Appeals court judgment on Friday that had been anticipated in the last 18 years could set pace for multiple compensation by the state to former Kenya Defense Forces officers.
Lieutenant General Benjamin Muema was on Friday awarded Sh6.3 million over torture and humiliation he underwent in the name of political affiliations.
Months to 1992 multiparty elections, Muema's father, Samuel Mwema joined Mwai Kibaki's Democratic Party, a move that rattled his son's bosses.
To make the matter worse, Muema senior even offered an office for the DP, a money that would haunt his son dearly months later. The officers demanded that the patriarch flushes the DP officials from his promises.
With Muema senior standing his grounds, the army generals summoned the former Air Force pilot, who was stationed at Defense Staff College.
The deceased’s (father) turn down was his son’s downfall and humiliation that lasted seven years.
In the case where Attorney General and former Major General Humprehy Njoroge and commissioner of police had been sued, the court heard that on March 24, 1993, Muema was called by one Colonel Vuvi (now deceased) and instructed that he should report to one Col Kunyiha who was the in charge of military police.
When he got to Kunyiha he found elite officers from flying squad who whisked him to Pangani Police Station.
He would be shifted from one police station to another without a word for a month.
On March 29, 1993, court documented that he was taken back to the defence staff college commandant who told him that he ought to resign as he was involved in crime and was soiling the Government’s good name.
The commandant flushed out a resignation letter for Muema to sign but he declined.
Guns were drawn and he was given an option to either chose a pen or a bullet plus harming his family. He went for the pen.
The State opposed the case claiming that there was evidence to implicate Muema and have him charged in a civilian court.
However, Court of Appeal judges Roselyn Nambuye, Asike Makhandia and William Ouko found malice in the number of unsuccessful criminal cases pressed against him and an admission by an army officer who testified for the State that he had no clue of any criminal case Muema was involved in.
“The unsuccessful initiation of a large number of criminal cases based on the same facts and background leaves no doubt in our minds that there was malice, especially when no effort was made by the appellants to tender evidence in court to justify those prosecutions as the witness tendered in support of their case was categorical in oath that he was not privy to the events that led to those prosecutions and knew nothing about it,” the judges ruled.