Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Faith Odhiambo has been appointed as the Vice-Chairperson of the Framework for the Reparation and Compensation of Victims of Demonstrations, Public Protests, and Riots.
According to a Gazette Notice issued on Tuesday, August 26, she will deputize Professor Makau Mutua, who has been named the Chairperson of the committee.
The panel includes Kennedy N. Ogeto, Irungu Houghton, John Olukuru, Rev. Kennedy Barasa Simiyu, Linda Musumba, and Duncan Ojwang’.
Others are Naini Lankas, Francis Muraya, Juliet Chepkemei, Pius Metto, Fatuma Kinsi Abass, and Raphael Anampiu.
Richard Barno will serve as the Technical Lead, assisted by Co-Technical Lead Duncan Okelo Ndeda. The committee will also have two Joint Secretaries, Jerusah Mwaathime and Raphael Ng’etich.
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According to the notice, the team has been tasked with developing and implementing an operational framework to verify, categorize, and compensate eligible victims of protests, demonstrations, and riots.
It will also engage widely with stakeholders, including families of victims, state agencies mandated to address human rights concerns, civil society groups, and religious institutions, to ensure fairness and inclusivity in the compensation process.
As part of its mandate, the panel will authenticate data on victims from authoritative sources such as the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), the National Police Service, the Ministry of Health, and civil society organizations.
Where evidence warrants, it may also recommend reparations, prosecutions, or other accountability measures to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and other relevant oversight institutions.
According to the notice, the committee is further expected to propose legislative and institutional reforms that will address issues surrounding protests and the culture of policing in Kenya.
In addition, it will prepare and submit periodic progress reports as well as a final report to the President upon completion of its work.
To fulfill its mandate, the panel has been granted powers to access information and records from state organs and public offices in accordance with the law.
It can also summon individuals or institutions to provide documents or information, form working groups, co-opt technical experts and consultants, regulate its own procedures, and perform any other function necessary for the achievement of its objectives.
"The term of the Panel shall be for a period of one hundr and twenty (120) days from the date hereof, or for such other period may be specified in the Kenya Gazette.
"A Bureau for the Secretariat of the Panel of Experts shall be located on the Ground Floor of the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC). Its official mailing is P.O. Box 30510-0100, G.P.O. Nairobi," the gazette notice read.
This comes about two weeks after Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi disclosed that he will use constitutional powers to fund compensation for victims of police brutality during protests.
Speaking in Migori County on Thursday, August 14, he explained that Article 233 of the 2010 Constitution grants the Treasury Cabinet Secretary authority to provide funding when urgent needs arise.
"I heard the former deputy president ask where we are going to get the money, that there was no budgetary provision. I want to remind him that the 2010 Constitution gave the CS National Treasury powers, under article 233, to provide money where a need has arisen," he stated.
Mbadi attributed the compensating efforts to the newly formed partnership between ODM leader Raila Odinga and the Kenya Kwanza government.
"We have agreed with Raila Odinga that we are going to compensate the victims of police brutality, and even the police officers injured or affected in the line of work," he added.
