Compensation or mirage? Questions surrounding protest victims fund

Minne Gathoni, who was shot on 24th June 2024  during Gen Z protests has not been compensated by government. [Edward Kiplimo,Standard]

The promised relief for families of those killed or maimed, injured or abducted during the anti-government protests in the last decade is dissolving into a fog of administrative silence.

Months after the  state loudly announced the commencement of a Sh2 billion compensation programme, questions now mount over the disbursement process at the beneficiaries say they are yet to receive funds.

Despite repeated assurances from State officials, human rights organisations and victim support networks report a near-total blackout of public evidence that any financial restitution has actually changed hands.

Key among the 10-point agenda in the cooperation agreement between the former Premier Raila Odinga and President William Ruto early last year, the compensation of victims of protests from 2017, was touted as one that would heal the wounds of affected families.

It came a year after the 2024 demonstrations, driven largely by youth-led agitations over tax hikes and governance failures, resulted in dozens of fatalities and hundreds of critical injuries due to police action.

According to Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, at least 60 people lost their lives, and dozens sustained gunshot injuries. The number increased in the subsequent protests.

Several other active participants in the protests, particularly the Gen Zs, also fell victim to what appeared to be state-sanctioned abductions.

President Ruto would then constitute a panel led by his advisor, Prof Makau Mutua, in August, 2025, to oversee the exercise.

The appointment hit hurdles of legal battles which saw its vice chair, former Law Society of Kenya President Faith Odhiambo resign, before the court gave it a clean bill of health.

First forward, on June 25, 2026, the committee announced that it had begun disbursement of the funds to beneficiaries, with the first batch being 348 victims.

According to the panel, Sh674 million has been paid to victims in the first and second batch of beneficiaries who have been verified.

However, reports from human rights groups and the victims themselves paint a different picture, a development which now dents the process as a cynical public relations exercise.

Victims who spoke to The Sunday Standard lamented that they are yet to receive any funds despite the pronouncements.

They claim secrecy surrounding the vetting process has created an atmosphere of fear and exclusion, puting into scrutiny the credibility of the entire process.

Minne Gathoni, who was shot in the left hand during last year's Gen Z anniversary protest, said she has been taken rounds over the payment.

She said IPOA reached out to her more than a month ago, assuring her that she would receive her money within a few days.

"I was called on June 25 and told I would get the funds. Since then, I have taken rounds. I have medical bills to pay," she decried.

"I wish the government said they would not compensate us. They are taking us through mental torture. Who are these people they claim to have paid?" Gathoni wondered.

Similar experiences were reported by another victim who was shot in the leg during the Gen Z protests in June 2024.

"I gave all my bank details as requested, but I'm yet to see any money reflect in the account," a survivor who asked anonymity told The Sunday Standard.

"At some point I thought I gave wrong details; I went to the bank last Monday, and the bank manager told me that money was yet to reflect in my account."

This despite Prof Mutua, in a statement on July 9, saying the government would gazette the list of those compensated, a promise they are yet to fulfil.

For survivors of abductions, they have been forced to file a legal suit against Prof Mutua's team, claiming that they are being sidelined in the compensation process.

In their case filed last Friday through a lobby group, the victims stated that they are yet to be contacted by the panel or receive any penny, even as they opposed what they termed as fresh verification by the committee.

In a KNCHR report released in June, 1,101 victims were verified and cleared for compensation, 35 of which were survivors of enforced disappearances that the group alleged was state-sanctioned.

“The respondents have unlawfully introduced a superfluous ‘authentication process" as a precondition for compensating victims of torture and enforced disappearances, which process is ultra vires, unconstitutional, and in direct contravention of the Terms of Reference prescribed under Presidential Proclamation No. 1 of 2026,” their lawyer Abner Mango argued.

"If the victims were already verified by KNCHR, why is the so-called panel introducing a new and unlawful authentication process that was never contemplated under the presidential proclamation or the court sanctioned reparation framework?" Jamil Longton, a victim, questioned in a press briefing on Friday.

The group is now asking the panel to inform the court what plans they have for these victims of enforced disappearances and torture and make public "if at all they have compensated any victim."

Mutua's team, however, defended the verification process being conducted by his team, arguing that it would ensure prudent use of public resources.

"This rigorous approach is not a delay; it is a safeguard against fraud and a guarantee that public funds are directed to those who genuinely deserve them," the statement said, adding that the Panel "will not compromise on this standard of accountability," he said on July 9.

At the same time, they have accused the panel of excluding them from the list of beneficiaries.

"Members from the panel have told us we are not going to be compensated as earlier communicated," claimed Bernard Kavuli, a victim of abduction.

Alice Wambui, whose son, Peter Macharia, was abducted at the height of the 2024 Gen Z revolution and is yet to be found, equally echoed the sentiments of frustrations surrounding the compensation promise.

According to her, Macharia was last located in Kenyatta National Hospital, but "the hospital refused to give me details of his admission."

"I long to see my son. If you (government) can't produce him, pay me," she said while holding her son's portrait.

"We are devastated," said Wambui, struggling to hold back tears.

In the suit, the group said, Sh 1.12 billion has allegedly been disbursed so far.