Scars of June 25th: Maimed protest victim yet to receive promised gov't compensation

Two years after Kenya’s anti-Finance Bill protests on June 24, 2024, one young man is still waiting for something the government promised him: compensation.

Ian Keya was a student, a designer and a nutritionist with big plans for his future. But during a protest march in Nairobi, three police bullets tore through his back, changing his life forever.

Keya survived, but lost the use of his legs. Now, two years on, he says he is still waiting for the government to honour its promise of compensation.

Citizen TV visited his home, where Keya takes us back to the day that changed his life and through the long wait for justice and support he says has left him feeling forgotten.

Now, his life has been confined to a wheelchair in Kakamega County, miles away from the city where only two years ago, he lived a normal, healthy life.

 “Niliamka asubuhi na afya nzuri, nikavaa vizuri, nikachukua matatu nikaenda town, nikajoin fellow Gen Z, tukaanza kuandamana,” said Keya.

That afternoon, outside Parliament Buildings, Ian Keya’s life took a devastating turn. Three bullets tore into his back. One lodged in his spine, leaving him paralysed from the waist down.

For hours, his family and friends feared the worst. Many believed he had not survived the shooting.

 “Nikapigwa risasi tatu kwa mgongo. Nilianguka hapo chini. Wasamaria wema walikuja wakaniokoa. At that time the media believed nimekufa hata hiyo jioni, jina yangu ilikuwa kwa list ya wafu,” Keya noted.

Doctors would later confirm the bullet had not directly severed his spinal cord, but the impact crushed a disc and forced them to decompress his spine.

The hospital bill alone ran past Ksh.1.2 million, paid in the end not by the government, but by ordinary Kenyans through a crowdfunding appeal.

Doctors told him that with thorough physiotherapy, walking again was possible. Today, he still cannot stand unaided. But he holds on to that promise every day.

 “I lost my ability to walk but I believe I will walk again,” said Keya.

Before that day, Ian Keya was building a life in motion. A nutritionist, a graphic designer and developer, and a student at Kenya Airways training in flight dispatch.

“I demand justice because at that time I was a young Kenyan with big ambitions; I had a right to, andamana na mimi sikuwa muhalifu vile rais alisema alituita criminals. Nikikumbuka, sikuwa nimebeba mawe ama silaha yoyote; nilikuwa tu na maji na mask,” he lamented.

More than a year later, those dreams are on hold and so, he says, is justice.

The government promised compensation for victims of those protests. He had counted on that package to cover his rising medical bills and take care of the many surgeries he still has to undergo.

“Serikali iliahidi kunilipa. Sijapata chochote hata baada ya kuwasilisha hati zangu. Bado sijapata taarifa yoyote...” Keya added.

A bullet took his ability to walk. More than a year on, Ian Keya is still waiting for his name to be added to a different list — not of the dead, but of the compensated.

Until then, he says, he will keep demanding what he believes is owed to him: recognition and justice.