The Panel of Experts on Compensation of Victims of Demonstrations and Public Protests has moved to have a High Court injunction lifted, which temporarily blocked its work shortly after the panel was formed.
On September 8, Justice Dennis Magare Kizito issued a conservatory order following a petition by Nairobi lawyer Levi Munyeri. The ruling paused the government’s plan to compensate victims of protest-related violence between 2017 and 2025.
The judge warned that ignoring the order could lead to contempt of court charges and penalties.
The panel, chaired by Professor Makau Mutua and vice-chaired by Law Society of Kenya president Faith Odhiambo, was sworn in on September 4. It has been tasked with 120 days to design a framework to identify, verify, and compensate victims, relying on official records and consultations with families, civil society groups, and state agencies such as IPOA and KNCHR.
In an urgent application filed through advocate Ochiel Dudley, the panel argues that Munyeri obtained the court order improperly during the judicial recess by concealing ongoing related cases.
The panel contends this misled the 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 lawyers further claim that Munyeri engaged in forum shopping by filing in Kerugoya despite earlier petitions being lodged in Nairobi. They accuse him of withholding material facts, a move the panel says supports vacating the ex parte order.
“Unless the motion to vacate is heard urgently during the recess, it will be nugatory,” the panel notes, stressing the need for swift action to resume its work.
