The damning details on RAILA/ OGINGA/ NJONJO link to the 1982 coup d’etat.

A lot has been written; man things have been said about the abortive coup of August 1982 but many people agree that it was a day of collective grieving in Kenya; the day Nairobi saw the face of Satan. The capital city saw rape, pillage, plunder and murder on a frightening scale, with Asian women bearing the brunt of the atrocities.

· At the centre of this mayhem was the Odinga political machine which was attempting to take over State control by martial fiat. Senior Private Hezekiah Ochuka Rabala, who was the ring leader of the rebels, was on the payroll of the Odingas with a brief to step aside for the old man as soon as the State machinery had been captured.

· Behind the scenes, Raila also wanted power and had the coup succeeded, he had a separate plan for a counter-coup!

· In mid-July that year, Snr. Private Hezekiah Ochuka had been loaned a Peugeot 504, registration number KVZ 042 by the Odingas to assist him in making preparations to topple the government, on their behalf.

· On 18th of that month (July), as a personal emissary of the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, Raila visited Ochuka’s house at Umoja Estate, in Nairobi, where together with Ochuka and other airmen, (he) discussed plans to overthrow the government. He subsequently made a follow-up meeting to this with Ochuka on 30th July at the Little Aden Bar, in Umoja, in addition to a series of other meetings in the course of that month with Ochuka, Paul Geno Okello, and the late Robert Odhiambo Ndege at the Mausoleum Bar, in Buru Buru Estate and at Ong’ere Bar, in Shauri Moyo.

· On the night of July 31st and August 1st 1982, Raila occupied the house of Vincent Otieno along Ngong Road where he assisted Snr. Private Ochuka, and other airmen, to use the house as a centre for operation in their plans to take over the government that day. Earlier in the day, together with the late Opwapo, who died in exile in Sweden, Raila took a lamp and two accumulator batteries to the same house for the use in the course of establishing a rebel command post.

· In addition, Raila’s Peugeot 504 registration number KVZ 042 was loaned to Ochuka and Sgt. Ogidi Obuon. The vehicle enabled the duo to fetch an “SSE” army Land-rover for use in the course of establishing a rebel command centre at Vincent Otieno’s residence, among other things.

· The Odingas also loaned Ochuka another vehicle, a Peugeot 305, which belonged to their family friend for purposes connected with the abortive coup.

· The coup was crushed by loyal government troops at great cost in both human life and property. The entire Kenya Airforce was disbanded and with it, hundreds of careers were ruined at the stroke of the pen. Dozens of the airmen who took part in the mutiny were court martialed and jailed for long stretches while the ring leaders including Ochuka, Corporal Bramwel Injeni Njereman, Pancreas Okumu Okeyo and Robert Odhiambo Ndege, among others were sentenced to death and all hanged at Kamiti.

· The civilian mastermind and financier of the coup, Oginga Odinga, escaped with a brief stint under house arrest while Raila who was initially arraigned for treason along with Alfred Vincent Otieno and Otieno Mak’Onyango, was released on a technicality and promptly arrested and detained!

· It later transpired that the Odingas had cut a deal with the government that they had tried to overthrow to be spared in order to assist Moi bring down Charles Njonjo! This was the quid pro quo for the substitution of treason charges against Raila with detention. It was not a surprise to those in the know therefore, when during the inquiry into Njonjo’s activities, Raila was briefly brought out of detention without trial to testify against Njonjo.

· Indeed, it was his “evidence” that finally helped the Commission to nail Njonjo on allegations that he had been party to the conspiracy to overthrow President Moi’s Government, in August 1982.

· The Inquiry against Njonjo heard testimony from a total of 62 witnesses, including Raila, and took 106 working days before it completed its work. The Commission’s report of the Inquiry was made public on December 12, 1984 and soon afterwards, President Moi announced a pardon for Njonjo who then went into political hibernation.

· Twenty one years later after Raila was brought out of detention without trial to testify against Njonjo, the former Attorney General returned to the national political limelight as one of Raila Odinga’s most ardent supporters.