Court declines to declare Murkomen unfit to hold office over ‘shoot to kill’ remarks » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 31 – The High Court has declined to declare Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipcgumba Murkomen unfit to hold public office following his remarks on the use of force during protests.

This follows a suit by the Gema Watho Association which had called on Murkomen to publicly retract his alleged “shoot-on-sight” directive.

The association accused him of violating the Constitution and promoting police impunity and argued that his remarks, made following the June 25 Gen Z protests, could contribute to a surge in extrajudicial killings.

“The utterance was made in Kikuyu Town, an urban and populous area, and was therefore understood by a wide cross-section of the public as setting a dangerous precedent for the treatment of civilians near police facilities,” the court documents stated.

The association contended that the directive to “shoot anyone approaching a police station” constitutes a direct violation of the right to life protected under Article 26 of the Constitution.

It argued that such a blanket directive targeting civilians fails to meet constitutional thresholds for use of force.

CS Murkomen has appointed lawyer Cecil Miller to represent him in the case. However, no responses have been filed so far.

The court has now directed that the matter be mentioned on October 27 before Justice Bahati Mwamuye.