When bullets silence cries in a failed leadership

Police Officers engage protestors in Kisii town on 25/6/2025 during the 1st anniversary of Gen Z killings. (Sammy Omingo, Standard) The past few weeks have tested Kenya, as a restless youth push for better governance from the leaders they voted into office. The country has experienced three major waves of protests, resulting in at least 50 deaths of young Kenyans, some of whom are children as young as 12, and hundreds of injuries. Property worth millions of shillings has been looted or destroyed in riots that have accompanied the demos. Armed gangs have stormed streets across the country, clobbering and mugging Kenyans as police watched unmoved. In some instances, such thugs have marched alongside law enforcement officers. There have been arson attacks on police stations, government offices and hospitals. And the nation, looking to its leadership to propose a way out of the current madness, has often ended up disappointed. Such was the case when President William Ruto yesterday ordered the shooting of protesters "in the legs", an illegal declaration as the Constitution bars the President from issuing operational orders to Inspector General of Police. His remarks, criticised widely as reckless, came hours after the State-funded Kenya National Human Rights Commission revealed that it had documented 31 deaths from Monday's anti-government protests, the highest death toll in a single day. Police officers Flanked by the country's senior-most police officers when he launched a housing project for the police officers in Nairobi, the Head of State essentially patted the rogue police service on the back, casting doubt on whether victims of brutality can expect to find justice. That is despite sustained calls for accountability, which have driven young Kenyans into successive rounds of demonstrations, the latest being Monday's Saba Saba protests, held to commemorate the July 7, 1990, countrywide marches to agitate for pluralism. "Anyone burning down someone else's business and property should be shot in the legs, so that they will pass through the hospital as they go to court. They (the police) should not kill them, but they should hit them and break their legs," a visibly angry President said, adding that he would ensure peace in the country "by whatever means possible." He had equated attacks on police officers and stations with a declaration of war and "terrorism. The President's remarks follow shoot-on-sight orders by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen on protesters storming police stations. Murkomen would follow up the illegal order with assurances to the police that the government would not cooperate with investigations on killer cops. Ruto's and Murkomen's statements point to a government okaying a policy of brutality when it ought to be seeking to end the chaos that is claiming lives with each passing wave of protests. The remarks are, undoubtedly, discouraging to families of victims of police brutality. "It is unfortunate that the President and Interior Minister are making such statements," said Boniface Mwangi, a rights activist who has helped mobilise Gen Z protests. "They have chosen to suspend the rule of law and pursue a policy of brutality. No family can expect to find justice." When we spoke to Mwangi over the phone, he said he was returning from Kathiani, Machakos County, where he had attended the funeral of Elijah Mwongeli, killed during the June 25 demos. "He (Ruto) is desperate and thinks he can use fear to control dissent, which won't work. The people he is threatening to shoot go to demonstrations, having written their obituaries. Such scare tactics won't work on them. He is responding to the activities around the protests instead of listening to the grievances young Kenyans are airing," said Mwangi. Since Murkomen issued the shoot-on-sight threat, police have been seen to handle protesters more brutally, evidenced from the death toll that rose from 19, per rights groups, to Monday's 31. Live rounds On Monday, a squad of security agents roamed the streets of Nairobi and Kajiado counties, leaving death in its wake. In video clips shared online, police are recorded taking aim at protesters and firing live rounds. In others, such as a clip a resident of Limuru shared with The Standard, showed officers shooting randomly. It is such random shooting that saw a bullet kill Brigit Njoki, 12, whose body lay in a morgue cooler as Ruto made his chilling threat yesterday. Njoki was killed on Monday by a stray bullet, which pierced through the roof of their home, hitting her in the head. Lucy Ngugi, her mother, tearfully narrated her daughter's final moments, too broken to think about justice for her daughter. If Njoki's tragedy had not moved the President, then the story of Ann Nyawira, a grieving mother who had to spend the night with her dead son, Brian Kimutai, shot by the police on Monday in Kitengela, should have broken his heart. The President said no word about Kimutai, or any of the victims of brutality, but he has previously praised the conduct of police officers for their conduct in the protests, emboldening their violations of the law. These violations have led to more than 100 deaths since the Gen Z protests broke out last year. Rights groups said at least 60 people died in last year's anti-tax protests. This year's death toll has already hit 51. On July 25, 19 Kenyans were killed in demonstrations to commemorate last year's protests. Days earlier, Boniface Kariuki, a mask vendor, had been shot in the head by a police officer at close range. He later died in the hospital. Ruto has previously promised accountability for victims of brutality but has faltered on his delivery. Families of some more than 70 young Kenyans, whom the opposition Azimio coalition said died during protests in 2023, still wait for justice. Nothing has been forthcoming, even in the wake of a cooperation deal between Ruto and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga that promised such justice. "The President should be seeking to protect people enjoying their right to picket and justice for victims of brutality," said Gitile Naituli, a professor of leadership and management. "Ruto should be planning to meet these young Kenyans and chart a framework within which their grievances will be addressed and not threaten them." Prof Naituli, who remarked, "these people have gone mad," said Kenyans should document inflammatory utterances by top government officials that can be filed as a petition to the International Criminal Court. The grievances by the youth have evolved since last year, when they first took to the streets in protest. The demos, sparked by controversial tax proposals, morphed into a push to force Ruto out of power. Ruto's proposed ouster has endured in this year's protests, also driven by the push for accountability. These changing objectives have often attracted talk that the protesters have lost the plot. But demonstrators, some of whom told The Standard they do not expect their protests to yield much in changes, see protests as the "only language the government understands." There have been calls for alternative means of airing their concerns, such as dialogue, fronted by Raila on Monday, who proposed an "intergenerational conclave." Machakos Deputy Governor Francis Mwangangi said. "What happened to the Nadco (National Dialogue Committee) talks and the 10-point cooperation agreement? Have they been implemented? What they (the government) want to do is kick the can down the road until the elections come, because we don't need to talk to end extra-judicial killings and abductions, and achieve better governance." Young Kenyans mostly shun calls for talks, arguing that the President does not listen. Indeed, he has promised more than once to end abductions, which continue to date, and extra-judicial killings. The soaring death toll in the police's hands lends credence to their fears. The Head of State has often chosen to play victim, a script he fell back on when he lamented bout being the target of a smear campaign he falsely claimed his predecessors were never subjected to, the strongest indication that he remains unmoved by the deaths of protesters in the hands of the police. Mount Kenya "Why didn't they visit this chaos on Mwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta?" Ruto added a statement in line with a narrative that pro-government politicians have tried to push that paints the Gen-Z protests as a Mount Kenya affair. Indeed, while the Mt Kenya region has flared in the current round of protests, demonstrations have been in other areas. Gen Z demonstrators have repeatedly shunned ethnic associations, asserting their movement was "tribe-less."

When bullets silence cries in a failed leadership

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