Protest compensation chairperson Prof Makau Mutua and vice chairperson Faith Odhiambo during the swearing-in of the team on September 4, 2025./FILE
The Panel of Experts on Compensation of Victims of Demonstrations and Public Protests has asked the High Court in Kerugoya to lift conservatory orders that halted its work only days after it was constituted.
On September 8, Justice Dennis Magare Kizito issued the orders following a petition filed by Nairobi lawyer Levi Munyeri.
The ruling temporarily suspended the government’s scheme to compensate victims of protest-related violence dating from 2017 to 2025.
The judge cautioned that defying the order would amount to contempt of court, attracting penal sanctions.
The panel, chaired by Professor Makau Mutua with Law Society of Kenya president Faith Odhiambo as vice-chair, was sworn in on September 4.
It was given 120 days to create a framework to identify, verify and compensate victims using official records and consultations with families, civil society groups and state agencies, including Ipoa and KNCHR.
In an application filed under certificate of urgency through advocate Ochiel Dudley, the panel argues that Munyeri obtained the order improperly during the court recess by concealing related pending cases.
The lawyers say this misled the recess judge, placing him “in the perplexing situation of giving ex parte relief over a matter where the eminent Dr Magare (a relation of the learned duty judge) is a litigant.”
The application further claims Munyeri engaged in forum shopping by filing in Kerugoya despite earlier related petitions being lodged in Nairobi.
It accuses him of non-disclosure of material facts, a move the panel says justifies vacating the ex parte order.
“Unless the motion to vacate is heard urgently during the recess, it will be nugatory,” the panel states.
“The Panel’s 120-day lifespan would have expired by effluxion of time. The urgency is self-evident.”
Until the court determines the matter, the panel says it will remain suspended in compliance with the orders.
