Eulogise Moi but cite his excesses too

Without sanitising the death of former president Daniel arap Moi in the name of fear of talking ill of the dead, let me remember one sad story of a man who fell victim of Moi’s torturous and tyrannical machination at the infamous Nyayo House torture chamber.

I am not saying I am an expert on what happened to Odindo Opiata at the hands of Moi’s men. However, I was privileged to have met and closely interreacted with Opiata (RIP) in my line of work and human rights activism on Kenya.

He was an expert and a dedicated activist on the right to adequate housing and a campaigner against forced evictions in Kenya whose works are still visible today.

This lawyer activist had a soft spot for the urban poor in the many slums of Nairobi and other towns in Kenya as well as the marginalised communities, whose claim to territories and land was seriously violated through forced and violent evictions, including burning of houses and injuring the communities.

He worked hard to ensure the rights of slum dwellers is protected from state and private-instigated forced evictions, including going to court in search for justice.

Opiata came face to face with Moi’s regime excesses when he and other students, including Makau Mutua, Saulo Busolo, George Rubik, Dave Anyona and John Munuve were expelled in 1981 for displaying the courage of reviving Student’s Union banned in 1979.

Again in 1986, he was held and tortured at Nyayo House for 14 days and imprisoned for one and half years on treason charges of allegedly belonging to a group called Mwakenya.

According to Kenya National Commission for Human Rights report on Nyayo House torture methods, victims went through untold torture.

They were stripped naked, made to stand in cells filled with water at ankle length for days causing their toes to rot, made to do 50 to 100 sit-ups, safari ants being introduced in their cells, kept for days without food and water and then being forced-fed, their genitalia being hit with whips, pricked with needles, etc.

The Nyayo House torture survivor succumbed to cancer in 2014, but left behind an indelible mark on the promotion of economic social cultural rights in Kenya, where his behind door advocacy on these rights, contributed to their inclusion in the 2010 Constitution that is hailed by many as progressive.

He worked tirelessly to ensure the implementation of Article 43 on economic social cultural rights, including expounding issues of justiciability of economic, social and cultural rights in Kenya.

As Kenyans eulogise former president, let them and the rest of the world be reminded that he was no saint just like we all are. However, his hurt to humanity remains widely known. While it is okay to sanitise his death, we should in the same breath, not bury his excesses.

Agnes Kabajuni
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