SUMMARY
In 1982 the Air Force of Kenya attempted to violently overthrow President Daniel Arap Moi. The attempted coup which was crushed within one day aimed at bringing about a change of the Kenyan government. The coup failed and lead to the arrests of close to 3000 people, including the entire Air Force. The armed conflict was thus terminated through the victory of the government side.
IN DEPTH
Background
Upon gaining independence from the British in 1963 Jomo Kenyatta assumed the presidency of Kenya. Kenyatta joined western ideals concerning economy, opening up for a capitalist system in the newly independent Kenya. These policies ensured Kenya a relatively prosperous period in terms of economy. The democratic aspirations of Kenyatta were, however, not as ambitious. During his term in office he empowered the presidential office and consolidated more power within his administration. The elections held in post-independence Kenya were blemished with allegations of harassment towards opposing candidates.
Kenyatta served as president during Kenya’s first years of independence until his death caused by heart failure due to old age. At the time of his death he was succeeded by vice president Daniel Arap Moi. Arap Moi continued in the same fashion as his predecessor, ruling Kenya as an authoritarian one-party state. Allegations of corruption were frequently made and the voicing of oppositional opinions was repressed. With this background of political repression rumors of a looming coup were ripe in the streets of Nairobi during the summer of 1982. It was reported that it was “an open secret in Nairobi that discontent was such that at least two coups were in a stage of advanced planning by 1 August and that support for them went far beyond the Air Force and the university”. It was in this politically unstable environment that the attempted coup of August 1982 was carried out.
The 1982 coup attempt
The Kenyan government was subject to an attempt to remove it by force during 1982. The coup attempt was carried out by junior officers, as well as ranks from the Kenyan Air Force. The attempted coup lasted one day, during which the rebels managed to take control over a radio station, announcing their intent to assume power in Kenya. The rebels also took control over the Air Force base in Embakasi outside Nairobi. The response from the government was swift; the rebels were confined and called upon to surrender. President Moi declared on 2 August that any rebels who were caught would be dealt with ruthlessly; nevertheless, he extended the final deadline for all Air Force personnel to surrender at least four times until mid-August, when it was reported that the Army had sealed off towns and villages in the Mount Kenya area, 120 miles north of Nairobi, in an attempt to starve out an estimated 150 Air Force rebels. By early September only 25 Air Force personnel had not been accounted for, and on 27 October President Arap Moi instructed local chiefs to track down and apprehend the remaining rebels. More than 3000 persons were arrested, including the entire Air Force; despite the massive arrests the coup leaders were at large.
The coup leader Hezekiah Rabala Ochuka, a private in the Kenyan Air Force fled to Tanzania when it became clear that the coup would not succeed, he was however extradited and sentenced to death by hanging, a sentence that was carried out in July 1987.
Nairobi was thrown into a state of disarray during the coup attempt, looting was commonplace and in the aftermath of the attempted coup some 200 were arrested and charged with looting. The violence was, however, not confined to the streets of Nairobi, and substantial fighting took place at the Air Force base in Embakasi where the rebels had fortified themselves. Official death tolls put the number of dead at 159, although other reports estimated that at least twice that number had been killed.
The result of the attempted coup was a complete reorganization of the Kenyan Air Force, since all of its members were imprisoned. Further, President Arap Moi declared in a policy statement on 21 September that the attempted coup had “aggravated an already difficult economic situation”, and announced a number of economic reforms, the raising of minimum wages, and the increase of the price of basic foodstuff.
President Arap Moi remained in office until late 2002 when Moi’s party Kenya African National Union (KANU) lost the election. Moi himself was constitutionally barred from running as presidential candidate for KANU.
