“He just wants us to shut up because of the cash that he’s giving us — the peanuts.” Gillian Munyao said that of the compensation President William Ruto announced for Kenya’s protest victims. Her son, Rex Masai, was 29 when he became one of the first people killed in the June 2024 demonstrations.
Munyao spoke days before the second anniversary of the protests, when young Kenyans stormed parliament over new taxes and wider anger about corruption. The Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) counts some 62 deaths during the weeks of unrest in June and July 2024, and another 65 during the anniversary protests a year later. Rights groups put the toll higher and say police and security forces shot most of the dead.
An offer without an apology
The week before, Ruto had announced 2 billion shillings ($15.5 million) for 1,100 people hurt in violent protests between 2017 and 2025. He called it an “acknowledgement that harm occurred” but did not apologise. Amnesty welcomed it as a “long-overdue opportunity to confront injustice”.
Munyao was unmoved. “I’m not seeing justice anywhere… why pay us without giving the culprit?” she told AFP outside a Nairobi court, where the case over her son’s death is still running. Only three cases from the 2024 deaths and one from 2025 have reached a courtroom, according to IPOA, and no officer has been convicted.
The money began moving within days. Government announced Ksh448.7 million for 348 verified beneficiaries in a first phase covering violations from 2013 to 2025. On the anniversary Thursday, Munyao stood outside Parliament holding a placard that read: “Compensation cannot replace accountability. Arrest the killer cops.”
A figure she refuses to accept
Families of the dead are due KSh 3 million (EUR 20,312) each, and the government says 1,101 verified victims out of 1,815 claims reviewed will benefit. Munyao told Justice Info what she thinks of that number. “There is no human life worth three million shillings,” she said. “First let those responsible be judged, then come and tell us about the money; the money can only wipe away tears.”
She is also still waiting for a word of regret. “No one from the government has ever come to us,” she said. “No one has sat down with us to explain what happened or even to say ‘We are sorry for the loss of your child’.”
Other families describe the same distance. Lawyer Nick Karanja, who represents several of them, called the promise “a smokescreen” and said many clients do not know whether they are on the list or whether any payment will come. One of them, Fenancia Njeri, 49, lost her son Issa Mburu on July 7, 2025. She said she sometimes sees the policeman who killed him near her home outside Nairobi, and that she learnt of the compensation only from television.
Rex’s father, Chrispine Odawa, linked the anger to the street. “Without justice, they will not bring any change. Protests are still coming,” he told AFP. His wife fears the same. Their surviving son, she said, goes to demonstrations whenever they are held. “I fear the worst might happen again.”
Sources
- Kenya police violence victims say compensation promise a 'smokescreen' (AFP, via The Standard)
- Kenya: "Money can only wipe away tears"
- OPINION: When Government Pays Victims With Their Own Taxes (Dawan Africa, James Murimi)
