A Kenyan journalist based in the United States has accused Attorney General Githu Muigai of extortion over Sh 12 million owed to him.

Peter Makori accused Githu Muigai of failing to honour a court order that required the State Law Office to compensate the journalist for torture and illegal imprisonment during President Daniel Moi’s reign.

The journalist was awarded Sh5,053,671 in 2006 which has since then accumulated to about Sh12 million due to accrued interest.

Githu Muigai's demand

Makori now says that Muigai’s office had demanded that he forfeits Sh5million interest in order to get his compensation.

"Ever since the AG’s office was served with the court order to pay, officials at the State Law Office have been demanding that I ‘negotiate’ the accrued interest. The officials wrote to me in the recent past, demanding I accept Sh7 million out of a possible Sh12 million."

“I rejected the offer because it amounts to extortion, and the AG has no powers under any law to subject me to such negotiation,” Makori was quoted by The Star.

Moi era torture

Makori's is one of the Kenyans who suffered police brutality during former President Daniel Moi’s era and have successfully sought court-awarded damages.

However, most of the claimants have died before they received the court-awarded compensation as a result of failure by both the State Law office, and the National Treasury.