Lawyer in Matiba detention case seeks Sh234m payment

A lawyer, who successfully represented politician Kenneth Matiba in a case against the government is seeking a Sh234 million payment.

Lawyer John Mburu filed the bill of costs of Sh234,614,128 and will now appear before the registrar of the High Court on November 15 for taxation.

The amount due to Mr Matiba has since increased to more than Sh1.5 billion arising from interest accrued since the judgment was given on August 16.

Mr Mburu has cited extensive research, taking instructions and huge documentation to support the petition and payments made to various libraries as he researched for the case, as reasons for his costs.

SUE

He successfully represented Mr Matiba, who sued the State for illegal detention and for torture he underwent in the hands of government agents for agitating for a return to multi-partyism.

The court awarded him Sh978.4 million for special and general damages plus costs of filing the case with interest. The amount has since risen to more than Sh1.5 billion. Mr Mburu described the case as a complex matter.

Mr Matiba, described by the court as an avid sportsman, was arrested together with other heroes, including Mr Charles Rubia, and detained for agitating for a return to multiparty democracy.

While in detention, he suffered a stroke on May 26, 1991, but he did not get medical attention for one week.

Justice Isaac Lenaola (now a Supreme Court Judge), who ordered the State to compensate him, described Mr Matiba as a fitness buff who climbed mountains and was known as an avid outdoorsman.

But he was reduced to a state of complete inactivity after detention.