Nairobi — The Supreme Court has ordered the State to pay reparations seven women brutalized during a 1992 protest at Uhuru Park Sh2.5 million each after a successful appeal against a case dismissed by the High Court in 2018.
"The Government of Kenya shall pay damages assessed at Sh2,500,000.00/- to each of the appellants in this consolidated appeal," a judgement of the court released on Friday read in part.
In granting an appeal against a 2019 Court of Appeal decision sustaining the verdict of the High Court, the country's apex court overruled a finding that the women inordinately delayed filing the suit.
The Supreme Court held that given the historical context under which their rights were violated, the women had a valid claim notwithstanding the delayed filing of the case.
"The appellants' explanation for the delay in filing their petitions in the High
Court is plausible to the extent that it was attributed to lack of faith in the pre-2010
judiciary," the Supreme Court stated.
"There is no limitation of time in matters relating to violation of rights under the
Constitution which are evaluated and decided on a case by case basis," the court further determined.
Uhuru Park hunger strike
The women led by Monica Wamwere, mother to activist Koigi Wamwere, had stormed Uhuru Park on February 28 1992 where they staged a hunger strike demanding the release of political prisoners by President Daniel arap Moi's regime.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
The court held that despite lacking medical reports to prove physical injuries they suffered when the police brutally suppressed their protest, the raid was traumatic.
"Although the appellants did not exhibit any physical injuries or medical reports,
the Court is persuaded that the whole incident had a psychological/traumatic effect on them."
"This is because the respondent did not give any justifiable reason(s) whatsoever why it was necessary to violently disrupt and disband the protests by the appellants who were harmless," the judgement stated.
The court said the traumatic experience suffered by the women "can be equated to inhumane treatment which was a violation Section 74(1) of the repealed Constitution."
Multi-party politics
The violent repression of the 1992 Uhuru Park protest came just a year after President Moi repealed Section 2A of the then Constitution which made the Kenya a single-party state, effectively allowing the introduction of multi-party politics.
The crackdown attracted widespread condemnation with the United States saying it was "deeply concerned" by the violence and by the forcible removal of the hunger strikers, according to the New York Times.
The US accused Moi's regime of mounting obstacles to opposition figures and parties organizing rallies.
In response, NYT reported Moi as saying the women had been misled by the opposition and "threatened the security of citizens and the nation."
