Civil society organisations led by Katiba Institute have filed a petition at the Milimani High Court seeking to have Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen declared unfit to hold public office over remarks he made regarding the use of lethal force by police during the ongoing anti-government protests.
In the case, Katiba Institute alongside the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and the Independent Medico-Legal Unit accuse Murkomen of overstepping his mandate by commenting on policing matters and making statements that allegedly incite unlawful violence, misrepresent the law, and violate the Constitution.
The petition stems from a public address Murkomen made on June 26, where he cited Schedule 6(1)(b) of the National Police Service Act—including subsections (c), (d), and (e)—to justify police use of deadly force to protect property, prevent escapes from custody, or stop others from aiding such escapes. He claimed the law on the use of deadly force was “very clear.”
However, the petition notes that those specific legal provisions were declared unconstitutional by the High Court in 2022 in Katiba Institute & Another v Attorney-General & Another* [2022] KEHC 17072 (KLR), rendering them void.
