Journalist seeking pay pins hope on contempt suit

Arrested 16 years ago and brutally beaten up by Flying Squad officers, American-based Kenyan journalist Peter Makori has spent 13 fruitless years in pursuit of justice.

Mr Makori, who was arrested and detained for almost 11 months at Kisii and Kodiaga prisons on false allegations of murder, has instituted contempt of court proceedings against Interior Principal Secretary Karanja Kibicho.

In his latest legal battles with the authorities, he hopes the High Court will compel Dr Kibicho to either honour the court order to pay him Sh12.4 million as compensation or face six months in jail.

This is perhaps, the last-ditch efforts by the journalist to recover his compensation for illegal arrest, torture and false detention by rogue officers.

Arrested eight times during his time as a news correspondent in Kisii County, Mr Makori believes that he will be paid because Attorney-General Kihara Kariuki had ordered the government to honour its obligation in September last year.

In addition to the AG’s clearance, the National Treasury authorised Dr Kibicho to use the ministry’s discretionary funds to settle the claim.

ESCAPE TO EXILE

Mr Makori went into exile in 2006, one year after being released from Kodiaga prison, to escape what he terms as a scheme by provincial administration officials and local police officers in Kisii, at that time, who allegedly conspired to kill him and blame it on the Sungu Sungu militia.

About a week ago, the High Court in Kisii summoned Dr Kibicho to personally appear and explain to the court why his ministry had not honoured its orders to compensate the journalist.

If he fails to convince the court why he has not honoured its orders, the PS will likely face a jail term not exceeding six months for contempt of court.

Mr Makori becomes the second journalist in post-independence Kenya to engage in a protracted fight for compensation from the government over injuries inflicted by the police.

The late Wallace Gichere, a photojournalist, who was thrown from his fourth-floor apartment in Nairobi leading to severe backbone injuries, died confined to a wheelchair fighting for government compensation.

While Gichere’s award was determined by a government appointed committee, Mr Makori’s was from a quasi-judicial tribunal whose ruling was adopted by the High Court.

DIRECTIVE NOT HONOURED

The quasi-judicial tribunal was convened by a statutory body, the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, which had express mandate to award damages for human rights violations.

Mr Makori said that upon being served with the orders from the High Court, the then AG, Prof Githu Muigai, and Solicitor General Njee Muturi, became reluctant to pay and instead proposed to negotiate the decreed sum of Sh12.4 million.

The journalist rejected the proposal and moved to the High Court where he obtained Mandamus Orders to compel the government pay him the decreed sums without questions.

In September 2018, the newly appointed AG, Justice Kihara Kariuki, through new Solicitor General Ken Ogeto, directed Dr Kibicho to pay Mr Makori the decreed amounts together with the accrued interest in accordance with the High Court orders.

However, the PS allegedly failed to honour the directive from the AG forcing the journalist to go back to the High Court, where he instituted contempt of court proceedings against him.

Sometime in September this year, Dr Kibicho, through a senior state counsel in the Office of the President, Ms Prisca Wambui, informed Kisii resident judge Anthony Ndung’u that Mr Makori’s compensation was at an advanced stage of being paid.

SKIPPING SESSION

The state counsel produced a payment schedule to prove that the payments were in the process and pleaded for an adjournment until December 4, when she’d have presented proof of the completed payments.

However, when the case came up for hearing on the date (December 4), neither the PS nor his representative was in court to affirm completion of the payments they had promised.

This threw Mr Makori’s hopes into a spin, dashing his expectation of realising the payment he has fought to achieve since he was arrested, tortured and detained.

The Nation asked Makori whether he believed that he was on a mission impossible, given the history associated with the government’s failure to respect court orders to compensate victims of police violence.

“I believe Kenya is governed by established laws, which every civilised nation in the world applies to legitimise their authority,” said Mr Makori.

He believes he has many options that have not been exhausted.