rights and freedoms

The court also dismissed the AG’s application to strike out the suit on grounds that it had been filed 30 years later.

“To my mind, I do not know any law or a particular provision of the repealed Constitution that provided that a claim based on fundamental rights and freedoms has a limitation period within which the claims ought to be filed, “he added.

Recently, the ten former Kenya Air Force officers have told the court it had taken them 30 years to sue the government because they feared the then Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

The officers, who were seeking compensation for torture they suffered after 1982 coup, said Raila, who was in both the retired President Moi and Kibaki governments, had acknowledged having played a role in the abortive coup.

“There was no way we could sue the government as Raila was also in Kibaki’s government,” former senior private officer with Kenya Air Force James Thandi told Justice Lenaola, adding that no lawyer was willing to represent them.