Ruto's 'shoot the leg' directive stokes fear and undermines human rights

When President William Ruto addressed residents at Ol Kalou town in Nyandarua county on April 03, 2025 during his Mt Kenya Region Tour. [File, Standard]

President William Ruto stood before a nation in pain. A nation mourning the lives of its children gunned down in cold blood, a nation clamoring not for charity but for dignity. And in that pivotal moment when leadership demanded restraint, compassion, and unity, the President chose threat and intimidation. He told the police to "just shoot on the leg." A command so reckless, so dismissive of human life, that it will be remembered not as a slip of the tongue but as a stain on the soul of this Republic.

What is even more damning is that this inciting order came on the heels of equally menacing instructions by Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen, who urged police to deal ruthlessly with demonstrators.