Ex-soldier gets Sh25 million for sacking after Somalia raid

When Moses Etyang boarded a military vehicle on a routine patrol in Afmadow, Somalia, in 2014, he had no idea it would change his life forever.

The vehicle was ambushed and overturned, he was violently thrown against its metal frame.

Etyang walked away with what were dismissed as “minor soft tissue injuries” to his head — no scans, no hospital stay, just basic first aid. He was told to suck it up and get back to duty.

In the months that followed, however, something inside him began to unravel. He suffered memory lapses and confusion.

The fog wouldn’t lift. By the time he returned to Nyali Barracks in 2015, Etyang was no longer the man he once had been.

His health deteriorated, and so did his ability to serve. Instead of receiving medical care or support, he was labelled insubordinate, charged with malingering and locked in the brig for 42 days before being dishonourably discharged by the KDF the same year. It cited a vague clause of “services no longer required.”

Now, more than a decade since the day of the accident, Court of Appeal on July 31 awarded Etyang Sh25 million in damages — ruling that his dismissal was unlawful, cruel and a violation of his constitutional rights.

The judges affirmed that his mental health struggles were not only real, but directly linked to the injuries he sustained in Somalia, and that KDF failed both in its duty of care and ensuring a fair process during his disciplinary proceedings.

Etyang had petitioned the Employment and Labour Relations Court, which initially awarded him Sh30 million for the trauma, lost income and violation of rights. The ELRC initial ruling was on February 18, 2023.

The government, through the Attorney General and Chief of Defence Forces, appealed the decision, arguing his dismissal had followed due process and he had already been compensated through a military disability scheme.

The Court of Appeal acknowledged the government's concerns and reduced the compensation to Sh25 million — calling the original figure “excessive and punitive” — it upheld the core of the earlier judgment.

It said KDF had failed to provide proper medical investigation, ignored the respondent’s declining mental state and denied him the basic fairness of a trial he could understand the charges and defend himself.

By 2018, a KDF Medical Board had officially diagnosed Etyang with schizophrenia, confirming the link between his mental illness and the injury in Somalia.

His legal team argued successfully that he had not been in a position to defend himself during disciplinary proceedings, yet no mental capacity assessment was conducted, nor was he allowed representation.

The case underscores a broader problem in the way institutions, particularly security forces, handle invisible wounds. Despite being decorated for service, Etyang was treated as a disciplinary problem rather than a patient.

The ruling signals a growing recognition of mental health rights as part of constitutional protections, especially in high-risk professions like the military.

With the damages now affirmed, less the previous compensation already paid, the judgment not only brings closure to one man’s long, painful journey, but also sends a strong message to state institutions: injury, especially to the mind, must not be met with punishment, but with care, dignity, and justice.

Instant analysis

The judgment marks a critical shift toward recognising mental health injuries as legitimate grounds for state accountability. It also exposes systemic gaps in the military's duty of care, punishing trauma instead of treating it.