NAIROBI, Kenya – Two years after a wave of deadly anti-government unrest left at least 60 people dead and saw protesters storm Kenya’s national parliament, authorities have sealed off the capital Nairobi ahead of a planned demonstration demanding accountability and fair compensation for victims’ families.
The June 2024 protests erupted when thousands of young Kenyans marched on parliament to push legislators to reject a controversial finance bill that would have raised new taxes amid a sustained cost-of-living crisis. Security forces responded with live fire outside the legislative building, killing dozens of unarmed demonstrators. Today, families of those killed still say they are waiting for justice, and are criticizing the national government for rampant delays and a lack of transparency in its promised victim compensation program.
Last week, Kenyan President William Ruto sought to balance competing priorities, stating that demonstrators would be allowed to exercise their constitutional right to protest, but warning that the government would not allow action that disrupts daily life, including children’s access to school and workers’ ability to reach their jobs. He explicitly cautioned against any attempt to “shut down the country.” Ruto also framed the ongoing compensation initiative as a formal acknowledgment by the state that harm was done to civilians, but clarified it does not constitute a legal admission of government guilt, and should not be interpreted as a reward for unrest.
A day before the scheduled protest, Interior Minister Kipchumba Murkomen added that police would provide a formal escort for peaceful demonstrators, but pledged to block any criminal elements that attempt to infiltrate the march to damage or raid private businesses. By early Thursday morning, those security measures had transformed the capital: police had erected concrete and vehicle roadblocks on every major highway leading into Nairobi, cutting off vehicle access to the city center. Parliament buildings remained heavily barricaded, and most private businesses across the capital chose to close their doors for the day ahead of the demonstration.
Opposition political leaders have publicly thrown their support behind the protest, joining calls for full transparency in how the government allocates compensation to families of victims of human rights abuses committed during the 2024 unrest. For many families, the frustration runs deep: two years on, most have yet to receive any form of payout, even after submitting all required documentation to the Kenya Human Rights Commission.
Edith Wanjiku, a mother whose 19-year-old son Ibrahim Kamau was killed by two gunshot wounds to the neck during the 2024 unrest, described the devastating emotional toll the loss and ongoing delay have had on her family. “We’ve really suffered emotionally for the last two years,” Wanjiku told the Associated Press. She confirmed that her family completed all required paperwork months ago, but has received nothing from the compensation fund. “Only two out of 10 families whose children were shot that day near Parliament have been compensated and we are wondering what criteria the government is using,” she said.