Embakasi East MP Babu Owino has put a price tag on the lives lost in Kenya’s recent protests: at least Sh23 million for every family that buried a son or daughter in their 20s.
Speaking to Citizen TV on Thursday, Owino argued the money must match the wages the victims would have earned had they lived to 90.
Using a baseline monthly income of Sh30,000, he multiplied 65 working years by Sh360,000 a year to reach Sh23.4 million.
“A life can never truly be compensated, but we must ensure their families are treated fairly,” he said.
The MP described the dead as young Kenyans who “only mistake … was to stand up against the high cost of living, overtaxation, unemployment, and the reduction of university fees.”
He added that some claims could climb above Sh100 million, depending on the victim’s actual earnings.
His call came just hours after the newly formed Panel of Experts on Compensation of Victims of Demonstrations and Public Protests was sworn in at State House.
University of Nairobi law professor Makau Mutua chairs the panel, with Law Society of Kenya president Faith Odhiambo as his deputy.
Other sworn-in members include former Solicitor-General Kennedy Ogeto, activist Irungu Houghton, and academics Dr John Olukuru, Dr Linda Musumba and Dr Duncan Ojwang’.
A technical team of three and three joint secretaries will support their work. Not everyone is convinced the compensation push is genuine. Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba told the same broadcaster she suspects the timing is designed to blunt criticism ahead of President William Ruto’s scheduled trip to the United States, where human rights concerns are expected to feature.
“We have not fully exhausted inquiries into what happened,” she warned, suggesting the payouts could be used to “cover up” rather than correct the violence that marred the anti-tax protests in June and July.
The panel now has 60 days to recommend who should be paid, how much, and under what legal framework.
Treasury has not yet set aside a compensation budget, leaving the final bill, and its political cost, still to be decided.
