Victims of 2024 Kenya police violence say compensation promise a 'smokescreen'

Two years ago, Gen-Z protests marked a new era for Kenyan politics, but led to dozens of deaths, and devastated families are unimpressed with government promises of compensation.

Memorial protests are planned on Thursday to mark two years since the country’s biggest show of dissent, when Kenyans stormed parliament to protest new taxes amid wider anger over corruption.

It was seen as a watershed moment, as young Kenyans joined together to demand accountability without regard for traditional ethnic dividing lines.

People attend a demonstration against Kenya’s proposed finance bill in Nairobi, Kenya on June 25, 2024. — Reuters

But it came at a price: 62 people died during weeks of protests in June and July 2024, and another 65 died during anniversary protests in the same period the following year, according to the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA).

Rights groups put the toll higher, and say the overwhelming majority were shot dead by police and security forces.

After showing little remorse for the killings, President William Ruto last week announced 2 billion shillings ($15.5 million) to compensate 1,100 people affected by violent protests between 2017 and 2025. He said it was an “acknowledgement that harm occurred” but stopped short of an apology.

A photo of Kenyan President William Ruto from September 5, 2022. — Reuters/File

A government-appointed panel for compensation said it had started the first 348 payouts on Tuesday, including 115 fatalities whose families received 3 million shillings (around $28,000) each.

“He’s covering up the wrongs that he did. He just wants us to shut up because of the cash that he’s giving us — the peanuts,” said Gillian Munyao, whose son, Rex Masai, 29, was among the first to die in the June 2024 protests.

“I’m not seeing justice anywhere … why pay us without giving the culprit?” Munyao told AFP at a Nairobi court last week, where the case is ongoing.

Only three cases from the 2024 protest deaths, and one from 2025, have come to court, according to the IPOA. No officer has been convicted.

Dozens of government critics were also abducted in 2024 and 2025, many never seen again, according to rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

In May 2025, Ruto vowed to stop the abductions and said there was an “accountability mechanism” to bring those responsible to justice.

But many, including his own former attorney general, say he was directly responsible for the kidnappings, and there has been no sign of any investigation.

‘Smokescreen’

Lawyer Nick Karanja, who represents several victims ignored by the compensation panel, described the process as a “smokescreen”. One of his clients, Fenancia Njeri, 49, has not been offered anything for the death of her son, Issa Mburu, killed on July 7, 2025.

“It’s been a whole year … very, very hard,” she told AFP, adding that she sometimes sees the policeman who killed her son near the informal settlement outside Nairobi where she lives.

Ruto warned at the time that violent protesters should be “shot in the legs”. That’s what happened to Mark Clinton Deya, 26, who insists he was protesting peacefully when he was shot by police that day.

He shows AFP a tattered photo of his right thigh ripped apart by a bullet that embedded itself in his other leg.

“I was a chef … but now I can’t do that work. This leg can’t stand for long. It starts shaking,” he said.

He filed a case with the IPOA but was never called back.

Kenyan police continue to kill people during bouts of unrest with apparent impunity, with the government usually dismissing victims as rioters.

A protester chants anti-government slogans on a road blocked with stones to prevent traffic from passing during a transport strike in Nairobi, Kenya. — AFP/File

At least four were killed during fuel protests in May, and three more during protests against a proposed Ebola quarantine centre for US citizens this month.

“Those are the things we are trying to change,” said Rex Masai’s father, Chrispine Odawa.

“Without justice, they will not bring any change. Protests are still coming,” he told AFP. ...