The quest for just terms of Compensation must go hand in hand with expedited access to Justice for Victims of Police Brutality during Protests and Riots.
For over one year, I have known no peace. Since the 18th day of June 2024, my phones have not stopped ringing with phone calls, messages and WhatsApp alerts from Kenyans in distress.
I have to respond to calls at 3:45 am… I am called even on Sundays when I am in Church. When they cannot reach me, they will call my husband, my mother or my colleagues in the Council. Even my friends and former schoolmates aren’t spared either.
Many a time, the calls are from common Kenyans who continue to grapple with nationwide apprehension on the state of accountability for human rights violations, the efficacy of the criminal justice system in responding to state sanctioned infractions, and the role of the government, the public and civil society in ensuring holistic justice for all victims.
My endless encounter with Kenyans who’ve suffered in the hands of law enforcers remind me of how much more is yet to be done to reform our nation.
Every conversation with inconsolable family members of victims who paid the ultimate price has probed whether a country can claim a conscience when it harms its own people and leaves victims to fend for dear self, in the unyielding hope that a system that has never appeared to put them first will somehow serve their interests.
The tale of forgotten victims languishing in untold pain while holding on to perpetual illusory hope can no longer be the Kenyan story.
As I take up this responsibility, let it be known that I have in no way betrayed your trust. Let it be clear that access to criminal justice remains critical to me in our quest to promote and protect the rule of law as an essential element in the enjoyment of the fundamental human rights and freedoms.
Faith Odhiambo will not to let you down! The bloodshed by our comrades must not be in vain. No, I will not even take any prisoners in this cause. I will instead, keep you informed of the developments and at no point will I act to negate the gains that we have made together as a country.
I have today chosen a bold but unpopular step, some of my colleagues in the legal profession may not like this move and for sure, thousands of Kenyans have voiced their reservations.
I have heard your cries and listened to your concerns; in the same vein I have heard the cries of the victims’ families like Mama Angeline Okinda in Bondo. The pain shared by Jonah Kariuki, Mama Gillian Munyao and many other parents whose sons and daughters have fallen in the hands of Kenya Police officers.
As we keep arguing on what Faith Odhiambo should decline or accept, Joseph Oloo Abanja and Lensa Achieng are still raw with emotions while the Judicial system drags it feet on the case against Kenya Police officers who killed their baby daughter during a brutal midnight operation in Nyalenda, Kisumu.
On Monday this week, Corporal Fredrick Okapesi told the court that he altered entries of firearms issued to police officers deployed during the Gen Z-led protests in Nairobi on June 18, 2024.
Unfortunately, the existing legal and institutional framework does not adequately address the legitimate public concerns that arise from such historic crises.
Victims are instead subjected to a fully prosecution-led process that is dependant on a conclusive criminal cycle, which has proven too slow, unreliable, and averse to the needs and circumstances of victims.
The Panel of Experts that I join today bears both the duty and opportunity to spearhead a revolutionary shift in victim reparations.
Never again shall Kenyans be killed by trigger-hungry officers for expressing their rights on the streets. The unprecedented structure and scope of mandate of this Panel gives room for a victim-led, accountability-centred approach towards realising holistic justice for victims.
Let us serve the nation diligently: fellow panelists, we must discharge our duty as voices of justice, reparation, reforms and non-occurrence. In this exercise, my service will be solely to the people of Kenya!
There is no Kenya that belongs exclusively to politicians and their children! As a matter of fact, there is neither country only those in broad based Government nor a country for cousins, we only have one nation: The Republic of Kenya.
We must rise to the occasion as a people, do whatever it takes to reinvent Kenya's victim reparations framework, into a model that prioritises the needs, rights and interests of victims.
Such a process does not belong to the members of this Panel; it belongs to the victims and the common Mwananchi. Our duty is merely to steer it, facilitate it, and formalize it.
To ensure that the process is fully transparent and ensures both accountability and reparations, my focus shall be on the following deliverable milestones:
- Memorialization of victims and publication of their identities in honour of their memories and contributions;
- Identification of unreported victims and verification of reported cases;
- Recommendations to facilitate and expedite criminal prosecution of perpetrators and civil litigation by and on behalf of victims;
- Proposals and recommendations on necessary and urgent legislative and policy reforms to regularize victim reparations processes.
It is my solemn patriotic duty to ensure that my contributions to this Panel shall acknowledge the voices of those who have suffered while protecting the victims and their dependants from being silenced.
To the perpetrators of such heinous crimes and your masters: Genesis 9:6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”
My loyalty is to you, the people of Kenya, and my learned friends who I serve at the Law Society of Kenya: I intend to guard this duty jealously and execute my mandate diligently.
Should my efforts be frustrated or even be undermined in any manner whatsoever, I remain prepared to do the honourable thing in fidelity with the rule of law and the Constitution of Kenya.
Inspired by the memories and plight of every victim, may we find guidance in the spirit of our Constitution and let Justice be our shield and defender. Thank you.
