The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) is calling on Parliament to release CCTV footage from the June 2024 anti-finance bill protests, particularly footage from June 25, when reports indicated that several protesters were shot within the precincts of Parliament.
The demand comes ahead of the planned anniversary Gen Z slated for Wednesday, June, 25,2025, when the victims of the protests will be commemorated.
Speaking during an interview on a local TV station on Monday, June 23, 2025, KHRC Communications Lead Ernest Oduor questioned the silence and lack of transparency from parliamentary authorities nearly a year after the incident.
“According to the Human Rights Watch report, about 25 people had been shot in Parliament on the 25th,” Oduor said.
“Bodies were later picked that night and where they were dumped is not yet known. Where is the CCTV footage from Parliament on that day?”
The protests, which drew national attention due to their intensity and the response by security forces, were marked by violent clashes, arrests, and reports of enforced disappearances.
Oduor revealed that KHRC and other civil society organisations have made formal attempts to access the CCTV footage from within Parliament to establish the truth about what happened on June 25, 2024.
“Attempts have been made to acquire the footage but there are claims that CCTVs were malfunctioning on that day,” he noted.
“It’s unacceptable that a national institution of such importance could have its surveillance systems conveniently fail on the very day protesters were allegedly shot.”
Police impunity
Oduor further criticised what he described as a culture of impunity, saying that despite multiple documented cases of police brutality during last year’s demonstrations, justice has not been served for most victims.
“At least three people were killed by police during last year’s demonstrations, yet only one case has made it to court. Many others who lost their lives are still waiting for justice. And it’s not just about those who were killed, what about those who disappeared? They too have not seen justice,” he posed.
The KHRC now wants Parliament to come clean on the status of its internal investigations and surveillance footage from the day in question. The organisation has vowed to pursue the matter through legal and constitutional avenues if the information continues to be withheld.
Human rights groups and international observers have echoed these concerns, warning that a lack of transparency and accountability in such high-profile incidents erodes public trust in state institutions and democratic processes.
Parliament has not yet issued an official response to the renewed calls for CCTV footage release.
Meanwhile, KHRC has pledged to keep pushing for accountability, calling on the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), Parliament’s leadership, and the Judiciary to play their roles in ensuring justice is delivered.
“The lives lost were not just statistics. These were young people, citizens, whose only crime was exercising their right to protest. Their families deserve the truth, and the country deserves accountability,” Oduor asserted.
