1982 Kenyan coup d'état attempt
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The 1982 Kenyan coup d'état attempt was a failed attempt to overthrow
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Daniel arap Moi Daniel Toroitich arap Moi ( ; 2 September 1924 – 4 February 2020) was a Kenyan politician who served as the second president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002. He was the country's longest-serving president. Moi previously served as the third vice ...
's government. At 3 A.M. on Sunday, 1 August 1982, a group of soldiers from the
Kenya Air Force The Kenya Air Force (KAF) or sw, Jeshi la Wanahewa is the national aerial warfare service branch of the Republic of Kenya. The main airbase operating fighters is Laikipia Air Base in Nanyuki, while Moi Air Base in Eastleigh, Nairobi is the he ...
took over Eastleigh Air Base just outside
Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
, and by 4 A.M. the nearby Embakasi air base had also fallen. At 6 A.M. Senior Private
Hezekiah Ochuka Hezekiah Rabala Ochuka, (alias Awour) (23 July 1953 – 9 July 1987) was Senior Private in the Kenya Air Force, who ruled Kenya for about six hours after planning and executing a coup against president Daniel arap Moi. Hezekiah Ochuka was the c ...
and
Sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...
Pancras Oteyo Okumu captured the
Voice of Kenya Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) is the state-run media organisation of Kenya. It broadcasts in English and Swahili, as well as in most local languages of Kenya. The corporation started its life in 1928 when Kenya was a British colony. ...
radio station in central Nairobi, from where they then broadcast in English and Swahili that the military had overthrown the government. Working at the behest of Ochuka,
Corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non ...
Bramwel Injeni Njereman was leading a plot to bomb the State House and the General Service Unit headquarters from the Laikipia Air Base,
Nanyuki Nanyuki is a Market town in Laikipia County of Kenya lying northwest of Mount Kenya along the A2 road and at the terminus of the branch railway from Nairobi. The name is derived from Enyaanyukie Maasai word for resemblance. It is situated just ...
. Corporal Njereman forced three pilots (
Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
David Mutua, Captain John Mugwanja, and Captain John Baraza) to fly two F-5E Tiger jets and a
Strikemaster The BAC 167 Strikemaster is a British jet-powered training and light attack aircraft. It was a development of the BAC Jet Provost, Hunting Jet Provost trainer, itself a jet engined version of the Percival Provost, which originally flew in 1950 ...
that would be used for the mission. However, Major Mutua was aware that Corporal Njereman had never flown a
jet fighter Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domination o ...
before and would likely not be able to cope with the
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s. The pilots, while communicating on a secret channel, agreed to execute daring manoeuvres to disorient their captor. The trick worked. The pilots dumped the bombs in Mt. Kenya forest and headed back to Nanyuki. The coup was strategically planned to coincide with the
war games A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...
taking place in
Lodwar Lodwar is the largest town in north-western Kenya, located west of Lake Turkana on the A1 road. Its main industries are basket weaving and tourism. The Loima Hills lie to its west. Lodwar is the capital of Turkana County. The town has a popula ...
, a remote town in Kenya, when most of the army units and the senior leadership were away from Nairobi. This meant that the senior-most officers present at the time were Lieutenant General John Sawe (the Army Commander and Deputy Chief of the
General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...
),
Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
Mahmoud Mohamed (Sawe's deputy),
Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...
Bernard Kiilu (Chief of Operations at Defence Headquarters), and Major Humphrey Njoroge (a staff officer in charge of training at Army Headquarters). At a meeting of the four, it was agreed that Mohamed would take charge of the operation to suppress the coup. He then assembled a team of about 30 officers from First Kenya Rifles Battalion and Kahawa barracks. The team stormed the broadcasting station and killed or captured the rebel soldiers inside. , a broadcaster who had earlier been captured by Ochuka to announce the coup went on air to report that the rebels had been defeated and Moi was back in power. With the help of the General Service Unit (GSU) and later the regular police, Mohamed gained control of Nairobi, causing the Air Force rebels to flee. Hezekiah Ochuka, whose rank of Senior Private Grade-I was the second lowest rank in the Kenyan military, claimed to rule Kenya for about six hours, before fleeing to
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
. After being
extradited Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...
back to Kenya, he was tried and found guilty of leading the coup attempt, and was hanged in 1987. Also implicated in the coup attempt were
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Jaramogi Ajuma Oginga Odinga (October 1911 – 20 January 1994) was a Luo (Kenya), Luo chieftain who became a prominent figure in Kenya's struggle for independence. He later served as Kenya's first Vice-President of Kenya, Vice-President, and t ...
, a former vice-president to
Jomo Kenyatta Jomo Kenyatta (22 August 1978) was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the country's first indigenous ...
(Moi's predecessor), and his son Raila Amolo Odinga.


The plan

Ochuka had become obsessed with becoming the
President of Kenya The president of the Republic of Kenya () is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of Kenya. The President is also the head of the executive branch of the Government of Kenya and is the commander-in-chief of the Kenya Defe ...
at one time in his lifetime (he had the words "The next president of Kenya" carved on his desk), and this led him to quickly accept a proposal by Obuon and Oteyo to overthrow Moi's government. He recruited some of the soldiers at his base at Embakasi, including those who ranked higher than he.Jim Bailey; Garth Bundeh.
Kenya: The National Epic
'. East African Publishers; 1993 ited 1 August 2012 GGKEY:EKUEFUF9WH9. p. 269.
There was a heated debate amongst the plotters about who would become the chairman of the "People Redemption's Council" (PRC) that would assume power after the coup. For his part, Obuon claimed that he had recruited the largest number of soldiers into the plan, and so warranted the chairmanship. Obuon also added the fact that he had served as the chairman of the airmen's mess. Ochuka threatened in return that all the soldiers he had recruited to the plot would quit if he was not selected as the PRC's chairman. Obuon and Ochuka had a heated debate that almost broke into a fight over the chairmanship, until Oteyo intervened. Oteyo advised Obuon to leave the chairmanship to Ochuka, whom they could then kill once the coup had succeeded. Ochuka may have suspected the plot of Obuon and Oteyo. He rallied support from soldiers to him as an individual, and he went further to build a protective wall around him. Ochuka also rallied support from Obuon's old political friend and it is believed that the old friend even gave him two million shillings and a
second hand Used goods mean any item of personal property offered for sale not as new, including metals in any form except coins that are legal tender, but excluding books, magazines, and postage stamps. Risks Furniture, in particular bedding or upholstere ...
car. He had also managed to steal some military communication equipment which he had set up at a private house in
Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
which was located a few kilometres from the city center. In late July 1982, Ochuka held a secret meeting at football grounds near Umoja estate, at which details of how the coup was to be executed were discussed. Ochuka told the attendees that he had the support of
Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
,
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
, and
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, who would send their soldiers to the borders to counter any opposition. He went further to allege that he had the blessings of the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, which would send a ship to the Kenyan coast to guard against any external interference. Details of the impending coup were known by senior military officials.
James Kanyotu James Kanyotu (1936-2008) was Kenya's longest serving spy chief. He headed the Directorate of Security Intelligence (‘Special Branch’), for 27 years, from 1965 until his retirement in 1991. Born in 1936 in Kirinyaga District , Kanyotu attended A ...
, the Directorate of the Kenya Security Intelligence had infiltrated the military and was also aware of the coup plot. After the opening ceremonies of the
Nyeri Nyeri is a town situated in the Central Highlands of Kenya. It is the county headquarters of Nyeri County. The town was the central administrative headquarters of the country's former Central Province. Following the dissolution of the former pr ...
ASK Show on Friday, 30 July, Kanyotu asked President Moi to give him permission to arrest the officers who were planning the coup. However, President Moi was not willing to involve the police in military matters. He preferred the matter to be dealt with internally by the military on Monday, 2 August. However, the coup happened on Sunday, 1 August before any action could be taken.


Why the coup failed

Oteyo said that the coup failed because most of the soldiers did not execute their parts of the plan, as they were drinking and looting instead of going to arrest the president and his ministers. The coup leader, Ochuka, had gone to fetch a radio presenter, Leonard Mambo Mbotela. The plotters' poor organisation left the rebels unprepared for a counter-attack. They failed to capture or kill any of the political leaders they had targeted and did not seize the army headquarters. The air force rebels also lacked support from within the army, leaving them with no armor or heavy arms to take and hold key installations.


Aftermath

The coup left more than 100 soldiers and perhaps 200 civilians dead, including several non-Kenyans. After the failed coup, the organizers were arrested and tried by
court martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
at the
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's Langata Barracks.
Corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non ...
Bramwel Injeni Njereman, who was an
armaments A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, s ...
technician, was the second to be convicted of
treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
on 24 November 1984. He was found guilty of five overt acts, and sentenced to death by hanging. Corporal Walter Odira Ojode was the first to be charged with the same offence, on 16 December 1982, of which he was found guilty; he also received the death penalty. Both appealed their cases and lost. Their death sentences, together with those of coup mastermind Ochuka and his counterpart Pancras Oteyo Okumuwere, were carried out on the night of 10 July 1985 at
Kamiti Maximum Security Prison Kamiti Maximum Security Prison is a prison in Nairobi County, Kenya. The prison is within Roysambu Constituency, Kasarani District, bordering Kiambu County. Originally named "Kamiti Downs", it sits in the middle of its own estates which lie fal ...
. Up to date they are the last people to have been executed under Kenyan law. A total of twelve people were sentenced to death, and over 900 were jailed. The convicts who were hanged were buried at the Kamiti Maximum Security Prison. During the trials, the name of
Oginga Odinga Jaramogi Ajuma Oginga Odinga (October 1911 – 20 January 1994) was a Luo chieftain who became a prominent figure in Kenya's struggle for independence. He later served as Kenya's first Vice-President, and thereafter as opposition leader. Odinga ...
was mentioned several times as having financed the organizers, and he was put under
house arrest In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if all ...
. His son
Raila Odinga Raila Amolo Odinga (born 7 January 1945) is a Kenyan politician, former Member of Parliament (MP) for Langata and businessman who served as the Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. He is assumed to be the Leader of Opposition in Kenya sin ...
, together with other university lecturers, were sent to detention after being charged for treason. After the coup attempt, the entire
Kenya Air Force The Kenya Air Force (KAF) or sw, Jeshi la Wanahewa is the national aerial warfare service branch of the Republic of Kenya. The main airbase operating fighters is Laikipia Air Base in Nanyuki, while Moi Air Base in Eastleigh, Nairobi is the he ...
was disbanded. The coup attempt was also a direct cause for the snap 1983 general election. In response to alleged campus involvement in the failed coup, the Kenyan government accused external communist sources of secretly funding the coup attempt.


References


Further reading

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External links

* . {{DEFAULTSORT:1982 Kenyan Coup D'etat Attempt Conflicts in 1982 Coup History of Kenya
Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...
Attempted coups d'état August 1982 events in Africa