A fallout between the ruling UDA and ODM over compensation of protest victims played out at the State House on Monday when Senator Oburu Oginga protested alleged sidelining.
Dr Oginga – the ODM party leader – publicly told President William Ruto that his invitation for the presentation of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) report on the framework for reparations for victims of human rights violations appeared like an afterthought.
The Nation has learnt that Dr Oginga was invited to State House for the event on Monday morning. He consequently arrived when the ceremony was already underway.
The leadership of all three arms of government – Executive, Parliament and Judiciary – were in attendance.
Some ODM officials claimed that he attended the function by chance, having gone for the signing of the Division of Revenue Bill, 2026, earlier in the morning, while State House said he was invited as part of Parliamentary leadership.
Compensation of victims of protests was one of the items in the 10-point agenda signed between President Ruto and the late Prime Minister Raila Odinga on March 7, 2025, and party officials feel they should be involved in its implementation as a sign of good faith.
Raila Odinga (right) makes his remarks after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between ODM and UDA at KICC in Nairobi on March 07, 2025.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
The UDA and ODM political arrangement is anchored on the ambitious 10-point agenda meant to guide reforms touching on governance, economic inclusion, electoral credibility and institutional accountability.
ODM has used the push to compensate families of those killed as well as those injured by police during past anti-government protests in rallying its traditional bases to back the broad-based government, and possibly back Dr Ruto’s re-election. ODM supporters bore the brunt of past protests.
When he was given a chance to speak, Dr Oginga registered his displeasure with how ODM was handled.
“First of all, Your Excellency, I would like to say that I was not properly prepared for this occasion. I don’t know why I was not properly invited to the occasion, but I don’t want to complain,” Dr Oginga said in his opening remarks.
“I think it is because my brother is not there. If he were there, I’m very sure he would have been the first to be invited to this occasion because he held human rights very dearly to his heart.”
Admission of committing a crime
“With the partnership of the government, I shall ensure that everyone is duly compensated. To the families who lost their loved ones, please consider this a token of remorse; though the loss of human life can never be fully quantified through financial compensation, it is a necessary step toward justice,” he said.
But an official of the party claimed that Mr Mohammed and the National Assembly’s Budget and Appropriations Committee chairperson Samuel Atandi, were only informed of the meeting when they went to State House for the signing of the Bill.
“None of the party officials was invited. All the deputy party leaders, governors Simba Arati (Kisii) and Abdulswamad Nassir (Mombasa), and party chairperson Gladys Wanga were not invited,” said the official.
President William Ruto and ODM leader Oburu Odinga at the United Democratic Alliance (UDA)-Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Joint Parliamentary Group meeting at the Kenya International Convention Centre, Nairobi.
Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group
How the event was handled has since become a major issue within ODM, with some officials claiming a deliberate scheme by President Ruto and UDA to take credit for the compensation. The matter became part of the party’s Central Management Committee meeting held on Monday evening.
The meeting was attended by, among others, Dr Oginga, Mr Arati, Ms Wanga, Mr Nassir, Mr Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General Catherine Omanyo, Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi and National Treasurer Timothy Bosire.
“The ceremony was not done well. Compensation was an ODM initiative. It is jointly owned by the two parties,” said an official who attended the meeting.
He said President Ruto’s remarks that a friend had warned him that compensating victims would amount to admission of committing a crime, suggested “running away with the programme as a personal initiative”.
“Oburu’s speech was enough protest that the party is not happy with the handling of the compensation,” said the official.
However, a State House official, who spoke off the record, said the initial plan by the commission was to hold a boardroom meeting with the president on Friday. The official said it was the president who directive that they hold a public function on Monday.
He said confusion arose after the invitation was limited to the leadership of Parliament and Judiciary. The official confirmed that it was the president who contacted Dr Oginga on Monday morning to inquire if he had been invited.
During the event, President Ruto said the compensation was “a commitment born out of a shared conviction that Kenya could not continue travelling the same painful road, generation after generation, protest after protest, tragedy after tragedy”.
“For far too long, whenever Kenyans have exercised these rights, too often the outcome has been violence, injury, loss of life, destruction of property, bitterness, and division. Families have buried loved ones. Young people have carried physical and emotional scars. Businesses have been destroyed. Police officers have been injured. Communities have been left traumatized,” President Ruto said.
While observing that there have been instances where the response to public demonstrations has resulted in excessive use of force, violations of rights, and loss of life, President Ruto said whenever the cycle unfolds, “Kenya loses” and “our democracy is diminished.”
The victims to be compensated cut across six categories of violations, including the right to life (245 victims), sexual violence (75), freedom from torture (135), freedom and security of the person (473), right to property (138) and enforced disappearance (35).
