Raila urges US gov’t to compensate Kenyan victims of 1998 bomb blast

Azimio La Umoja One Kenya coalition flag bearer Raila Odinga wants Kenyan victims of the 1998 bomb last attack in Nairobi compensated by the US government.

This comes after Odinga met with representatives of the Kenyan victims in Washington D.C. during his recent visit to the United States.

According to Prof. Makau Mutua, Spokesperson of Raila Odinga Presidential Campaign Secretariat, the representatives of the victims were led by American attorney Philip M. Musolino.

“Mr. Odinga is encouraged that the U.S Congress will have the opportunity in the next several weeks and months to consider legislation which will make the Kenyan victims eligible to participate in a United States Congressional fund providing compensation to the victims of terrorist attacks on the United States,” Prof. Mutua said in a statement issued Thursday.

Odinga’s proposals seek to amend the law to include Kenyan victims and their surviving spouses among those eligible for recognition and compensation under the US Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Act. 

“The proposed legislation underscores the friendship and mutual interests of Kenya and the United States. Mr. Odinga strongly urges the US Congress to adopt these amendments, and looks forward to a successful legislative conclusion,” added the statement.

Victims of the 1998 terror attack have continually expressed frustration over the long delay that has plagued their quest for compensation, decades later.

The Sudan government in 2021 released some $335 million (Ksh.39 billion) towards compensating the victims as a condition by the US to be cleared from its list of state sponsors of terror.

The Nairobi bombers were said to have been harboured in Sudan for planning in the run up to the attack.

However, the Kenyan victims were not included in the list of the potential beneficiaries as it targeted only victims who were US nationals or workers for the country’s embassy at the time.

Some victims have said that ​​the US government only supported them for three years from 1999 but left them afterwards.