President William Ruto has ordered that compensation for victims of past protests be completed by June 2026.
Speaking during a joint parliamentary group (PG) meeting between the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) parties on Tuesday, March 10, at the KICC, the Head of State said the government has included a Ksh2 billion allocation for the compensation process in the supplementary budget that has been forwarded to Parliament.
“I took the first step and gazetted a victims’ compensation panel. Even as the courts held it, we did some work. We have identified all the victims and profiled their names. We have a comprehensive list of all the victims of protests from 2017,” Ruto stated.
According to Ruto, the compensation will cover victims from 2017 to 2024, and not only 2024 as initially projected.
He therefore asked the National Assembly to approve the Ksh 2 billion in the supplementary budget to ensure that the state has enough resources for the exercise.
The proclamation by the president comes days after he directed the KNHCR, in a gazette notice, to develop and submit a framework to guide the compensation of victims of human rights violations and protests.
The President gave KNCHR 60 days from the date of the proclamation to complete the task and publish a report detailing the proposed framework, which, according to him, has likely been completed.
The compensation of protest victims was one of the agendas in the 10-point agreement signed between ODM and UDA parties following the 2024 protests that led to the birth of the broad-based government.
With the timeline for compensation now set for June, protest victims, including the families of those who lost their lives, are now set for compensation, though the Head of State admits that no amount of compensation can bring back a lost life.
