BackThe Commission on Administrative Justice – Kenya’s office of the Ombudsman is seeking to compel the Government of Kenya to pay KES 8 million, approximately $95,000 awarded by a High Court to a torture victim. Liza Catherine Wangari Mwangi was tortured, abused and subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment by Police Officers in September 2010. A High Court sitting in Eastern Kenya awarded Ms Mwangi KES 7 million ($84,000) in damages, but the Attorney-General Prof. Githu Muigai and the Principal Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government, Mutea Iringo, have declined to release the payment. The compensation has since accrued an interest amounting to $.12, 000.
Following revelations that the Treasury had released funds for compensating the victim through the Attorney General and the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government, the Ombudsman has sought for a judicial review in a Court of Law on behalf of the victim.
This is a landmark case in the Ombudsman’s view. The case will set precedence in legal jurisprudence in so far as a party that was not privy to proceedings in Court of Law could petition a court on enforcement, as long as the party can prove legal and legitimate interest in the matter. The matter will also set precedence in the administrative justice landscape on the role of the Ombudsman in relation to enforcement of court orders.
Source: Commission on Administrative Justice, KENYA
