Malala accuses Ruto of using protest compensation to silence victims’ families
By Cy Muganda, August 11, 2025Democracy for the Citizens’ Party Deputy Party Leader Cleophas Malala has accused President William Ruto of planning to use the newly launched financial compensation to protest victims as a ploy to gag the recipients from providing testimony to international investigators.
In a video posted on his Facebook account on Monday, August 11, 2025, Malala questioned the timing and motives behind the government’s compensation announcements, arguing that it was initiated after news surfaced about interest from the US Senate in investigating the protest killings that have occurred in Kenya over the past year.
“Those people from the United States of America in the Senate have said they want to investigate the killings that have been happening in Kenya for the past one year. You have seen him (Ruto) already getting scared and wanting to compensate people who died,” Malala stated.
Political motivations
The Democracy for the Citizens’ Party official dismissed the compensation initiative as an inadequate and politically motivated public relations strategy meant to influence potential witnesses.
“You must tell us how much is enough to take away the life of an innocent child. Ruto, this compensation is a circus because he has heard that the USA has begun investigations,” he reiterated.
“He wants to give out this money so that these families don’t go and give testimony there in America.”
Human life value
Malala questioned the value the government places on human life, challenging Ruto to reveal how much he believes is adequate compensation for the death of an innocent child.
“The question we are asking William Ruto is: how much money is enough to compensate for killing someone’s child? Now he says he has our government money to compensate those children and those families. I am asking William Ruto to tell us today whether it’s two million, five million, or ten million shillings, tell us,” he remarked.
In a provocative challenge to Ruto, Malala suggested a personal test of the compensation’s adequacy.
“We as Kenyans want to know – if it’s ten million, let your child die and let’s see if that money will be enough to replace your child,” he stated.