Protesters victims’ families be given KSh.1M each
Protesters victims’ families be given KSh.1M each
A private man named Victor Okuna has petitioned the National Assembly to force the national government to pay the relatives of over fifty-seven Kenyans who lost their lives in anti-government protests led by the Azimio coalition. Migori engineer Okuna demands a Ksh1 million compensation order for each household from the national government.
Article 37 of the petition, which protects Kenyans’ right to protest and picket, is what the petitioner is relying on. “I humbly pray that the National Assembly through the Public Petitions Committee recommends to the responsible department to expedite payment of compensation to the affected families and make any other directions as it may deem fit in this matter,” Okuna said.
Okuna contended that the government has not addressed the human rights breaches that were observed during the protests, even though the issue has been brought up by a number of human rights organizations.
“These 57 Kenyans killed by police during protests against the high cost of living were either the breadwinners for their families and that the dependents have been left helpless or they carried future aspirations to their families for the sake of the students who were killed by the bullet,” according to the petitioner.
Okuna claims that the families of the slain Kenyans have endured unspeakable suffering and are currently dealing with heavy financial obligations as a result of the loss of their family’s primary provider. The engineer further charged in his petition that the National Dialogue Committee had ignored the issue and had instead focused the discussions on the establishment of new political positions.
He therefore requests that the Public Petitions Committee of the National Assembly suggest financial compensation for the impacted families. More than thirty Kenyans lost their lives in the anti-government demonstrations organized by the Azimio Coalition starting in March, according to an official statement released by Amnesty International earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Kisumu and Nairobi counties were believed to have recorded the most of the deaths, according to the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA). In addition to the deaths, millions of dollars’ worth of property was destroyed, and the Kenyan economy was severely damaged.
Some demonstrators vandalized the Nairobi Expressway along Mlolongo in July, forcing a temporary closure. Unruly protestors ransacked several supermarkets, placing the business sector in a precarious situation.
