Koigi wa Wamwere to get Sh12m for torture

NAIROBI: The Court of Appeal has increased the award of damages given to former assistant minister and Subukia MP Koigi wa Wamwere by the High Court, amassing Sh10 million more into his pockets.

The former legislator will now bag Sh12 million up from Sh2.5 million awarded by Justice Mumbi Ngugi for torture during the previous governments.

Justices Phillip Waki, Peter Kiage and Jamila Mohammed ruled that the amount awarded by the lower court was not enough to relive his pain considering the torture he underwent.

"We think the sum of Sh2.5 million awarded to him as the global damages was pertinently inadequate,'' the bench ruled.

Initially Koigi had asked for Sh100 million in damages and another Sh100 million as compensation but the lower court gave him lower amount prompting him to appeal.

His claim was opposed by the State through the Attorney General who contested that the petition lacked clarity and that it was time barred.

The Attorney General argued in defence that the petitioner had not proved that the violations were committed by State officers and not private persons in which case the Government would not be liable.

"Accepting the award of damages is not exact science knowing that no monetary sum can erase the scarring of the soul and the deprivation of dignity that some of these violations of the rights entailed,'' Justices Waki, Kiage and Mohamed ruled.

Koigi in his claim maintained that his detention was unlawful as the Government did not provide reasonable grounds to have him behind bars. The judges acknowledged that detention without trial was a reprehensible violation of individual rights and freedoms.