Five women seeking compensation for torture and police brutality meted on them during the 1992 “Mothers of Political Prisoners” demonstrations in Nairobi have suffered a blow after the Court of Appeal threw out their petition.
A three-man bench upheld a High Court decision that dismissed the petition.
“The claims of the five appellants, just like those whose cases have been decided, are a copy-and-paste work that betrays truth and reality. Nothing has been presented to warrant our interference with the conclusions made by the Judge (Isaac Lenaola), said justices William Ouko, Martha Koome and Daniel Musinga unanimously.
They said that when the courts began compensating political prisoners whose cases were genuine, clear and proven, the floodgates appear to have been opened.
A host of petitions have been filed by anyone who might have had a brush, no matter how slight, with the law, as well others who might just want to exploit the situation and reap where they did not sow, the judges observed.
“We do not see why the genuine claims should fail, but those who see this as a cash cow, where it is imagined that one would walk in and walk out with money, should expect such outcomes as this” they said.
The petitioners were Jacinta Wamwere, Mary Njeri Kuria, Cecilia Wangu, Margaret Wanjiru and Mary Njeri Kamau, all from Nakuru County and relatives of former political detainee Koigi Wamwere.
They petitioned the High Court in 2013, citing violation of their fundamental rights and the Constitution, claiming that they were subjected to torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment by the State on diverse dates between March 3, 1992 and January 19, 1993.
In their evidence, they said they had engaged in peaceful demonstrations agitating for the release of 53 political prisoners at Freedom Corner in Uhuru Park, Nairobi, and later at the All Saints Cathedral,
The court heard that they were brutally kicked, punched slapped and whipped by and slapped, beaten with by the police and General Service Unit officers.
All the five testified before Justice Lenaola but did not call any other witnesses. The judges said the burden of proof was on them to present evidence to support the claims.
In their appeal, the petitioners claimed that the trial court had rejected their case because it was filed many years after the the incident. And the bench dismissed their reason for filing the petition late because President Daniel arap Moi was still in power as a lame excuse.
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