Politicians stole our victory

He confesses that he was part of the team that plotted the 1982 coup, but Benson Otieno has no regrets.

Instead the former senior private with the Air Force accuses the current crop of politicians of having derailed the “ideal dreams of soldiers who put their lives on the line to liberate the country from a repressive regime”.

He was detained as one of the prisoners whose fates were unknown for 16 years. But 28 years after his arrest, he says he has more questions than answers to what the government’s intentions were by arresting him.

He walked out of detention, thanks to a presidential pardon in 1997. But he says that was the seed that led to the birth of democracy in the country.

“Before the coup, we were in a dictatorship. Soldiers were living in poor conditions, the cost of living for civilians was rising every day yet nobody could talk because of fear of repression”.