Military Officers to Be Charged in Civilian Court

Nairobi Star (Nairobi)

John Nalianya

1 July 2011

Two officers involved in the killing of a man in Mt Elgon last week will be charged with murder, a military spokesperson John Mwandikwa has said. Speaking to the Star on phone yesterday, Mwandika said the two officers based at Kapkota Military base who were positively identified by the family of the late Joseph Kapule will be handed over to the police for further investigations before being charged with murder.

They were identified during an identification parade in Eldoret on Tuesday. “We have learned of the said allegations concerning our officers in Mt Elgon with great shock. This was grossly against our standing orders and we want to assure the family and the general public that the perpetrators of the heinous act will be brought to book,” he said.

He said the military laws did not allow their officers to operate at night and it was unfortunate that they had taken the law into their own hands by going to remove Kapule from his house in the middle of the night.

Mwandika said that the matter is beyond their jurisdiction as a military force saying chapter 10(169) of the new constitution recognises the martial court as a subordinate court.

The motive behind the killing of Kapule is yet to be known and the family is still awaiting the postmortem report from Independent Medico Legal Unit.

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