Court stops Ruto's protest victims compensation panel in its tracks

Members of the panel of experts on compensation of protest victims, led by Prof Makau Mutua, after taking oath at KICC, Nairobi, on September 4, 2025. [Benard Orwongo, Standard]

The High Court has suspended the operations of a team appointed by President William Ruto to look into the compensation for victims of protests.

In orders issued on Monday, Justice Dennis Kizito directed that the panel, chaired by President Ruto’s constitutional affairs adviser Prof Makau Mutua, must not commence work until an application filed by lawyer Levy Munyeri is heard and determined.

“A conservatory order restraining the respondents, their servants, agents or assigns from implementing, enforcing, or in any manner acting upon the proclamation by the President of the Republic of Kenya dated 6 August 2025, establishing a framework for compensation of victims of demonstrations and public protests, is hereby granted pending the hearing of the application inter partes,” ruled Justice Kizito.

The 18-member team includes Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Faith Odhiambo as vice-chair, Amnesty International–Kenya Executive Director Irungu Houghton, former Solicitor-General Kennedy Ogeto, Dr John Olukuru, Rev Kennedy Barasa Simiyu, Naini Lankas, Dr Francis Muraya, Juliet Chepkemei, Pius Metto, Fatuma Kinsi Abass, and Raphael Anampiu, among others.

The panel’s creation has attracted both praise and criticism. But it is the LSK President Faith Odhiambo who has found herself at the centre of a major controversy, on whether or not she should have taken up that job. During her swearing-in, Odhiambo defended her decision, dismissing claims that she had betrayed Kenyans. “The Panel of Experts that I join today bears both the duty and opportunity to spearhead a revolutionary shift in victim reparations,” she said. “Never again shall Kenyans be killed by trigger-hungry officers for exercising their constitutional rights on the streets.”

In court, however, Munyeri argued that the team was usurping the powers of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR). He said the law clearly gives the commission the mandate to verify victims, authenticate data from State organs, and compensate persons whose rights have been violated.

“Allowing the Executive to bypass or displace the Commission’s functions by creating temporary bodies would defeat the purpose of constitutional entrenchment, because it would permit erosion of the Commission’s independence, fragment institutional responsibility and risk arbitrary outcomes,” said Munyeri.

He maintained that President Ruto bypassed Parliament, which has the authority to provide for and budget for compensation. He argued that it was unclear where the money would come from or how it would be accounted for.