Former Chief Justice David Maraga has announced his intention to join the June 25 Gen Z protest in solidarity with families of those killed, injured, or missing from last year’s demonstrations.
Speaking during an interview on the Iko Nini Podcast on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, Maraga expressed deep sympathy for the parents and survivors of the 2024 protests, emphasising that supporting them is a matter of national concern.
“This is the Gen Z protest. Yes, we are joining them in solidarity because we feel for them. We feel for the parents who lost their children, and for the Gen Zs who were injured,” Maraga said.
“We are just coming out in solidarity with them and expressing our views that this should not be allowed to happen again in this country.”
Maraga questioned what options remain for mothers and siblings of those killed, injured, or disappeared during the demonstrations, arguing that they have a constitutional right to express their grief and demand accountability.
“What are these people going to do — the mothers and the siblings of the Gen Zs who were killed? Are they supposed to sit down and just forget?” he posed.
“They are expressing their frustration that in spite of their loved ones having been killed, having been maimed, some are injured and others have disappeared. They just want the public to know that, look, we are being forgotten. The Constitution allows that so the public can understand that these are human beings, Kenyans, with siblings, mothers, and fathers,” he added.
He emphasised that the planned protest aims to be peaceful, likening it to instances where Kenyans have laid flowers at the site of the 1998 terrorist attack in Nairobi.
“The best of what I’ve heard is that they just wanted to go and lay flowers. We have been laying flowers at the former American Embassy where people were killed in that terrorist act. This is exactly what these people are doing,” he explained.
Broader purpose
The former Chief Justice argued that the protests serve a broader purpose beyond commemorating the deceased, describing them as a way to pressure the government to address unresolved cases and establish compensation schemes for affected families.
“All they are doing is to just come and say look, are you people not bothered about our loved ones who have died or those who disappeared? So it is just to continue putting pressure so that the government can act,” Maraga stated.
According to Maraga, the June 25 protest is not just for the families of the deceased Gen Z individuals but is important for the future of Kenya as a whole.
“This kind of protest is actually not only for the families of the deceased Gen Zs. It is for the whole country. Last year it was them. If this is not stopped, if this kind of act is not stopped, tomorrow it will be you, me and everybody else,” he cautioned.
