'All is not lost on me': Why Faith Odhiambo has quit Ruto's victims' compensation panel

The Law Society of Kenya president Faith Odhiambo has resigned from a panel appointed by President William Ruto for compensation of protests victims.

Ms Odhiambo who was the vice chairperson of the panel is said to have tendered her resignation today mid-morning.

In a strong worded statement, she said as things stand, the time-bound mandate of the Panel has been stopped by the courts, and the proposed 120-day tenure of the Panel is likely to lapse before the matter is resolved and settled.

“My resignation from the Panel takes cognizance of the crucial point at which Kenya finds itself in the quest for full constitutional implementation and lasting reform to our democratic context,” read part of the statement, noting, “This consequential moment for our country calls for all our rule of law institutions, especially the Law Society of Kenya, to remain unified and resolute in discharging the mandate bestowed upon us by law.

This comes as Kerugoya High Court directed that the case filed by Lawyer Levi Munyeri against the panel to be heard on October 21, 2025, with a judgment expected on November 11,2025.

When Ms Odhiambo  took office as the President of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), she promised to stand for rule of law. Indeed, she did during the Gen-Z protests.

The midnight calls, the rushes to court to seek the detained or abducted persons by police and frequenting post-mortem exercises in support of families that lost their loved ones.

She was a heroine during the Gen-Z protests.

Odhiambo spent sleepless nights as her mobile phones incessantly rang with mothers, fathers, brothers, friends, and colleagues raising alarms as they sought help from police cells, while others reported loved ones killed, maimed, or missing.

Since then, she became the most visible and vocal woman, fighting injustices and defending rights crusaders.

However, months towards the end of her stint at the helm of the society, she is being accused of betraying the same people she defended, cried with. She is under siege.

Odhiambo’s decision to take up the role as Vice Chairperson Panel of Experts on Compensation of Victims of Public Protests drew a lot of criticism.

Former LSK President Nelson Havi said that said LSK is statutory office, and noted it is improper for the president to accept an appointment from the executive.

“It creates a conflict of interest between one's personal goals and one's official duties as president of the Law Society of Kenya,” Havi explained.

He said during his tenure as LSK president, a resolution was passed that the LSK, Council members will not accept appointments from the executive, adding that Faith was in that council.

Havi also noted that courts have determined that the president has no power to appoint task forces.

“To deal with matters that have been set aside to be dealt with by bodies established under the constitution, this task force is likely to be declared null and void, that reason is also improper for her to take up this appointment,” said Havi

He said the government had branded anybody injured or killed during crime was a criminal and questioned how the State turned around and said it wants to compensate victims of post-lease brutality.

Lawyer Charles Kanjama said the LSK president should be cautious about accepting government appointments of this kind.

He however said taskforce is an opportunity to contribute to what Odhiambo has been undertaking, ‘which is supporting the victims of extrajudicial killings, abductions.’

And in her resignation, Ms Odhiambo said while the clock runs down on the Panel’s lifetime, victims continue to reach out to her in total frustration over when their requests for audience with the Panel will be honoured.

“Unfortunately, it is not feasible to achieve the time-sensitive milestones I undertook to achieve, and I must therefore prioritize other avenues of responding to the plight of victims through the other positions I hold, especially the leadership of the Law Society of Kenya,” she said.

She said while agitating for the rights of victims remains impregnable, she will continue to take up and prosecute matters on behalf of victims of police excesses during demonstrations, and work towards safeguarding holistic justice for victims.

“It is not lost on me that there remains a significant gap in our victim reparations framework which must be addressed urgently. LSK will forthwith engage all justice stakeholders and Human Rights institutions, to formulate legislative proposals to reconcile the infirmities in our laws and institutions that have left victims prejudiced and short- handed in their quest for justice,” she said.

She said LSK’s proposals will be focused on ensuring that it transforms Kenya’s approach in dealing with victims of police excesses and state overreach, from the current protracted process of apportioning criminal liability to an efficient and victimcentered approach of rehabilitating Victims and restoring them to a life of dignity and purpose.

“We must treat reparations for victims with the same seriousness with which we treat repercussions for perpetrators,” she said.

While pledging memorialisation of victims and publication of their identities to honour their memories and entrench their sacrifice to the quest for justice in Kenya’s history, Ms Odhiambo said she will also follow up on identification of unreported victims and tracking of all reported cases to ascertain that necessary interventions have been made, and where they have not, agitate for the same.

She also pledged to make proposals to the Chief Justice Martha Koome to issue practice directions to all courts handling matters relating to victims of police excesses to fast-track the hearings and determination of the matters.

“I will petition parliament to review legislation on demonstrations and enact provisions for protection of demonstrators and provide for reparations where police excesses arise,” she said.