Why the State may pay Sh2 billion to heal 1982 scars

Lieutenant Joseph Kariha and Henry Kamau are the latest servicemen to sue the government over brutalities that befell them after the 1982 coup.

In their case now before the High Court, they claim they were arrested, driven to Athi River Prison cells, stripped naked, placed in cells filled with cold water and tortured for weeks.

Kariha and Kamau may add to the more than Sh2 billion already owed by the government to ex-servicemen who have won cases against the Kenya Defence Forces and the Ministry of Defence.

In his case, Kamau told the court that he was enlisted on January 20, 1989, for basic military training at Lanet.

He narrated that he was later posted at Eastleigh Airbase. On the fateful day, August 1, 1992, Kamau stated that he was off duty, but was nevertheless arrested. He had served for three years and 181 days when hell broke loose.

He claimed they were first taken to Athi River, then Kamiti Maximum Prison, where they spent 25 days being interrogated.

He was later discharged after release.

“That the Government agents beat us using the butt of a gun and later moved us to War Memorial Hospital for treatment of injuries sustained during torture,” he claimed.

On the other hand, Mungai was enlisted 11 years earlier than Kamau. He too was arrested after the failed coup. According to him, the torture was supervised by General Service Unit (GSU) personnel.

The highest award in relation to the attempted coup stands at Sh1.6 billion awarded to 280 former Kenya Air Force servicemen who were dismissed and incarcerated.

Justices Hannah Okwengu, Agnes Murgor and Jamila Mohammed unanimously upheld the judgment issued in favour of the officers led by Warrant Officer I Samuel Gitau.

Unfair firing and suffering

The trio found that Justice Nduma Nderi accurately tabulated the amount each officer is owed by taxpayers based on the unfair sacking, pain and suffering caused by the government.

The amount awarded by the Labour Court was Sh500 million, but attracted interest for non-payment by the Defence Ministry.

There is an ongoing contempt case before Justice John Chigiti against the Ministry’s Principal Secretary over compensation to the officers.

Justices Okwengu (now retired), Murgor and Mohammed observed that the officers were kept hungry for days, denied sleep, physically assaulted, whipped, burned with cigarettes and pricked with pins.

At the same time, the three-judge bench further noted that other officers were hose-piped or kept in waterlogged cells while naked.

According to them, this was cruel and inhumane treatment by an employer.

“We do not think that the amount awarded by the learned judge was based on the wrong principle or was inordinately too high to invite this Court to interfere with the same. Accordingly, we see no reason to interfere with it and uphold the trial court’s awards as granted,” the bench headed by Justice Okwengu ruled.

The Attorney General filed an appeal.

The AG argued that the case was defective as it had been filed out of time. At the same time, the government legal adviser stated that the Employment and Labour Relations Court (ELRC) has no jurisdiction to hear cases arising from human rights violations and wrongful imprisonment.

In addition, the AG said Justice Nderi erred by giving a global award as he did not appreciate the differing and unique circumstances of each soldier.

In this case, the youngest of all servicemen was Charles Kanari. At the time the case was filed, he testified that he was 62 years old.

The man narrated that he had been enlisted in the military on July 2, 1974, when he was 22 years old. By the time the attempted coup happened, he was 32 years old.

On the fateful date, Kanari said he was at the Agricultural Society of Kenya (ASK) show in Nyeri where he had gone to assist his sister-in-law who had a stand there.

He spent the night in Nyeri town. On July 31, 1982, he returned to the showground until evening, when he went back to his hotel room for the night.

Radio announcement

The following day, August 1, he left the hotel for the showground, but outside the hotel found people speaking in whispers and upon asking what was happening he was informed that the Government had been overthrown by the military.

Shortly afterwards, Kanari heard a radio announcement that all military personnel should report to their bases.

On reaching Eastleigh Airbase, he found the gate open with soldiers moving about.

He proceeded to the billet where he was advised to go to the armoury. However, he testified that he did not get a weapon and went to the officers’ mess.

At around 4pm the same day, Kenya Army officers started firing into the air ordering personnel to surrender. Kanari surrendered, knelt down and, with others, was ordered to crawl on tarmac for about 600 yards. After 100 yards his knees started bleeding and he could not continue.

He stated that soldiers beat them with gun butts and he was struck on the cheek, losing his teeth. He was stitched and taken back to barracks, stripped naked, and locked in a room where they slept without bedding and were denied food and water.

From the barracks, they were taken to Kamiti Prison where he and 17 others were locked in a cell without bedding. They were denied toilet facilities except for a bucket.

They remained in Kamiti Prison for three months.

From Kamiti, they were transferred to Naivasha Prison where they were held in similar conditions. Kanari was then taken for interrogation where he was given a statement he refused to sign. He was subsequently locked in a pitch-dark room with ankle-deep smelly water for four days without food or water.

He was later taken back and again pressured to sign a statement or remain detained indefinitely.

Kanari refused to sign, but was later placed in a normal cell with other servicemen.

On December 5, 1982, they were charged at Lang’ata Barracks and jailed for six months.

At discharge, he was a corporal earning about Sh1,600. The ruling now adds to a long wait for justice spanning over 28 years.

The servicemen first filed the case in 1995. Initially, 60 officers were listed, but Justice Jackton Ojwang (retired) allowed it to proceed as a class action.

Ann Wanjiru King’aru – widower

When gunshots rang out on Sunday, August 1, 1982, Ann Wanjiru King’aru had no idea what was happening in Nairobi.

She worked as a banker in Nanyuki and lived at the Nanyuki Airbase where her husband, Captain Kingaru Kariuki, served.

That day she told The Nairobian that Captain King’aru was in present-day Wajir County on assignment.

“I was called by a friend through the landline who told me: King’aru, you are still sleeping, things are not good here,” she said.

The friend urged her to switch on the radio, where she heard the late Leonard Mambo Mbotela on Voice of Kenya (VOK) announcing that the government of President Daniel Moi had been overthrown.

As civilians scrambled to leave the barracks, King’aru stayed put.

Soon Kenya Army arrived and rounded up airmen, expelling civilians from the barracks.

“When we looked outside, we saw men in uniform kneeling on the road and we did not know what was happening.”

A colleague later offered her shelter outside Nanyuki town, but she struggled with commuting and caring for her children.

She later learnt that her husband had been detained and taken to Kamiti Prison before being moved to Naivasha GK Prison.

After six months, Captain King’aru was released in September 1983, a broken man who never spoke about his ordeal.

He later worked as a matatu driver and then with The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP0 after relocating to Nairobi in 1985.

He fell ill in 1989 and later died in 1996 after battling cancer and diabetes.

King’aru became the family breadwinner and continued raising their three children.

In 2014, Justice Linet Ndolo ruled that the airmen were unlawfully detained and tortured, awarding each Sh8 million.

Antony Warukira Kiarie

Antony Warukira was a school boy when the attempted coup took place.

He says that his father Lawrence Kiarie had moved the family from the Eastleigh Airbase to Nkoroi, Kajiado County, in July 1981.

On the material day, the family was at home unaware of what had happened until one of his uncles who visited informed his father what was going on.

“We were having breakfast when my uncle came from Kikuyu and asked my dad, ‘haven’t you heard what is happening?’.”

After he was informed of what had happened, he picked another airman who lived not far from his home and they both left for Moi Airbase.
The two were, however, arrested and detained by army men from Lang’ata Barracks in Nairobi.

His family did not know what had happened and days later his mother Rocxanah Wairimu decided to visit Lang’ata Barracks to look for her husband.

“When she went there she encountered very hostile soldiers who told her that they had killed her husband.”

Wairimu decided to visit the Department of Defence where she was informed that her husband may be among those being detained at Kamiti Prison at that time

The following year Kiarie was released, and his son says that he was never the same man.

His joy had disappeared and his family started struggling financially, leading Warukira to drop out of school due to lack of fees.

Kiarie was never employed due to the ‘traitors’ tag that was being spread about him and the other soldiers who had been detained at the time

He was among nine petitioners who sued the government in the Constitutional Division of the High Court in December 2012

By this time Kairie was suffering from cancer and he battled the disease until May 2014 when he died and months later it was discovered that his wife Wairimu was also suffering from the disease too

In May 2015 Justice Isaac Lenaola ruled in favour of the airmen and Kiarie was awarded Sh850,000 with interest thereafter.

The following year in July 2016 Wairimu died from cancer a bitter woman who had witnessed a win in the corridors of justice, but was yet to taste the fruits of her husband’s labour.

The family has never received a penny from the government that violated the rights of Kairie.

David Njau

David Njau is another one of the soldiers who were detained by the Army after the attempted coup.

He was at the Moi Airbase when the air siren went off, which meant that the country was under attack and every soldier should be armed.

“I went to the armory to get a gun but I did not get one so I went to the officers mess,” he recounts.

Here he found his colleagues who were confused over what had happened and soon they would find out that a section of their colleagues wanted to overthrow the government.

They were rounded up by their colleagues who wanted to take control of the air by deploying fighter jets to bomb critical security installations, such as the General Service Unit headquarters.

After the rebel soldiers left, Njau and his colleagues through the command of their senior officer decided to stay at the mess and put all their arms in one place and hoist a white flag.

By this time, they had known that the Army was out to get anyone they perceived was part of the coup plotters.

As they were sitting there, they were found by the Army men who rounded them up.

“We were surrounded and were told to surrender, they beat us up and had us strip naked making us to crawl on the floor.”

Njau and his colleagues were taken to the Kamiti Prison where they were detained and tortured before being moved to the Naivasha Prison.

“At Naivasha we were tortured where our interrogators asked us to confess that we were part of the plot and that we would be freed.”

Njau says they were denied food and made to sleep in water logged cells and endured beatings in the hands of the army men.

After refusing to confess and not breaking despite the torture, they were freed after six months in detention.

They were taken to the Kahawa Barracks where they were told to pick clothes from a heap and then board a lorry.

The lorry took them to the central business district (CBD) where every soldier was given different amounts of money and told to go home, their services were no longer needed.

By this time, he did not know where his family was and he decided to visit his sister-in-law’s office to ask for their whereabouts.

He was told his family was in Kangemi and his children did not recognise him at first due to his unkempt hair.

He would look for menial jobs to provide for his family before he was eventually employed by the Tana and Athi Rivers Development Agency (Tarda) after two parastatals refused to offer him a job due to his past.
Njau says that Tarda had to write to the Ministry of Defence for him to be cleared for employment.

In 2012, together with nine other soldiers they filed a case at the High Court’s constitutional division.

In December 2013, Justice Isaac Lenaola awarded the 10 ex-soldiers Sh5.5 million each for the violation of their rights and wrongful detention at court interest until payment in full.

Muigai Njoroge

Muigai Njoroge’s experience mirrors Njau’s in many ways, though his escape took a different path. The moment he realised something extraordinary had unfolded, he fled to his rural home in Githunguri, Kiambu County, hoping distance would shield him from the unfolding crackdown.

“There was no coup, it was a plot by a small group of airmen and very few people knew about it.”

He says most officers in the Air Force neither knew about the plot nor supported it.

After fleeing to Githunguri, he did not stay for long before surrendering to the police since at the time, the government had informants everywhere.

He was apprehended and taken to Kamiti where he was seriously tortured before being moved to Naivasha where it was no better.

Njoroge says that part of their detention happened due to the bad blood between the Army and the Air Force. “The Army used to employ fairly well learned men compared to our colleagues in the army.”

His detention was similar Njau’s and after six months in custody, they were taken to Kahawa Barracks before being taken to the CBD where they were given bus fare and dismissed.

He says that by the time the coup attempt was taking place, President Moi and his security top brass had been informed of the coup.

Months leading to August 1, 1982, the special branch which by this time had heavily infiltrated the Kenya Defence Forces had picked up talk about the coup and so did the Military Intelligence.

President Moi had been informed of the plot to overthrow his administration while at the Nyeri Agricultural show where then special branch James Kanyotu sought permission from Moi to arrest the man they believed was the master planner.

Njoroge went back to Githunguri where he began to pick up the pieces of his life, which lay in ruins after his dismissal and was required to report to the chief every two weeks.

He applied to join the US Army where he was accepted and served in missions in Afghanistan and other places including Africa.

“During my interviews I was scared to inform them of my past with the Kenyan Army where I was detained and fired.”

He says that his recruiters told him that they knew about what had happened and that there was no reason to worry.