Kenya's Compensation Panel: Why This Isn't the Justice We Need

When President William Ruto announced Kenya's Panel of Experts on the Compensation of Victims of Protests and Riots in August 2025, many hoped it would finally address the police brutality that has plagued our protests since 2017. The 18-member panel, led by Professor Makau Mutua and Law Society of Kenya President Faith Odhiambo, has been tasked with identifying victims and recommending compensation within 120 days.

But here's the uncomfortable truth: this panel, despite good intentions, falls far short of delivering real justice. As someone who has advocated for human rights in Kenya, I believe we deserve better than what amounts to a bureaucratic band-aid on a gaping wound.

The South African Comparison That Doesn't Hold Up

Panel supporters, including Chair Mutua, have compared this initiative to South Africa's famous Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). This comparison is misleading and insulting to what real transitional justice looks like.

South Africa's TRC was established by parliament after apartheid ended, with clear legal authority and independence. It had three key pillars: uncovering truth, providing reparations, and offering amnesty in exchange for confessions. Most importantly, it held public hearings where victims could tell their stories and the nation could confront its dark past.

Kenya's panel? It's an executive creation without parliamentary backing, already facing court challenges over its legality. Four activists have sued, arguing it duplicates existing institutions like the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. Unlike the TRC's truth-seeking mission, our panel focuses primarily on data verification and compensation recommendations. No public testimonies, no truth-telling, no accountability for those who ordered the violence.

Money Without Truth Isn't Justice

The panel's biggest flaw is treating compensation as the end goal rather than part of a larger justice process. Real justice requires truth. Victims need their stories heard, society needs to understand what went wrong, and we all need assurance it won't happen again.

Think about it: if someone receives compensation for police brutality but we never learn who ordered the excessive force, how do we prevent future abuse? Without truth, payments can feel like "blood money", an attempt to buy silence rather than deliver justice.

Remember the victims of the 2007-2008 post-election violence? They waited over a decade for compensation, and many are still waiting. Meanwhile, the same systems that failed them remain unchanged because we never fully confronted what happened or why.

The Troubling Shift of Former Critics

What troubles me most as an advocate is how some of the panel's key figures have transformed from government critics to collaborators.

Professor Mutua, the panel chair, was once aligned with opposition leader Raila Odinga and regularly criticized government overreach. Now he's Ruto's senior advisor and spokesperson. How can someone who once opposed the regime's tactics now lead an "independent" panel under its authority?

Even more concerning is Faith Odhiambo's involvement as vice-chair. As LSK President, she has been fearless in confronting this government: leading protests against police brutality, rejecting previous government appointments, and demanding accountability for protest deaths. She was a symbol of resistance.

Now she's joined this panel, defending her decision as "patriotism" and claiming she can "push for justice from within." She's even suggested she might resign if "frustrated," but this hardly addresses the fundamental problem.

Many activists and young protesters feel betrayed. They see someone who once stood with them now legitimizing the very government she criticized. As one online critic put it, how can Ms. Odhiambo trust an administration she once fought to implement reforms without interference?

This isn't just about individual choices by the panel members but a pattern of co-opting independent voices. When former critics join government initiatives, it undermines public trust and sends a message that opposition can be bought or absorbed.

A Pattern of Failed Justice

Kenya has a history of creating commissions and panels that promise much but deliver little. Remember our own Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (2009-2013)? Despite its flaws, it at least attempted to uncover historical injustices. Yet most of its recommendations gathered dust.

This new panel risks joining that list of unfulfilled promises. Economic constraints raise questions about funding. How will a debt-ridden Kenya pay for meaningful compensation? Police reform advocates argue the panel duplicates existing efforts without addressing the core problem of impunity.

What Real Justice Would Look Like

Instead of this narrow focus on compensation, we need a comprehensive approach that includes:

• Truth-seeking: Public hearings where victims can share their experiences and society can understand the full scope of abuse.
• Accountability: Clear identification of those responsible for ordering or carrying out excessive force, with consequences for their actions.
• Systemic reform: Changes to police training, oversight, and protest management that prevent future abuse.
• Genuine independence: Leadership that maintains distance from the government being investigated, not former critics turned collaborators.
• Parliamentary backing: Legal authority that ensures recommendations have teeth and can't be easily ignored.

Moving Forward

I don't write this to dismiss the real suffering of protest victims or to discourage all efforts at reform. Their pain is valid, and they deserve both acknowledgment and compensation. But they also deserve truth, accountability, and assurance that future protesters won't face the same fate.

As advocates and citizens, we must demand more than cosmetic measures. We must resist the temptation to accept inadequate solutions simply because they're politically convenient. Real justice requires uncomfortable truths, systemic changes, and leaders who maintain their independence even when it's difficult.

The victims of Kenya's protest violence deserve nothing less than genuine transitional justice, not a bureaucratic exercise that treats symptoms while ignoring the disease. Until we're willing to confront the full truth of what happened and why, we'll continue cycling through the same patterns of violence and impunity that have defined our political protests for far too long.

The question now is whether we'll settle for this flawed panel or continue demanding the comprehensive justice our democracy deserves. The choice, as always, is ours to make.