By ADEN KARIUKI
President William Ruto’s decision to compensate victims of police brutality and human rights violations committed during the 2024 Gen Z protests has reignited a national debate over accountability, with civil society groups, victims’ families and opposition leaders now demanding investigations into senior security officers who oversaw operations during the demonstrations.
While many victims have welcomed the government’s Sh2 billion compensation programme, attention has increasingly shifted from financial reparations to the question of who should be held responsible for the deaths, injuries, enforced disappearances, abductions and torture allegations that emerged during and after the nationwide protests.
At the centre of the growing debate are Director of Criminal Investigations Mohamed Amin and Commissioner of Police Zachary Kariuki, the head of the elite Operations Support Unit (OSU), both of whom occupied key command positions during the crackdown on protesters.
Pressure is also mounting for full investigations into the actions of then Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome and then Director of Operations at the National Police Service Adamson Bungei.
While Koome was retired by President William Ruto, Bungei was relegated to the less powerful position of Director of Kenya National Focal Point on Small Arms and Light Weapons.
Human rights organisations argue that accountability efforts should not stop with officers accused of carrying out abuses on the ground but should extend throughout the chain of command to include senior officers who exercised operational control during the demonstrations.
The renewed scrutiny follows President Ruto’s acknowledgement that the state’s response to the protests resulted in violations of constitutional rights, injuries and loss of life.
“No compensation is the price of life, of pain or of loss,” the President said while announcing the compensation package. “It is a formal acknowledgement that harm occurred and that victims matter.”
The compensation programme, which will be overseen by a panel coordinated by Prof. Makau Mutua, is intended to assist victims and their families while helping the country heal from one of the most turbulent periods in recent Kenyan history.
However, rights groups insist that compensation alone cannot substitute justice.
“The issue is not simply about compensation. Kenyans want accountability and justice,” said Vocal Africa Executive Director Hussein Khalid.
The Gen Z protests, initially triggered by opposition to the Finance Bill 2024, quickly evolved into a broader youth-led movement demanding transparency, accountability and economic reforms. The largely leaderless demonstrations attracted thousands of young people to the streets of Nairobi and other towns across the country.
As the protests intensified, so did allegations of excessive force by security agencies.
According to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), at least 60 people were killed, more than 600 injured and over 1,300 arrested during the demonstrations. Human rights organisations also documented dozens of alleged cases of enforced disappearances.
One of the most controversial aspects of the security response involved reports of plain-clothes officers travelling in unmarked Subaru vehicles and carrying out arrests of individuals suspected of organising, financing or participating in the protests.
Witnesses, activists and victims alleged that the officers operated outside conventional policing structures, often arriving without identifying themselves before seizing targets from homes, workplaces, entertainment joints and public spaces.
Many of the vehicles were reportedly unmarked, making it difficult for families and lawyers to trace where those arrested had been taken.
Human rights organisations contend that some of the operations bore the hallmarks of coordinated intelligence-led missions targeting individuals perceived to be influential within the Gen Z movement.
Victims who were later released recounted being blindfolded, detained in undisclosed locations and interrogated about their involvement in organising demonstrations, mobilising protesters or criticising the government online.
Several alleged that they were physically assaulted while in custody.
A 2024 Human Rights Watch investigation documented accounts from former detainees who said they were abducted by armed men dressed in civilian clothing, questioned about the protests and subjected to physical abuse while being held incommunicado. Some victims reportedly believed officers drawn from several security agencies, including the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, were involved in the operations.
The allegations have placed Amin and Kariuki under increasing public scrutiny.
As Director of Criminal Investigations, Amin headed the country’s premier investigative agency during the protests. Critics argue that questions remain about what the DCI knew regarding the abductions, disappearances and torture allegations that emerged during the crackdown.
Although Amin has repeatedly denied knowledge of unlawful abductions and enforced disappearances, rights groups argue that the DCI has yet to publicly identify and prosecute those responsible for many of the reported incidents.
Kariuki, whose Operations Support Unit is one of the National Police Service’s most specialised operational formations, has also found himself at the centre of demands for accountability.
Ironically, despite the government having stopped retention of police officers who have attained the mandatory 60-year retirement age, only Amin and Kariuki have been retained ostensibly as a reward for their role in the crackdown of the protesters.
Amin who was to retire in April 2024, was given a two-year contract that expired in April this year. Reports claim that he has been given another unprecedented two-year contract extension.
On the other hand, Kariuki was given a two-year contract that runs to August next year after having attained retirement age in 2025. The two remain the only two officers in the entire 130, 000 police service serving on contract.
The national government, the National Police Service Commission (NPSC) and the Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja have remained mute over the fate of Amin at the DCI despite his contract having expired and his advanced age.
Human rights defenders argue that because many of the alleged operations involved highly coordinated deployments by plain-clothes officers, investigators should establish whether specialised units were involved and determine the command structures under which such operations were conducted.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has demanded answers regarding what senior security officials knew about the alleged abductions and disappearances.
“We want to know what DCI boss Amin knew about the abductions, enforced disappearances and torture,” he said.
Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka also argued that accountability should accompany compensation, saying the lives lost during the protests deserved justice in addition to financial reparations.
Among the most high-profile cases linked to the crackdown was that of Leslie Muturi, son of former Attorney General and former National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi.
Muturi publicly claimed that his son had been abducted before later being released, a case that became one of the most prominent examples cited by critics who accused security agencies of targeting perceived organisers and supporters of the protests.
Several activists and protesters who were later freed similarly recounted being detained for days without charge and subjected to interrogation regarding their alleged involvement in the demonstrations.
Yet despite numerous reports, court petitions and public complaints, families of several missing persons continue to search for answers.
Human rights organisations say some individuals who disappeared during the period have never been found.
According to the Missing Voices Coalition, 2024 recorded the highest number of enforced disappearances in recent Kenyan history, with 55 cases documented during the year.
The coalition and other rights groups have repeatedly argued that investigations should focus not only on officers accused of carrying out operations but also on commanders responsible for supervising them.
The controversy has been further fuelled by questions surrounding the continued retention of Amin and Kariuki in the National Police Service despite both having reached the mandatory retirement age.
Amin attained the retirement age of 60 in 2024 but subsequently received a contract extension. Kariuki was similarly retained beyond his retirement date.
Civil society organisations have questioned the basis upon which the extensions were granted, particularly when many other public servants who reached retirement age left office.
Critics argue that retaining senior commanders associated with the security response to the Gen Z protests risks undermining public confidence in ongoing efforts to establish accountability for alleged human rights violations.
For rights groups, the issue is not merely whether Amin and Kariuki should remain in office, but whether independent investigations should examine the decisions made by commanders during one of the most contentious security operations in recent Kenyan history.
They maintain that determining responsibility requires investigators to establish who planned operations, who authorised deployments, how intelligence was gathered and whether officers acted within the law.
As the compensation process begins under the Makau Mutua-led panel, many families remain focused on a different question.
Who will be held responsible?
For relatives of those killed, injured, abducted or still missing, the government’s acknowledgement that harm occurred represents only the first step. Their demand, echoed by civil society organisations and opposition leaders, is that investigations move beyond compensation and establish accountability throughout the entire chain of command.
Two years after the Gen Z protests shook the nation, the debate over justice, command responsibility and police reform remains unresolved. And as pressure mounts for answers, scrutiny continues to fall on senior security commanders, particularly Mohamed Amin and Zachary Kariuki, whose roles during the crackdown are increasingly becoming central to the national conversation on accountability.
