Kenneth Matiba seeks more State compensation

What you need to know:

  • Justice Isaac Lenaola, then a High Court Judge, had ordered the State to pay Mr Matiba Sh471,664,258, being 20 per cent of the amount he had sought.

  • Judge Lenaola also asked the State to pay Mr Matiba Sh15 million for damages and violations suffered and a further Sh18 million for medical expenses.

Second liberation hero Kenneth Matiba has gone back to court seeking to enhance the amount paid to him by the State for the collapse of his business empire to Sh945 million.

Through his lawyer John Mburu, Mr Matiba says the calculation made by the court on the amount to be paid was erroneous.

Justice Isaac Lenaola, then a High Court Judge, had ordered the State to pay Mr Matiba Sh471,664,258, being 20 per cent of the amount he had sought. Judge Lenaola also asked the State to pay Mr Matiba Sh15 million for damages and violations suffered and a further Sh18 million for medical expenses.

But, according to the multiparty crusader, 20 per cent of Sh4,726,332,042 should be Sh945,664,258.

LOSSES

“It is necessary to correct the error in the judgment because this might occasion him losses,” said Mr Mburu.

Mr Matiba, who was at the forefront in the fight for multipartyism in the 1990s, was the first indigenous African Permanent Secretary at only 31. An avid outdoorsman, Mr Matiba was a big sponsor of sporting events.

His health, however, deteriorated soon after he was arrested and detained for agitating for a return to multiparty politics.

While awarding the former Kiharu MP the amount, Justice Lenaola said: “The State must now wake up to the reality that past conduct of its officials and agents will no longer go unpunished.”

SUFFERED STROKE

The 85-year-old politician suffered a stroke while in detention and his handlers did not accord him the much needed medical attention.

Justice Lenaola, now a Judge of the Supreme Court, noted that Mr Matiba suffered the stroke on May 26, 1991, but remained in detention without medication for one week. The Judge described Mr Matiba as a fitness buff who climbed mountains, and was reduced to a state of complete inactivity.

The Judge noted that Mr Matiba was the founder, leader and the motivator behind the success of his companies and his detention and ill-treatment affected his business empire.