Former soldiers: Kisumu court gives AG 14 days to respond
Former Kenya Air Force soldiers display their discharge certificates after a press briefing in Kisumu on June 22, 2017. PHOTO | ONDARI OGEGA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Former soldiers mostly from Western Kenya and Rift Valley are demanding their full pension, terminal and other allowances they say they are entitled to
- They say in addition to losing their terminal benefits they were also tortured
- The former servicemen have appealed to the President to implement the TJRC report
Attorney-General Paul Kariuki has 14 days to file his submissions in a case involving 80 former Kenya Air Force soldiers.
The office of the AG was not present in the Employment and Labour Relations Court in Kisumu court yesterday, prompting Justice Nduma Nderi to ask for the submissions before the matter comes up for mentioning on December 5.
Earlier this year, 76 former soldiers filed the petition, but it has since been amended to include four more officers to bring the number to 80.
UNPAID SALARIES
In the case, the former soldiers mostly from Western Kenya and Rift Valley are demanding their full pension, terminal and other allowances they say they are entitled to.
They said they were wrongfully dismissed from service and later lost their dues, pension terminal benefits, gratuity and unpaid salaries.
The former soldiers want the court to declare the treatment they were subjected to a breach of human rights. They also want the period they were detained in prison and military cells without being arraigned in court be declared an illegal act.
The former officers from Busia, Bungoma, West Pokot and Trans Nzoia counties were serving in the Kenya Air Force at the time of the attempted coup in August 1, 1982. They were arrested between August 1 and 4, 1982 on suspicion that they participated in the attempted coup, the court heard.
TJRC REPORT
They said they were subjected to torture and degrading treatment including being stripped naked in public and being whipped with some suffering permanent injuries.
Despite feeling the sentences were unconstitutional and unfair, they said they served their jail terms.
The former soldiers had appealed to President Uhuru Kenyatta to implement the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission report and have them paid their full retirement benefits.
Mr Harrison Okiru Baraza said they had shared their plight with the commission and it was captured in their report. “The President should implement the report so that we are compensated as it was stated there,” said Mr Baraza.
For instance, Mr Job Taalam, a former soldier, said one of them was awarded Sh37 million recently, yet others have been abandoned. “Most of us are victims of circumstances, yet we are being treated as second class citizens,” said Mr Taalam.
