Moses Amonde, a warrant officer who helped ferry Mzee Jomo Kenyatta's body wants to be compensated after facing torture in what he terms as illegal detention.
Amonde, who ferried Kenyatta's body from the Moi Air Base in Eastleigh to State House, Nairobi, was tortured and jailed after claims of taking part in the 1982 abortive coup.
While speaking to the Standard, Amonde stated that he was given a 12-year sentence in 1982 but was released after in 1986 after appealing his conviction.
He narrated that on August 1, 1982, some of the rebel Air Force officers woke him up and demanded him to set up a makeshift medical centre.
The medical centre would be used to treat the injured soldiers.
He went on to state that as the mutiny continued, the injured soldiers were brought to his clinic but some were in critical condition and needed to be taken to the Kenyatta National Hospital for further treatment.
While ferrying the injured officers, he was cornered by officers loyal to President Daniel Moi but managed to jump out of the military ambulance.
"I knew I was in grave danger and I quickly jumped out and sought refuge at St John’s Ambulance offices,” he told the publication.
He and other officers were arrested later on their way back to the airbase.
“They wanted me to surrender my gun but I had left it in the ambulance which I had abandoned at the Haile Selassie avenue earlier in the morning. This earned me a thorough beating,” he added.
Amonde is one of the officers who want to be compensated by the state for wrongful arrest, torture and detention.
