The family of the late multiparty fighter Mukaru Ng’ang’a say the can now rest after High Court awarded them Sh 15 million for his unlawful detention during Moi’s regime.
This follows a successful 20 years petition by the University of Nairobi lecturer wife Lucy Mukaru before Justice Chacha Mwita.
Justice Mwita said in his judgment that Mukaru’s widow had proved that her husband and father of four had been tortured during his solitary confinement.
“Although no amount of money can compensate what the late Mukaru suffered during detention, the award should ensure the government does not repeat the atrocities meted on those who fought for multiparty democracy,” said Justice Mwita.
However, the family still hopes to finally receive a state apology for his torture 21 years after his death.
Through lawyer Wilfred Nyamu, the family was seeking Sh 120 million as compensation for illegal detention, torture and being subjected to inhuman degrading treatment.
The late Mukaru was first detained in 1982 for two years for sedition under former President Moi’s government and rearrested in 1986 and held for further three years.
On 29th March 1990, Mukaru vanished from his home after expressing fears to his wife that ‘he was being followed by strange persons he suspected to be plainclothes police.
It was later discovered that he fled and sought asylum in Sweden for himself and family.
The lecturer, who was a critique of Moi’s government died in 1997 in a Swedish hospital at the age 52.
In the petition the widow claimed her late husband was denied food and water for days and was forced to drink urine mixed with human excretion to survive.
Further, throughout his detention, he was kept naked with his feet immersed in cold water.
The family also blamed the death of their last born son Rodney Kamau in 2016 on Moi’s regime.
Kamau is said to have died of post traumatic stress syndrome because of witnessing his father’s frequent arrests and harassment by state agents.
In a media briefing after the judgment, Lucy Mukaru (widow) and her children Oscar Ng’ang’a, Winnie Njoki and Alice Wairimu said the have forgiven Moi for what happened under his watch and requested he apologizes for the suffering he caused them.
