The residence of the President of Kenya, State House, is one of the heavily guarded premises in the country.
No daring man would ever think of launching an attack or even trespass the security tight territory as the hawk-eyed security officers would never miss spotting a stranger.
However, Kenya’s history books record of an attempted attack on the House on the Hill on August 1, 1982 – a date that forever remains to be a dark memory for the country.
The 1982 coup, organised by a section of Kenya Airforce officers, had State House as one of the bomb targets in a bid to overthrow the then Head of State, Daniel Arap Moi.
The plot, which was master-minded by a junior Kenya Airforce officer – Hezekiah Ochuka – among others, saw Mr Ochuka become Kenya’s President for less than six hours.
A former Kenya Airforce officer who lived to tell the tale – Captain Jorim Owino Nyamor – divulged that after the army under the leadership of Ochuka announced on national radio that the Government had been overthrown, he was seized at gun point and forcefully taken to the operational base in Nanyuki. The coup announcement had been made on then national broadcaster Voice of Kenya (VOK) which is now the Kenya Broadcasting Cooperation (KBC).
As per the strategy, Mr Nyamor and other army pilots were to launch bomb attacks on several places including State House (Nairobi), Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and President Moi’s Kabarak house using airplanes.
“At the squadron, we were about 20 officers, mostly pilots, who would later be sent to bomb different bases and State House,” Capt Nyamor said in a past interview with a local daily.
However, the vicious plan never saw the light of day as officers against the coup subdued and arrested the rebels before the planes took off from the Nanyuki base.
“When the F5 plane landed, the officers who were under direction to bomb several places subdued the rebels and took over the squadron, but several other army officers came over and arrested them all. We were taken to Kamiti Maximum Prison, and after a few days transferred to Naivasha where we were tortured,’’ Capt Nyamor recorded.
During the coup, the rebel soldiers took over control of VOK, JKIA control towers, Wilson Airport, The General Post Office and the Central Bank of Kenya.
