Raila calls for compensation to protest victims by government
Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader Raila Odinga who has since formed a working pact with the President William Ruto’s led ruling Kenya Kwanza administration through the broad-based-government arrangement has renewed his call for compensation by the government to victims of the 2023 post polls protests as well as those of the Generation Z (Gen Z) let anti-government insurrection last year.
Speaking during a consultative meeting with ODM leaders in Mombasa yesterday, Raila stated that the victims who were injured and families who lost their loved ones need financial redress from the government.
“The youth who sustained injuries and parents of those who died in 2023 during the Azimio protests and the Gen Z protests of last year have to be compensated,” the ODM leader asserted.
He added that those are the conditions they are setting, and he emphasised that such incidents should not happen in Kenya.
“Those are the conditions we are setting. But the most important thing is that such incidents should not be happening in our country,” Raila stated.
The remarks by the former Prime Minister come amid a wave of uncertainty of his next political move after he failed to clinch the Africa Union Commission Chairperson position at the recently concluded summit.
Despite being in a cordial relationship with the president, Raila has been keen on wanting to maintain some degree of impartiality as he has been consistent on calling him out.
In 2023, a wave of nationwide protests led by Raila Odinga under the Azimio-One Kenya coalition over the disputes that stemmed from the 2022 presidential elections and the rising cost of living.
The protests lasted from March to August 2023, with a negative impact as people lost their lives, the economy got worse as reports indicated dozens lost their lives and property damaged.
Ruto’s led administration held talks with Azimio through the National Dialogue Committee (NADCO), although talks stalled after cracks emerged within the Azimio coalition.
In 2024, Gen Z and millennials led protests against the 2024 finance bill, which had several taxes being introduced.
The streets of Nairobi and other major cities became arenas of defiance as Kenya’s youngest adults marched in unprecedented numbers with a culmination of breaking into the National Assembly, leading to the shooting of several youths, which led to the youths protesting against the government for a couple of weeks.
The protests led to the dissolution of the Kenya Kwanza cabinet by President William Ruto.
