In the annals of Kenya’s democratic history, the 2023 Gen Z-led protests will be remembered as a watershed moment — a time when the youth, not armed with weapons but with courage, hope, and digital solidarity, took to the streets to demand accountability, equity, and a government that truly listens.

Tragically, what began as peaceful protests ended with bloodshed. Lives were lost, dreams cut short, and families forever shattered.

It is in this context that former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Madaraka Day call for the government to compensate the families of the young Kenyans killed during last year’s protests carries both moral weight and urgent national importance.

President William Ruto must rise to the occasion and heed this call — not as a concession to the youthful protesters who still detest his government, going by the posts on social media, but as a recognition of the sanctity of life and the values of justice, empathy, and national healing.

Raila, who joined the Ruto-led Kenya Kwanza administration through the so-called broad-based government to ostensibly save the government from collapsing, wants the State to compensate victims of opposition-led protests and the June 2024 nationwide anti-tax demonstrations led by Gen Z.

The call came barely three days after the President appeared to apologise to the youthful protesters over the use of force on them by the security agents.

While announcing their agreement last year, President Ruto and Raila outlined a 10-point agenda upon which their working arrangement was supposed to be anchored.

Compensation for protest victims was part of that agenda.

Unfortunately, once allies of Raila had been incorporated into the government, and the youth protests subdued, everything about the agenda was shelved and left to gather dust.

These young protesters were not criminals; they were citizens expressing constitutionally protected rights to assemble and speak. Many were unarmed.

Their deaths were not accidents of war but preventable tragedies, and failing to acknowledge their loss through meaningful reparations only compounds the injustice.

Compensation, in this case, is not about politics – it’s about recognising pain, loss, and state accountability.