Shifta War players to face law

Security officers who participated in the Shifta War may soon face the law to account for their participation. Yesterday Parliament approved the Indemnity (Repeal) Bill, which if assented to by the President, would repeal the draconian law passed in 1970. The Indemnity Act shields officers from prosecution and bars victims from seeking compensation.

MPs were outraged by the Act barring residents from filing any claims for compensation with respect to the period of the war or legal proceedings against public officers or members of the armed forces who had anything to do with that war. The Act bars any court or tribunal from entertaining legal proceedings with respect of the prescribed area after the December 25, 1963, and before December 1, 1967. This is the period of the so-called Shifta War during which the Kenya Government deployed security forces to crush insurgents in the Northern Frontier that threatened to secede.