The High Court has declined to issue any orders in a case seeking to have Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen declared unfit to hold public office over remarks he made regarding the use of lethal force during anti-government protests.
Instead, the court directed that the matter be mentioned on October 27 this year before Justice Bahati Mwamuye.
In the petition, the Gema Watho Association is calling for Murkomen to publicly retract his alleged “shoot-on-sight” directive, accusing him of violating the Constitution and promoting police impunity.
They argue that his remarks, made following the June 25 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 state.
The association contends 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. They further argue 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 association has sued Murkomen, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, the National Police Service (NPS), the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. It has also listed the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) and the Mount Kenya Jurists Party as interested parties.
