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{
    "id": 423393,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/423393/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 183,
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    "content": "about. A time will come when states will have to behave like the State of Israel, which is still kidnapping Nazi criminals from Argentina, Brazil and all over the world. There is a man who was kidnapped at the age of 90. They went and kept him in jail until he died there. Sometimes that may help. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me talk about the 1982 coup. That coup was a culmination of serious violations of human rights in this country and injustices that people got tired of. While the generals could not do anything, junior officers, including privates; the highest was a lieutenant, took up the courage and said that enough was enough. As a very young lawyer, I represented Hezekiah Ochuka. He went through a court martial and was hanged. I also represented his partner, Okumu. He went through a court martial and when we went to the High Court to appeal, as we were making our submission, the judges were just yawning and recording nothing. Immediately after the submissions, they said: “Case dismissed.” The man was hanged. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there was another one called Oburu. He still lives in Kisumu. He was sentenced to death. Luckily I went before a bench of three judges, who were not yawning and looking in the air, but recording proceedings. They returned a verdict of “not guilty” and Oburu is still living. His comrades and colleagues were hanged and nobody cares about their families. These are the unsung heroes of the freedom that we are enjoying today. The 1982 coup was the turning point in this country. People started to talk. They realized that when you see something going wrong, you can speak it out. People spoke until we culminated in the removal of Section 2A from the Constitution and the momentum towards the new Constitution that we are enjoying today. This Constitution is meaningless to Kenyans if those who sacrifice their lives, comfort and everything to bring it to where it is are forgotten. I support that we have a compensation that is expeditious and adequate for not only the victims, but where the victims have died, for their families, so that they can also live decent lives like many Kenyans. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, finally, I want to encourage my colleagues - Ngugi wa Thiong’o wrote a book called The Man Died. I believe that by “man” he meant “woman” as well. He said that the man dies who keeps quiet in the face of injustice. Equally, the man dies who denies that there was an injustice when there was an injustice. Even more importantly, those who want to aspire to high offices, and I am happy that the current leadership is of young people who saw people being tortured --- I have not heard the President or his Deputy even mention once that victims of torture and injustices are going to be compensated. We have reduced injustices in this country to only one issue – land. Everytime we talk about injustice, we mean land. We have forgotten that there are uncountable people, including university students who were picked from classrooms and people who were picked from churches and punished and tortured. Those people must get justice and be compensated. I can assure you that when the CORD Government comes in power, you will see the difference. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to support."
}