In a move that underscores the deep tensions surrounding Kenya’s recent protest violence, Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Faith Odhiambo has resigned as vice chair of the government’s Panel of Experts on Compensation of Victims. Her departure comes after weeks of mounting criticism and a court order that effectively paralyzed the panel’s work.
Appointed in August through a Kenya Gazette notice, the panel was tasked with a critical 120-day mission: recommending compensation for victims of police brutality during the youth-led anti-government protests of 2023 and 2024. The demonstrations, which saw over 120 people killed and hundreds injured, represented a national crisis of police overreach.
For Odhiambo, a lawyer celebrated for her frontline defense of police brutality victims, accepting the vice chair role proved controversial from the start. Many supporters saw her move as a betrayal, particularly given her previous work fighting for the release of youths abducted by security forces and representing families affected by police violence.
“I have in no way betrayed your trust,” Odhiambo defended herself during her September 4 swearing-in, emphasizing that “access to criminal justice remains critical to me in our quest to promote and protect the rule of law.”
Her initial acceptance, she explained on Monday, was driven by the opportunity to reform what she described as Kenya’s “inadequate” legal framework for victim reparations. However, the panel’s progress was halted by a recent court order suspending its operations, making it impossible to fulfill its 120-day mandate.
“As things stand, the time-bound mandate of the panel has been stopped by our courts, and the proposed tenure is likely to lapse before the matter is resolved,” Odhiambo stated. “Victims continue to reach out to me in total frustration over when their requests for an audience with the panel will be honoured.”
In her resignation statement to the Head of Public Service, Odhiambo cited the need to safeguard LSK’s independence and unity amid ongoing legal and constitutional challenges. Rather than remaining on a stalled government panel, she will now refocus her efforts through the Law Society itself.
The LSK is already representing several families affected by police violence during the 2023 cost-of-living demonstrations. “Our team of advocates is already in court in Kisumu for one of the cases involving victims of police excesses,” Odhiambo said. “We will seek the Judiciary’s intervention to expedite these matters to a conclusion.”
The lawyers’ body will now prioritize memorializing victims, identifying unreported cases, urging the Chief Justice to fast-track related court proceedings, and petitioning Parliament to strengthen laws protecting demonstrators and victims of police abuse.
“We must treat reparations for victims with the same seriousness with which we treat repercussions for perpetrators,” Odhiambo declared. “May justice remain our shield and defender.”
Her resignation marks a significant moment in Kenya’s ongoing reckoning with protest violence, highlighting the challenges of achieving justice through government channels and reinforcing the legal community’s role as an independent advocate for victims’ rights.
