Justin Muturi has called for transparency in compensation for protest victims.
Justin Muturi demands the Uwiano team publish its findings and explain how its compensation figures match documented protest deaths.
Democratic Party of Kenya leader Justin Muturi has challenged the government’s protest victim compensation process. He cited reports that only one fatality featured among 157 cases approved for compensation.
In a statement issued on Monday, the former Attorney General demanded answers from Professor Makau Mutua. Mutua chairs the Uwiano team overseeing the exercise.
Muturi also called for the immediate release of the team’s methodology and complete findings. He wants an account of protest deaths that independent reviewers can verify.
He warned that recognising only one fatality could weaken public confidence and diminish bereaved families’ suffering.
Muturi seeks protest victim compensation records
Muturi cited findings by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. The organisations documented deaths and other human rights violations during the anti-government demonstrations.
He noted that KNCHR recorded 60 deaths during the June–July 2024 protests. He also pointed to subsequent interim reporting that put the toll at at least 73.
Against those figures, Muturi challenged the Uwiano team to explain how it reconciled its findings with independent rights reports. He asked how many bereaved families the team had registered, verified or excluded from compensation.
He further sought the eligibility criteria and questioned whether the team had examined hospital, mortuary and post-mortem records. Muturi also asked whether it had reviewed records from the Independent Policing Oversight Authority.
Compensation must accompany accountability
Muturi argued that financial payments should not replace investigations into human rights violations. Nor, he said, should compensation shield anyone responsible for unlawful killings from accountability.
He urged the government to fully implement the Victim Protection Act, 2014, citing its framework for supporting and protecting victims. He also called for transparency in identifying beneficiaries, so families affected by deaths or disappearances do not face exclusion.
Alongside compensation, Muturi wants investigations into every reported death and disappearance, with legal accountability for unlawful acts. Families, he argued, need truth and justice as well as financial support.
The 2024 demonstrations largely centred on opposition to the Finance Bill 2024. Muturi maintained that the compensation exercise must not minimise affected families’ experiences or rewrite the history of those protests.
