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Hezekiah Ochuka was a Senior Private in the Kenya Air Force. The name is so famous for being the man who ruled Kenya for about six hours after planning and executing a coup against President Daniel Arap Moi.
Hezekiah Ochuka was born in Nyakach, Kisumu county, on 23rd July 1953. He was raised by a single mother and his three elder brothers. After attending Naki Kabete Primary School and Mirogi Secondary School, Ochuka was recruited into the Kenya Air Force on September 14 1976 in Mombasa.
Read: How Ochuka’s 1982 coup attempt changed Kenya
Hezekiah Ochuka underwent eight months of military training at Lanet Army Barracks in Nakuru and was posted to Eastleigh Air Base. Between 1976 to 1978, he underwent basic trade training in electrical devices and instruments and later worked in hangars and bays.
From 30th October 1978 to 21 January 1980, Hezekiah Ochuka attended a course in RAF Cosford, UK, after which he worked as a Senior Private Grade-1, the second lowest rank in Kenya’s Defence Forces.
Read: Laikipia Air Base; Wonderful pass-out parade for Course 08/2
The coup d’etat led by Hezekiah Ochuka
On August 1 1982, the country woke up in confusion as heavy gunfire filled the air. A group of rogue soldiers led by Ochuka had seized power at night after storming the national broadcaster V.O.K (now KBC) where they announced that they were now in charge of the country.
Hezekiah Ochuka was the centre of the 1982 attempted coup, which then-President Daniel Arap Moi survived in less than a day. The 29-year-old was an unapologetic individual who assumed the title of chairman of a so-called “People’s Redemption Council” that planned to replace Moi.
Hezekiah Ochuka’s Military Knowledge and connections made it manageable for him to form a military heist on the Kenyan government. Ochuka led a group of low-ranked Air Force servicemen in the coup d’etat attempt.
Working at the behest of Ochuka, corporal Bramwel Injeni Njereman was leading a plot to bomb the state house and the General Service Union headquarters from the Laikipia Air Base, Nanyuki. Corporal Bramwel Njereman forced three pilots (Major David Mutua, Captain John Mugwanja and Captain John Baraza) to fly two F-5E Tiger jets and a Strikemaster that would be used for the mission.
However, Major Mutua was aware that Corporal Njereman had never flown a jet fighter before and would likely not be able to cope with the G-forces. The pilots, while communicating on a secret channel, agreed to execute daring manoeuvres to disorient the captor.
The supposed ‘trusted pilots’ pretended as if they were listening to orders given to them by their chief at first, but instead, once in the air, they dropped bombs over Mt. Kenya forest and fled back to Nanyuki.
President Moi later announced that loyal army units had crushed an attempted coup on his civilian government. The putsch was quickly suppressed by forces commanded by Chief General of Staff Mahmoud Mohammed, a veteran military official. In his company were; Lieutenant General John Sawe (The Army Commander and Deputy Chief of General Staff), Brigadier Bernard Kilu (Chief of Operations at Defence Forces) and Major Humphrey Njoroge (a staff officer in charge of training at Army Headquarters).
The aftermath of the coup d’etat.
The coup left more than 100 soldiers and at least 200 civilians dead, including several foreigners.
Hezekiah Ochuka subsequently escaped to Uganda before moving to Tanzania where Julius Nyerere had promised him protection. He was later extradited to Kenya along with a few more leading accomplices.
The failed coup saw all the organizers arrested and tried by court-martial at the Army’s Lang’ata Barracks. Corporal Bramwel Injeni Njereman, who was an armaments technician, was the second to be convicted of treason on 24th November 1984. He was found guilty of five overt acts and sentenced to death by hanging.
Corporal Walter Odira Ojode was the first to be charged with the same offences, on 16th December 1982, and was found guilty, he also received the death penalty.
The death sentence of Hezekiah Ochuka and his counterpart Pancras Oteyo Okumuwere were carried out on the night of 10 July 1987 at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison.
To date, they are the last people to have been executed under Kenyan law. A total of 12 people were sentenced to death and over 900 were jailed.
After the coup attempt, the entire Kenya Air Force was disbanded. The coup attempt was also a direct course of the snap of the 1983 general election.
