Sanyatti
Member
The origin of the 1982 coup attempt could be traced back to the 1971 coup plot that was aimed at overthrowing Kenyatta.
One of its leaders Sergeant Ogidi Obuon had actually been involved in the 1971 conspiracy but he somehow managed to evade the long arm of the law and the idea of overthrowing the government continued to lack at the back of his mind.
In December 1985, one of the plotters Sergeant Otieno Odembo , in an interview with a South African Magazine at Naivasha Maximum prison where he had been put on death row, revealed that the coup attempt was the brainchild of Ogidi Obuon and Pancras Oteyo before Ochuka joined in
A power struggle would later ensue between Obuon , Oteyo and Ochuko on who was to chair the self-styled people’s redemption council . “It was a heated argument which almost exploded into a fight,” said Odembo.
Ochuka threatened to withdraw all the soldiers he had recruited if he wasn’t elected chairman of the council.
At this point Odembo claimed, Oteyo called Ogidi Obuon aside and told him , “Let Ochuka be Chairman . Let’s use him to get power. When the coup succeeds we shall finish him and take over the leadership. He is very useful to us at the moment. “ And that’s how Ochuka came to lead the People’s Redemtion Council (PRC).
The coup attempt began in late hours of 31 July 1982,when the elements beat up some of their officers and then seized Eastleigh and Embakasi bases, in the face of some resistance from loyal personnel.
At the same time another rebel support group at Nanyuki captured the air force base there. The coup had been timed to take place when most army units were away on exercise.
Neverthless it , was poorly organized and short lived. It lasted only a few hours and achieved little apart from temporary takeover of the voice of Kenya.
The governmnet’s first warning of the uprising came when the commanding officer of Eastleigh air base escaped from the rebels in the early hours of 1 August 1982.
All senior army officers available soon assembled in the operation room at the ministry of defence . Major General mohammed led the army oin the recapture of the broadcasting station, while the 1sr Kenya Rifles at Nanyuki recaptured the air base there. In the afternoon the army and the GSU regained control of Embakasi and Eastleigh.
Moi returned to Nairobi in the evening and announced that the coup attempt had been crushed.
In a confidential conversation now declassified that he had with the British High Commissioner just after the coup attempt, Moi said it was too early to speculate the person who was behind the coup attempt, but thought “It may have been some would be Jerry Rawlings or Sergeant Doe.”
He ,however , believed there was a connection between the rebels, the radicals at the University of Nairobi and Russia. When the diplomat asked whether there was a likelihood that the coup attempt was tribally motivated , Moi replied that he didn’t think so but mentioned that the two coup plotters who had fled to Tanzania were Luos.
One of its leaders Sergeant Ogidi Obuon had actually been involved in the 1971 conspiracy but he somehow managed to evade the long arm of the law and the idea of overthrowing the government continued to lack at the back of his mind.
In December 1985, one of the plotters Sergeant Otieno Odembo , in an interview with a South African Magazine at Naivasha Maximum prison where he had been put on death row, revealed that the coup attempt was the brainchild of Ogidi Obuon and Pancras Oteyo before Ochuka joined in
A power struggle would later ensue between Obuon , Oteyo and Ochuko on who was to chair the self-styled people’s redemption council . “It was a heated argument which almost exploded into a fight,” said Odembo.
Ochuka threatened to withdraw all the soldiers he had recruited if he wasn’t elected chairman of the council.
At this point Odembo claimed, Oteyo called Ogidi Obuon aside and told him , “Let Ochuka be Chairman . Let’s use him to get power. When the coup succeeds we shall finish him and take over the leadership. He is very useful to us at the moment. “ And that’s how Ochuka came to lead the People’s Redemtion Council (PRC).
The coup attempt began in late hours of 31 July 1982,when the elements beat up some of their officers and then seized Eastleigh and Embakasi bases, in the face of some resistance from loyal personnel.
At the same time another rebel support group at Nanyuki captured the air force base there. The coup had been timed to take place when most army units were away on exercise.
Neverthless it , was poorly organized and short lived. It lasted only a few hours and achieved little apart from temporary takeover of the voice of Kenya.
The governmnet’s first warning of the uprising came when the commanding officer of Eastleigh air base escaped from the rebels in the early hours of 1 August 1982.
All senior army officers available soon assembled in the operation room at the ministry of defence . Major General mohammed led the army oin the recapture of the broadcasting station, while the 1sr Kenya Rifles at Nanyuki recaptured the air base there. In the afternoon the army and the GSU regained control of Embakasi and Eastleigh.
Moi returned to Nairobi in the evening and announced that the coup attempt had been crushed.
In a confidential conversation now declassified that he had with the British High Commissioner just after the coup attempt, Moi said it was too early to speculate the person who was behind the coup attempt, but thought “It may have been some would be Jerry Rawlings or Sergeant Doe.”
He ,however , believed there was a connection between the rebels, the radicals at the University of Nairobi and Russia. When the diplomat asked whether there was a likelihood that the coup attempt was tribally motivated , Moi replied that he didn’t think so but mentioned that the two coup plotters who had fled to Tanzania were Luos.