A Court in Nairobi has ordered the government to pay Sh500 Million to 284 former Kenya Air Force officers who were tortured after the failed 1982 coup.
The payment will be compensation for their unfair dismissal and the inhumane treatment they underwent in the hands of the Army.
The court was told that the 284 former officers were among those rounded up and subjected to severe punishment, including beatings, crawling for long distances on their knees, being confined in filthy cells without food and water and subjected to prolonged investigation by Army officers.
On Friday April 15, Labour Court Judge Nduma Nderi ruled that the ex-servicemen be paid their salary arrears from the date of their dismissal to when each one of them was supposed to retire from the service.
The court also ruled that the government should pay them each Sh1 Million as aggravated damages for wrongful imprisonment, torture, inhuman and degrading treatment, and violation of the right to a fair hearing.
The former soldiers had sued the government for their wrongful termination following the 1982 coup d’état against president Daniel Moi's government by some officers in the Air Force.
Following the courts declaration, the officers ranks, honours and decorations will also be restored.
The court established that all the claimants were illegally left out of a new outfit identified as '82 Air Force' that was formed in place of the rebellious Air Force.
“The claimants suffered in the hands of an illegal authority which had no authority to retire, dismiss or terminate their services as they had contracted their services with the Kenya Air Force authority and not any other illegal establishment,” Justice Nderi ruled.
It was also established that they were subjected to torture and inhumane treatment.
