President William Ruto has formally apologised to the family of Rex Masai, the young man shot dead in Nairobi during the June 2024 anti-Finance Bill protests, in a gesture delivered by the State's panel on compensation for protest victims.

Professor Makau Mutua, who chairs the Panel of Experts on Compensation of Victims of Demonstrations and Public Protests, led a team to the family's home in Kayole, Nairobi, where he met Masai's mother, Gillian Munyau. The panel said it was "delivering the President's personal apology as well as the State's to the family for their loss."

Family wants the case concluded

Officials from the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) joined the visit. The panel said the gesture was meant to support justice, healing and national reconciliation.

According to Citizen Digital, Masai's mother said the family was tired of endless court appearances and wanted the matter decided, while his father, Chrisphine Odawa, said the family had forgiven but did not want any other family to go through the same loss.

It was not clear from the reports whether the family has already received compensation.

Masai was shot in Nairobi's CBD in June 2024 and his death became one of the defining images of the Gen Z protests. Prosecutors later said CCTV footage did not clearly identify the shooter, and the inquest into his death closed last month after a forensic expert told the court the footage had not been tampered with.

Deadline for claims

The visit comes as the panel urges victims of police brutality during protests who have not yet registered to do so before November 14, when its mandate is due to expire. Mutua has warned that those who miss the date may be left out, although the panel is considering asking for more time.

More than 1,000 victims have been compensated so far. Citizen Digital cited Sh1.2 billion paid out, though Mutua has also said the panel received and has spent about Sh2 billion. IPOA chair Duncan Ojwang' said the authority holds about 90 per cent of the data on people hurt in protests.

Repair, not immunity

Mutua has stressed that compensation is separate from criminal investigations and prosecutions and will not shield anyone found responsible for killings or injuries. "This exercise of repair is the first in a long series of a long process that the president has initiated," he said.

A similar apology was earlier conveyed to Nigel Oduor Otieno, who was injured in Mathare during the 2023 cost-of-living protests. The panel says new laws on the management of protests are also being drafted.

Photos: The Eastleigh Voice. Thumbnail design: HAMASTA MEDIA.