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Ruto now sets up team to compensate protest victims since 2017, after Raila demand
President William Ruto speaks during a meeting of the East African Community–Southern African Development Community co-chairs at State House in Nairobi on August 1, 2025.
What you need to know:
- President Ruto emphasized the need for accountability and reparations for those who lost their lives or sustained bodily harm.
- Ruto's office will collaborate with the Office of the Attorney General, Ministry of Interior and the National Treasury to implement the plan.
President William Ruto has unveiled a State-backed team to develop a framework to compensate victims of protests and demonstrations dating back to 2017, a move seen by some as a long-overdue reckoning amid mounting public dissent.
In a Presidential Proclamation issued from the Executive Office of the President on Friday and affixed with the official state seal, President Ruto cited the “compelling national interest” in redressing harm suffered by both civilians and security personnel during Kenya’s turbulent protest history.
The document establishes a coordinating framework for compensation of victims of protests and riots, to be housed under the Executive Office of the President.
“The Constitution establishes the dual obligations of the State and its citizens to uphold the delicate balance between civic responsibility and the exercise of constitutionally guaranteed freedoms,” reads the proclamation.
President Ruto emphasized the need for accountability and reparations for those who lost their lives or sustained bodily harm “during public protests and riots since the year 2017.”
The actualisation of the plan to compensate protest victim is also a key demand by Mr Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), who are currently in a cooperation pact with the leading, United Democratic Alliance party.
61 people killed during Gen Z protests
The move also comes after years of protests police crackdowns, and an ever-growing deaths, particularly during the Gen Z led protests in the country in June 2024 and 2025. Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) and Amnesty International report that 61 people were killed during the Gen Z protests. Amnesty International Kenya reports 89 enforced disappearances tied to the 2024 anti-government protests.
Yet for many victims’ families, justice has remained elusive often buried in bureaucratic inertia, stonewalled investigations, or, worse, official silence.
The compensation framework will be chaired by a Principal Co-ordinator, Prof Makau Mutua, currently the president’s Senior Advisor on Constitutional Affairs and Human Rights. He has been appointed to oversee the intervention and compensation process.
The President said his office will collaborate with key state institutions — including the Office of the Attorney General, Ministry of Interior & National Administration, and National Treasury — to implement the plan.
The coordination framework has a lifespan of 120 days from the date of proclamation, within which it is expected to begin deliver on it’s mandate.
