Navy boss demanded gay sex- Dismissed soldier

 While serving in the Navy, I was seduced on several occasions by a male warrant officer- Former Private Julius Kithi

A former Kenya Navy soldier now claims he was sacked from the military 11 years ago for refusing to have sex with a male senior officer.

Julius Kithi, then working at the Kenya Navy base in Mtongwe, has now filed suit papers at the Mombasa Labour and Employment Court seeking orders to sue the military for illegal sacking.

He claims the senior officer, who is still in service at the base, pressured him many times but he declined, leading to his dismissal on what Kithi now says were false allegations against him.

In the court papers, Kithi says the senior officer made homosexual demands verbally and through nuances when both were in the military band at the base or when they travelled on official duty.

Regarding why he has taken long before suing, Kithi says he was to file the suit within one year, but had no money, hence the reason it has taken long to move to court.

Kithi’s application has caused panic at the Navy base and within the military, amid fears it could open a Pandora’s Box on gay activity in the disciplined forces.

Kithi, who left the military as a private, alleges that besides brazen seduction, the senior officer often praised him saying, “You are very beautiful.”

He adds that, “While serving in the Navy, I used to be seduced on several occasions by a male officer, Warrant Officer 1 (name withheld) of Kenya Navy band, to engage in homosexual activity but I declined, resulting in hostilities, degrading, disgraceful frustration and inhuman treatment,” said Kithi in his submission.

Kithi who has applied before Justice James Rika says that after he refused the sexual advances of the warrant officer, he was subjected to malicious prosecution, wrongful imprisonment and eventually unlawful dismissal from the service on May 5, 2006.

Kithi who wants to be compensated for wrongful dismissal, accused Kenya Navy of triggering malicious prosecution in case number 2437 of 2007, in which he was acquitted in September 2012.

The Attorney General’s office in Mombasa has indicated it will apply to be enjoined in the case to defend all officers named in Kithi’s application.

His tribulations began in 2006 when Kithi was arrested by military police and charged with illegal ownership of military uniform, which the military alleged he stole after being dismissed for desertion.

He was charged before Mombasa Senior Principal Magistrate Richard Odenyo who acquitted him after finding that Kithi had given a true version of what transpired and led to his sacking.

In his judgement, Odenyo described Kithi’s superiors as “embodiment of impunity” and found him credible and cited discrepancies in the evidence adduced by military officers.

Before dismissal from the military Kithi, was detained in the military guardroom at the base for 40 days and ordered out of the camp without a charge of desertion.

He said he was enlisted in Kenya Navy Service on October 27, 1997 and was trained at Military Training School in Eldoret and upon completing his training was posted to Kenya Navy, Mtongwe base, where he joined a Navy band.

He says in the affidavit that one day when the Warrant Officer 1 went to his house at night, he tried to rape him, but he resisted and a fight ensued between him and the officer.

During the fight, Kithi said he managed to thwart his advances and grabbed his wrist rank insignia W.O.1 which is among the exhibits he will produce in court, besides his photograph.

Justice Rika ordered the application for leave to sue the state to be heard on June 14, 2017.

Kithi is represented by Abubakar Yusuf, while the state is represented by the office of the attorney-General.