TISA Director Gichengo urges protest victims to pursue justice despite state compensation

Gichengo believes that the government has not come out clearly to declare who the perpetrators of the injustices were, information that is crucial for justice to be delivered and prevent a repeat.

“Every victim who ought to be paid and ought to pursue justice thereafter will first be given a cheque by the same person who killed them, violated them. What is that? What do you call that? ” said Gichengo during a panel discussion on Citizen Tv’s Daybreak on Tuesday. 

Gichengo, the compensation structure where the Ministry of Interior is the accounting officer for the Ksh.2 billion allocated to the victims of human rights violations.

Gichengo further alleged that the panel of advisors constituted by the President was unconstitutional and non-inclusive, calling out a lack of victim representation, yet they are the major non-political actors.

“We have had to extend an unconstitutional panel where the chair is a transitional justice expert whose papers I read, and they no longer make sense based on what he is practising. How much are they earning? Who are the victims on that panel? A valid compensation panel ought to have 50 per cent of the members being victims,” she argued.

According to Gichengo, the best reparation framework starts with the truth. She blamed the government for not revealing the perpetrators of rape, torture and murder of protesters. 

Wilberforce Oundo, Member of Parliament for Funyula supported Gichengo’s argument, arguing that you can never achieve justice if truth has not been established.

President Ruto had unveiled an 18-member committee chaired by Prof. Makau Mutua to establish a framework for compensating victims of protests. 

The committee was tasked with facilitating compensation for victims of demonstrations and protests dating back to 2017.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) on Monday submitted the report on the Framework for Reparations for Victims of Human Rights Violations to President William Ruto.