Hold your horses, you'll be compensated shortly - Raila tells protest victims

ODM Party leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga says President William Ruto’s government is preparing to compensate families of those killed during the June-July 2024 anti-tax and anti-government protests.

In an interview with NTV that aired on Sunday, Odinga said a process for compensation is underway and will begin “shortly,” as families of those killed and injured—mostly by police—during the demos continue to demand justice.

“On the issue of compensation… shortly, you're going to see what is going to happen; the compensation is going to start,” Odinga said.

When pressed on how the government plans to fund the initiative, given that the 2025/26 national budget contains no line item for protest victim compensation, Odinga claimed the Contingencies Fund will be used.

“There’s always the provision of contingencies in the budgets. The contingency fund is available. And I just want you to hold your horses. Shortly, there’s going to be compensation; it is going to start. And we now have a task force to deal with it,” he said, without providing further details.

The families of those killed during last year’s demos have been calling for the prosecution of police officers and their commanders, as well as an inquiry into the destruction of property and infiltration of the protests by so-called hired goons.

Odinga, who allied with Ruto last year after leading similar demos as the de facto opposition chief since he lost the 2022 presidential race, has repeatedly made the case for reparations.

“We should compensate families of those who died and those injured so that we can have closure to this chapter of our national history. We want Kenyans to live in peace and unity,” he said during this year’s Madaraka Day celebrations in Homa Bay, which Ruto also attended.

The President has never openly spoken on the issue, and Odinga's latest comments mark the first concrete signal from political leadership on reparations being considered.

Even so, it remains unclear how soon compensation would begin or how much affected families would receive.

For the recent demos in honour of those killed in last year’s June 25 anti-finance bill protests, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has ruled out any chance of the state compensating those whose property was looted or vandalised.