Ruto orders 'shoot but don't kill' to deescalate Murkomen's fatal edict

CS Kipchumba Murkomen at the launch of flagship report and Action plan by the Eastern and Southern Africa Commission on Drugs during the fourth high-level consultation meeting in Nairobi. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Only days after Interior Security Cabinet Secretary Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen inflamed passions by issuing a shoot-to-kill order, which he purported was an “order from above,” meaning the presidency, Prezzo Bill Ruto contradicted him by directing that looters and arsonists should only be shot in the leg.

Now, that’s what leadership looks like. We get it that Prezzo Ruto is utterly frustrated by the endless demands on his time—its physical toll being the bags under his eyes, suggesting inadequate sleep—and seething anger that he conveys in his poise and voice.