Protest victims’ compensation: Maraga demands prosecution of rogue police amid calls for justice
By Aloys Michael, June 18, 2026Former Chief Justice David Maraga has renewed calls for the prosecution of police officers implicated in brutality cases, arguing that government efforts to compensate victims without pursuing criminal accountability amount to what he termed a half measure.
This comes amid growing public anger from victims’ families and civil society organisations, who say justice is incomplete as the State continues to issue financial payouts while failing to bring officers suspected of killings and injuries to court.
In an interview on a local TV station on Thursday, June 18, 2026, Maraga questioned the logic of separating compensation from prosecution, saying the process risks undermining public confidence in the justice system.
He argued that courts, rather than executive actors, should play a central role in determining liability and remedies in such cases.
“When we have courts, they should have just identified those people and then let the courts determine that. The courts are neutral. They’re the ones to compensate. But when you get the same executive officials being in charge of that, it raises a lot of issues,” Maraga said.
He further expressed concern that despite the seriousness of the claim abuses, there has been little visible movement toward holding individual officers criminally responsible, even as the government committed Ksh2 billion to compensate some victims of the protests.
According to him, the absence of arrests sends a troubling message about the state’s commitment to accountability.
“Have you seen any arrests? No. So how can we talk about criminal justice coming later? When we don’t know even whether those people have been arrested,” he said.
Maraga faults govt
Maraga warned that the current approach risks being perceived as an attempt to deflect attention from wrongdoing rather than confront it directly.
The United Green Movement (UGM) leader said that without prosecutions, compensation alone cannot satisfy the demands of justice or restore public trust in law enforcement institutions.
“These are half measures. If you want to deal with a situation and convince Kenyans the government is sorry about what has happened, it should take firm action.”
He added that criminal prosecution serves a broader purpose beyond punishment, emphasising its role in preventing future abuses by security officers, arguing that failure to act decisively weakens deterrence and exposes citizens to continued risk.
“Don’t forget, when a crime has been committed, and somebody has been identified, the whole purpose of prosecution and sentencing is deterrence. Today it is Wanjiku. Tomorrow it could be you, it could be me,” Maraga argued.
Maraga also reiterated that police officers are only authorised to use firearms as a last resort when there is an imminent threat to life, questioning whether that threshold was met in the incidents under scrutiny.