Cheques for corpses: Ruto's payout plan raises a stink

President William Ruto’s attempt to win back Gen-Z support and placate the US Senate — which is investigating human rights abuses by his regime — by compensating about 100 protestors has set off a major political storm.

The offer to compensate victims killed by police during protests, under a framework to be designed by Prof Makau Mutua, the presidential adviser on constitutional and human rights issues, has raised pointed questions.

Although government supporters have described Ruto’s proclamation as courageous, parents whose sons were shot dead by police say they will not be satisfied unless those responsible are prosecuted.

The government appears to be in a hurry to compensate the victims — whose number is disputed — before the Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, James Risch, concludes his probe into, among other issues, Kenya’s record on human rights violations. The committee’s proceedings are expected to run for 180 days.

Ruto, however, has directed Mutua to complete the compensation process within 120 days.

Some critics have questioned the decision to set up the framework at a time when the US Government is reviewing Kenya’s status as a NATO ally over its involvement in rights violations.

“The US has 180 days to investigate Kenya, and Ruto rushed to initiate compensation within 120 days. Anyhow, there’s more to justice than compensation. We demand justice for our Mashujaa. They may be your victims, but they are now our heroes. Justice can’t be bought,” Saitabao Ole Kanchori wrote on X.

The families of those killed by police brutality — led by Gillian Munyau, whose son Rex Masai was shot dead on 20 June last year — welcomed the government’s move but insisted that justice must still be served.

“The move is welcome; it shows the government has started recognising our pain. But we still demand justice for our children. If we focus on compensation alone, we will be telling the State they can kill and compensate, and it ends that way. All security officers involved in killing our children should be arrested and charged with murder,” she said.

Executive Director of Defenders Coalition, Kamau Ngugi, also maintained that while compensation was welcome, it must be carried out on a firm legal basis. He argued that the process should be conducted under the provisions of the Victims Protection Act 2014 and by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), rather than through a presidential proclamation — which, he warned, would invite a trust deficit from the public.

“Reparation is a form of justice but must be accompanied by accountability and the fight against impunity. It must be guided by an existing legal framework. The President could do better and ensure it is implemented under the Victims Protection Act, which has never been operationalised, to make the process independent,” said Ngugi.

He stressed that using the Act would prevent the process from being manipulated for political gain, as its mechanisms involve independent oversight and expert input. The Act provides for a Victims Protection Fund, managed by State and non-State stakeholders, including civil society organisations, to ensure an objective and accountable process.

Partisan interests

“This would cure arbitrariness, partisan interest, and bending over backwards to the whims of the appointing authority, while focusing on genuine victims,” Ngugi added.

Section 14 of the Victims Protection Act states that services to victims should help them deal with physical injury and emotional trauma, access and participate in the criminal justice process, take part in restorative justice to obtain reparations, and cope with problems associated with victimisation.

Opposition to the process being coordinated from the Presidency also came from former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka, and Democratic Action Party (DAP) leader Eugene Wamalwa. They demanded full disclosure of the amount to be shared among victims.

Gachagua questioned the morality of compensating without first halting extrajudicial killings.

“How do you kill people and then compensate them? Before compensation, stop the killing and rescind the shoot-to-kill order issued through Interior CS Murkomen. It is immoral to kill children and then compensate their parents. Let them live; you won’t have to compensate them. You can’t pretend you are compensating families when you have not rescinded the order to shoot — that is double-speak.”

Kalonzo questioned Ruto’s suitability to lead the process, noting that he had previously branded protestors as terrorists:

“Fisi hawezi amua kesi ya mbuzi” (a hyena cannot be allowed to hear and determine a goat’s case). “The Executive is complicit. The police have been acting on President Ruto’s orders, and he called young Kenyans terrorists,” he said.

Wamalwa argued that appointing Mutua amounted to a constitutional overreach:

“The creation of an ad hoc executive compensation framework under Mutua’s coordination clearly usurps the constitutional mandate of the Kenya Human Rights Commission, which is an independent body specifically designed to handle such matters without political interference.”

Makueni Senator Dan Maanzo described the initiative as “public relations” and a “mockery” of Kenyans’ demands, pointing out that it was not included in the current budget.

“Ruto wants to scrape through the election period. Prevention is better than cure — he should have stopped the brutality before it happened by respecting the right to picket,” Maanzo said.

Mutua defended the President’s right to issue such a proclamation, arguing that recommendations to use the Victims Protection Act were impractical:

“The Act has never been operationalised. It requires major amendments and has no board, hence it is not viable. The Constitution allows the President to make proclamations on issues of national interest such as this one.”

He said a multi-stakeholder team, including civil society, would soon be set up to lead a “people-owned” transitional justice process.

“The first part of the process is to compensate victims of brutality from 2017 so we can capture more Kenyans. Another part will be to learn lessons to ensure such violations are never repeated. It would make no sense to go through this process and have the violations happen again.”

Healing the nation

Mutua said both Ruto and Raila Odinga were determined to ensure the nation “healed”. Compensation, he added, would not necessarily wait for the full 120 days, with victims to be identified and verified before receiving payments. The formula would draw from “international standards”, adapted to Kenya’s context.

Despite these assurances, critics argue that focusing on compensation without justice will embolden future police brutality. They have called on the President to withdraw his “shoot in the legs” order and Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen’s “shoot to kill” directive if national healing is to be genuine.

Human rights defender Adan Hanifa said police reforms were essential to rebuild trust and “humanise” the service:

“Reforms are not enough. The National Police Service needs a total overhaul. There is no sincerity in Ruto’s regime on compensation. They are only trying to hoodwink Kenyans so they can go for a second term. The committee is another attempt to bribe people, but we are awake.”

Scepticism over Ruto’s human rights credentials has been reinforced by his past remarks describing protestors as “terrorists” and “coup planners” — language critics say is meant to criminalise dissent.

Murang’a Senator Joe Nyutu argued that compensation without guarantees for the right to protest sends the wrong message:

“The President has criminalised dissent. He should first recant his ‘shoot in the leg’ and ‘shoot to kill’ orders. Otherwise, the government will keep killing and then paying citizens.”

Nyutu compared the plan to past cases where the State supported bereaved families, such as building houses for Ojwang’s family and donating to the family of the late mask vendor Boniface Kariuki, without addressing systemic causes of the killings.

“We wonder whether this is a ploy to clear the government’s image amid the US review into alleged abductions, torture and extrajudicial killings,” he said.

KNCHR Assistant Director Samson Omondi said that while recent government initiatives had focused on compensating victims of police brutality, what victims wanted most was justice, accountability, and recognition of their suffering.

“We need to broaden this beyond compensation. Victims of human rights violations are looking for accountability. They’re looking for justice.”

Omondi called for a permanent compensation scheme embedded within Kenya’s justice and human rights systems, expressing concern that the 120-day window was too short for a credible process:

“We need proper profiling, proper outreach, and public participation. There’s a lot to be done within the 120 days. We risk not getting it right.”