Parent sues State for son’s killing in Garissa attack

A parent, whose son was killed in last year’s Garissa University College terrorist attack, has sued the government for compensation in a suit that is likely to set a precedent on whether the State can be held liable for damages of terrorism.

Gakuru Michire wants the Constitutional and Human Rights Court to declare that the government was negligent in failing to protect his son, leading to his death and that of 147 others at the hands of five terrorists who attacked the university.

Mr Michire has enjoined Attorney-General Githu Muigai, Inspector- General of Police Joseph Boinnet and Garissa University College in the suit. He says the respondents violated his son’s right to life by failing to provide adequate security at the university.

Samuel Michire was among 142 students and six security officers killed during the early morning attack on April 2, last year. Somalia-based terrorist group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack.

READ: 147 killed as gunmen attack Garissa University College

Mr Michire (the father) now says the security organs failed to detect and thwart the terrorist attack beforehand, despite having a duty to guarantee the safety for all citizens.

“The national security organs failed in their duty of offering intelligence information that would have helped to avert Garissa University’s attack, and the said organs failed to secure the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Kenya thus posing a threat to the petitioner’s son. Your petitioner prays for a declaration that his son’s right to life was violated by the respondents herein and a declaration that the petitioner is entitled to compensation,” his lawyer Ndegwa Njiru said.

The government is yet to respond to the suit, which was filed on Tuesday.

Deputy Registrar of the High Court directed Mr Michire’s lawyers to furnish Prof Muigai, Mr Boinnet and Garissa University College with the suit papers and return to court on July 8 for hearing.

Mr Njiru adds in court filings that in failing to thwart the Garissa attack, the State had violated Samuel Michire’s right to life and his right to equal protection.

The deceased student was in the first semester of his second year at the university. 

Mr Michire and families of other victims of the Garissa University College attack received a letter of condolence from President Uhuru Kenyatta. But Mr Michire insists that the gesture should extend to compensating the families of the victims for the loss of their children.

Families of the victims each received Sh100,000 from the government to cater for funeral expenses. The State also paid for mortuary costs for all students killed in the attack.

There have been no confirmation of compensation of victims of the attack, but a section of Central Kenya legislators told journalists in August last year that parents of all 142 students killed would get Sh5 million compensation from the government.

Kieni MP Kanini Kega hinted that a Bill was being prepared to secure compensation for future victims of terrorist attacks.

The attack begun when five terrorists armed with AK-47 assault rifles stormed the university campus at 5am, shooting anyone who declared allegiance to Christianity. Three police officers and three Kenya Defence Forces soldiers were also killed in the attack.

The attack ended after four of the gunmen were killed. The fifth gunman committed suicide by detonating explosives he wore on a vest.

Nine senior police officers have since been transferred from Garissa for failing to prevent the attack and for allegedly bungling the rescue mission.

Learning resumed at Garissa University College in January this year. Mr Boinnet earlier this month claimed that the mastermind of the attack — Mohamed Mohamud alias Kuno — was killed in a raid by Somali and foreign forces on an Al-Shabaab camp.

A police post has since been set up in the university campus to prevent a repeat of the attack.

Since the Garissa raid, the Al- Shabaab terrorist group has carried out several small attacks along the northern Coast of Kenya before retreating to hideouts in Boni Forest, a large reserve that is also a sanctuary for elephants.

Mr Michire argues in his petition that the Constitution provides for the formation of national security organs that are supposed to prevent such attacks, and that the government should be held to account when it fails to protect citizens against insurgents.