• A lobby sued the government for compensation on behalf of 28 parents who lost their children in the 2015 Garissa University terror attack in which 148 people died.
• Kituo cha Sheria blames the government for negligence by not taking appropriate measures to enhance national security for its citizens.
The case in which a lobby sued the government for compensation on behalf of 28 parents who lost their children in the 2015 Garissa University terror attack in which 148 people died will be heard today.
Kituo cha Sheria blames the government for negligence by not taking appropriate measures to enhance national security for its citizens.
The hearing will be heard by a three-judge bench presided over by Justice Anthony Ndungu.
Kituo cha Sheria filed the case on behalf of the victims.
The petitioners claim the government ignored several useful intelligence pointers on impeding terrorist attacks targeting learning institutions in Garissa.
The parents alleged that when the security officers were flown to the university, there was no clear command structure such as who was in charge of operations, leading to the long siege, hence the loss of lives.
They further blame the state for failure to supply the police with appropriate equipment like night vision and telescopic sights kits, armoured personnel carriers, and bullet-proof vests.
The parents said the hostels were built in a manner that did not aid the students' escape.
"Each hostel cubicle was occupied by six students and the dorm had two escape routes. The windows were grilled and the construction adjacent to the hostel made it extremely difficult for students to escape," they said.
A student survivor swore an affidavit in support of the compensation case.
Stephen Mwangi narrated how while hiding in a wardrobe with other students, he saw his sister being rounded up alongside others by the terrorists. He informed his mother with whom he was talking on the phone.
“At the time my sister Joyce was rounded up, I could see all the events and informed my mother that I had seen my sister among those rounded up which conversation was by phone in low tones,” the student said in his affidavit.