The Kenyan state has committed about 2 billion shillings to compensate people who suffered during police operations and public order enforcement over recent years of protests. The money is intended to provide redress to a large group of victims and their families, and marks a formal attempt by the authorities to put a financial value on the harm caused. The compensation scheme has been laid out as a structured framework rather than a series of one-off payments.
According to the framework, the compensation covers claims stemming from police operations and public order enforcement going back to the 2017 to 2022 election cycle, as well as the more recent 2023 to 2025 Gen Z and Saba Saba protests. By drawing the timeline across several years and different waves of unrest, the scheme acknowledges that the abuses in question were not confined to a single event but stretched across multiple periods of political tension.
The breakdown of the payments sets specific minimum amounts for different categories of harm. Families of those who lost their lives are to receive a minimum of 2.5 million shillings. Victims of torture and of sexual and gender-based violence are set to receive 2 million shillings, while cases of enforced disappearance are valued at 1.5 million shillings. Compensation is also envisaged for injuries, loss of business and arbitrary arrests.
The number of people seeking redress is substantial, with verified claims currently standing at just over 1,000. Yet the process has been framed as more than a matter of money. Those involved stress that the quest for justice also has to address the lasting emotional toll that remains long after the violence, arguing that no sum could ever fully measure the value of a life lost or the pain endured.
The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has made clear that financial payments alone are not enough. The commission is demanding a sweeping set of non-monetary measures, including policy and legislative actions designed to protect protesters and to limit police excesses in the future. The aim, it argues, is to prevent a repeat of the kind of force that left so many people dead, injured or missing.
Alongside these reforms, the commission is calling on the state to issue a formal and unconditional public apology, delivered from the highest office of the state security system. The broader framework is presented as an effort to establish a victim-centered, transparent and accountable system, one capable of delivering accessible and effective remedies in line with the Constitution.
The framework is now set to land on the desks of parliamentarians, whose task will be to ensure that accountability goes beyond simply writing checks for those affected. That includes providing adequate funding for bodies such as the human rights commission, and enacting laws intended to ensure that lawful protest in the country is never again met with deadly violence. The coming parliamentary debate will determine how far the promises translate into lasting change.