Protest victims to receive compensation from next week

Victims of human rights abuse during protests will begin to receive state compensation from next week.

This is after the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) on Monday submitted a report on the Framework for Reparations for Victims of Human Rights Violations to President William Ruto.

In April, the government allocated Ksh.2 billion for the compensation in the first supplementary budget for the 2025/2026 financial year.

While submitting the report, the commission’s chairperson Ms Claris Ogangah, said the process was meant to restore trust and rebuild home among Kenyan citizens.

“Kenya has taken an important step towards healing historical wounds, strengthening national unity and building a society founded on justice, human dignity, accountability and respect for human rights,” said Ogangah.

The compensation will cover victims of violent protests witnessed in the 2017 and 2022 post-election period and those who suffered rights abuse in 2023, 2024 Finance Bill protests and 2025 Saba Saba protests.

Since unveiling a compensation framework, KNCHR has documented 1,815 claims and received another 1022 cases from the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA). Other cases were presented by the Ministry of Interior.

The commission has verified and obtained consent from 1,101 victims across 6 categories of violations.

Violations include deaths (245 victims), injuries (135), arrests (473), sexual violence (75), and property destruction (138)

“Not all cases reported to the commission qualified as gross human rights violations for reparations, as some were isolated criminal acts,” Onganga said, adding that such would undergo the criminal justice process.