Kenyans to pay for the sin of detention

It’s the break of dawn for the Nyayo House torture chamber victims now basking in a High Court judgment that has handed them a historic award to compensate them for their dark days in political detention.

And the compensation – won by seven former victims of the Kanu regime terror machine in the 1980s – is coming at a cost to taxpayers that may well run into hundreds of millions of shillings should all the victims win similar or higher awards, the Sunday Nation has learnt.

The victims paid the price for the free speech enjoyed today at a time when then President Moi’s name was only mentioned in whispers for fear of political reprisal. Some paid with their lives, some with their careers, some with their families and some with their health.

High Court Judge Roselyne Wendoh has compensated the first batch of seven victims who sought redress four years ago and came up with a ruling that awards them Sh1.5 million each for their troubles, namely torture, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.

In addition, there are 24 pending cases and 58 others to be filed by detention and torture victims seeking justice for the days they spent in dark, underground cells where solitude and hunger were only exchanged for brutality at the hands of officers from the then Directorate of State Intelligence, also known at the time as the Special Branch.

The historic ruling has been hailed as a legal milestone by the Law Society of Kenya, a number of whose members found themselves in political detention in the 1980s and 1990s.

LSK Chairman Okong’o O’Mogeni told the Sunday Nation that the ruling sets a precedent for any future cases where the accused prove beyond reasonable doubt that they were victims of political terror. 

“But this is subject to the fact that an appeal is not filed. Therefore, although judges are not bound to follow it, the ruling, being from the High Court, has a persuasive authority,” said Mr O’Mogeni.

The chairman said that the ruling opens the gates for anyone who suffered in the torture chambers to seek compensation. However, he was unable to commit himself on whether the amount of compensation was sufficient.

“It would all depend on the injuries sustained. There are those that may have sustained physical injuries while others had mental and psychological injuries. It will depend on the individual,” he said.

Central Imenti MP (CCU) Gitobu Imanyara termed Justice Wendoh’s ruling a decision worth celebrating. The legislator, however, said the Sh1.5 million award was meagre and not commensurate with the suffering of the victims.

“People are awarded far greater awards for defamation and character assassination. I suppose that compensation for torture should be a minimum of Sh10 million.’’

The MP said he will definitely sue for compensation since the ruling sets a precedent. “I will obviously be suing, and I can assure you the floodgates have just been opened,” he told the Sunday Nation on the phone from South Africa.

Former Kabete MP Paul Muite termed the ruling a good beginning although he, too, has a problem with the amount of the award.

He said the award should take into consideration the number of days the victims were incarcerated and the injuries they sustained. “On average, I would expect about Sh7 million to compensate these people,” said Mr Muite.

He said the ruling demonstrated that the victims were wrongly detained and tortured. 

“The case sets a good precedent and gives credence to what we have argued over time that the government should come out clearly and condemn the detention and compensate the victims,” said Mr Muite.

Among prominent personalities who fell into the hands of the dreaded officers are Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Mr Imanyara, former cabinet ministers Charles Rubia and Kenneth Matiba and former assistant ministers Martin Shikuku and Koigi Wamwere. The five are not among those who have already won compensation.

The historic case dragged on from December 2004 until May 28 this year when Lady Justice Wendoh delivered her verdict, opening the floodgates for hundreds of other torture victims to claim compensation for the state-sponsored injuries they received in the era of terror.

The seven -- who now say they will appeal for higher compensation -- are the man who followed Mr Odinga in a notorious cell in Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, Rumba Kinuthia, his sister Margaret Wangui, Andrew Mureithi Ndirangu, Njuguna Mutahi, Alex Okoth Ondewe, Naftali Karanja Wandui and Joseph Gichuki Karanja.

“Though the plaintiffs were held for different periods of time, all of them suffered the same violation under section 74 of the Constitution, and I will grant a global award of Sh1.5 million to each plaintiff for the said violation. The plaintiffs will also be entitled to costs of the originating summons,” Justice Wendoh said in her ruling.

The seven are only a handful of the victims of the reign of terror unleashed from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s on people who were viewed by the Moi administration as threats to national security because they spoke a different political language from the government and the ruling party of the day.

The suits were filed through lawyers Rumba Kinuthia, Gitau Mwara, Ng’ang’a Thiong’o and Ngugi Muhindi with the assistance of the Citizens of Justice pressure group, which fights for justice for the victims of the regime’s excesses.

The doors to justice have now swung open and the lawyers have only been held back by the cost of filing more suits.

“It is an expensive affair, and unfortunately the victims are people of humble means. It is because of the fact that they cannot pay the fees required to prosecute their cases that they have been slow,” Mr Kinuthia said.

The team of lawyers pursuing the cases, Mr Kinuthia said, at times worked for free.

The victims’ memories from the days of torture are still fresh.

“Cold water would be pumped into the dark walled cells as well as hot air alternated with cold air. Our hands would be tied behind our backs and we were periodically taken before a team of interrogators completely naked where we would be subjected to thorough beatings that often left us unconscious. Their aim was to break our spirit. It happened to a number of people,” Mr Kinuthia said.

Mr Ndirangu was arrested in October 1990 and locked up in cells for 14 days before he was charged with treason. The case was later discontinued.

Mr Mutahi, a brother of the late celebrated humourist Wahome Mutahi (Whispers), was arrested on October 15, 1986 and detained for a month before being charged with failing to prevent the commission of a felony. He was imprisoned for 15 months.

Mr Kinuthia was arrested on October 8, 1990, blindfolded and taken to Nyayo House torture chambers where he was held for 14 days. He was later remanded at Kamiti prison until January 19, 1993.