Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen has denied issuing a shoot to kill order to police terming his statement as a mere restatement of the law.
Through a statement, Murkomen noted that he has no constitutional power to issue such orders but he has to stand by the police.
“I ask all those who are spreading misinformation, disinformation, and fake news to challenge me on the law.
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Those who are saying I issued an order to the police should show where the order is. A mere restatement of the law as it exists cannot amount to giving an order to the police.
The Police are mandated by law to operate within the constitutional framework, the statutes, and the departmental standing orders. In any case, I have no constitutional powers to give such orders; instead, I have a duty to support the police and to formulate policy recommendations to aid the application of law in the enforcement of law and order.
Our police officers who are attacked by robbers, rioters, and arsonists—who have torched police stations, stolen rifles, burnt suspects alive, and burnt property worth millions of shillings, including courts —cannot be left helpless when they have been given the authority by the Constitution and the law to defend themselves, the citizens, and their property.” he said
Murkomen was speaking barely a day after issuing the shoot to kill order to the police against protesters who attack and vandalize police stations in the country.
He was speaking after terming the June 25th incident as an act of terrorism with the intention of toppling the government.
