By Wahome Ngatia
When President William Ruto issued a Presidential Proclamation and Gazette Notice in March 2026, commissioning the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) to develop a national framework for compensating victims of protest-related violence, it was an acknowledgement that the state had a debt to settle. Now, as the Commission approaches the end of its 60-day mandate, the shape of that reckoning is coming into sharper focus — and with it, both the promise and the limitations of what justice looks like in monetary terms.
KNCHR was tasked with doing two things simultaneously: compiling a verified list of victims of gross human rights violations linked to the 2017, 2024, and 2025 demonstrations, and developing a Reparations Guidelines framework to govern how and how much eligible individuals would be compensated. It was a formidable undertaking, made harder by resource constraints that the Commission has since flagged publicly.
Number of victims and compensation amounts
By 5:00 p.m. on April 3, 2026 — the deadline for victim submissions — the Commission had documented 1,563 victims and survivors. The list spans a sobering breadth of violations: extrajudicial killings, torture, enforced disappearances and abductions, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), arbitrary evictions, loss of property, and loss of livelihoods. These people are not statistics in the abstract — they are individuals whose lives were altered by the conduct of the state and its security apparatus.
The proposed compensation structure reflects the gravity of each violation. Families of those who died from fatal shootings or in custody stand to receive a minimum of Ksh. 3,000,000, along with medical and funeral expenses and a formal public apology. Survivors of SGBV are proposed the highest monetary award: Ksh. 4,000,000, plus medical expenses, psychosocial support under the Social Health Authority (SHA), and a public apology — a recognition of the particular brutality and lasting harm of sexual violence in conflict settings. Victims of enforced disappearances and abductions are eligible for a minimum of Ksh. 2,000,000 and psychosocial support.
For those who suffered severe physical injuries — bullet wounds or amputations — the proposed minimum stands at Ksh. 1,000,000, accompanied by medical expenses, disability benefits, and an apology. Moderate physical injuries such as fractures and dislocations attract a minimum of Ksh. 500,000, while minor injuries carry a floor of Ksh. 100,000. Victims of psychological trauma are proposed Ksh. 250,000 plus SHA-covered psychosocial support. Those whose property was looted or destroyed may receive Ksh. 100,000, subject to valuation. Unlawful arrest and detention — a violation often dismissed as lesser — is pegged at a minimum of Ksh. 200,000 plus a public apology.
The government has ring-fenced Ksh. 2 billion in the 2025/2026 supplementary budget to fund the reparations programme, though KNCHR has explicitly called on the National Treasury to disburse the resources without further delay, noting that limited funding has already compromised its ability to reach poor, marginalised, and geographically remote victims.
Submissions by the public
Claims can be submitted physically at KNCHR’s head office at CVS Plaza, Kasuku Lane, or through regional offices in Nyahururu, Mombasa, Kisumu, Kitale, Wajir, Garissa, Isiolo, and Kajiado. Digital submissions are accepted via email at [email protected], WhatsApp at 0798849871, SMS on 22359, or through the toll-free line 0800 720 627. Once a claim is processed, a written determination will be communicated to the victim within 30 days. Those dissatisfied with the outcome may request a reconsideration, though only where new facts or materials that could not have been provided earlier are available.
Critically, the process is not yet closed. KNCHR is currently inviting Kenyans to submit public memoranda on the proposed Reparations Guidelines, 2026, with a deadline of April 27, 2026. This public participation phase is not a formality — it is a constitutional requirement, and the Commission has been candid that its earlier outreach fell short of what the moment demanded.
For the human rights community, the value of this process lies in what it signals: that accountability for state violence can be institutionalised, that victims have a right to be named and heard, and that reparations — however imperfect — are a step toward restoring dignity. The harder work, of course, is ensuring that the 1,563 names on the list are not the last ones counted, and that the framework built today holds for the crises that will inevitably come.
