Pressure is mounting on the state to release the list of persons who have received compensation for injuries and deaths that occurred during protests, as many victims continue to claim not to have been compensated or to be aware of those who may have received the funds.
Moses Kilonzo, one of the 64 victims of the June 2024 protests, said the list of those affected at the time comprises persons he has come to know and engage with, and none of them has received any funds from the panel, adding that if they do, they will speak out publicly about it.
“Even earlier this morning, I called about five victims, and they said they have yet to receive any funds,” Kilonzo said.
Meanwhile, it is emerging that some families fear being known publicly as having received compensation, while others insist the atrocities committed against them were done in public and, as such, they will announce when they get the funds.
This comes as the Panel of Experts on Compensation of Victims of Human Rights Violations said last week that slightly more than half, 56 per cent, of all victims who have come forward to claim compensation have received funds disbursed in two batches.
The second batch of victims, comprising 157, including 100 who suffered various injuries and 57 fatalities, received over Sh225 million from the Sh2 billion kitty set aside for the programme. In the first batch, the panel said a total of Sh448,700,000 was disbursed to 348 victims.
The total number of those awarded, according to the Panel, currently stands at 505 victims, with total disbursements of Sh674,100,000 made.
It is not clear whether the figure includes the number forwarded to the Panel by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) or the 1,101 cases forwarded by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).
However, speaking on Citizen TV on Tuesday, Cyrus Maweu, the Deputy Director and Head of Redress and Legal Affairs at KNCHR, said the Commission is able to independently verify who has received compensation.
“When we receive such complaints from members of the public, there are steps that we normally take. That could include asking the one being complained against to give their side of the story, or writing to the panel to get answers to the complaints raised. As a Commission, we believe it is important that the process is carried out with utmost transparency and accountability,” he said, adding that he has taken up the challenge to gather the identities of those compensated.
On his part, Vocal Africa CEO Hussein Khalid questioned the state’s move to task the repatriation programme to the panel instead of the KNCHR, which the court had defined as the body legally mandated to oversee the process.
“Kenyans must question why the funds did not go to the Commission that led the process and outlined the compensation mechanism for those victims,” he said, further questioning the delay in listing those who have received the funds.
The Panel had said it will gazette the list of beneficiaries in a notice, in accordance with the provisions of the Data Protection Act.
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