Murkomen under fire for branding protesters as terrorists amid outcry over police brutality
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has sparked national outrage after calling for protesters who stormed Parliament during last year’s demonstrations to be labelled as terrorists — a remark that human rights defenders and civil society groups have condemned as dangerous, dehumanising, and a blatant attack on the right to protest.
Speaking on Monday, Murkomen defended the government’s response to the 2024 anti-Finance Bill demonstrations, where protesters breached the parliamentary precincts in Nairobi, challenging the way the events have been portrayed in the media.
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“I am here to see a media house that calls out all those who invaded Parliament. In any civilised society in the world, anybody who invaded Parliament would have been called a terrorist, straight away, in many countries. But here in Kenya, we still say peaceful protesters invaded Parliament,” Murkomen said.
He further dismissed the notion that the protests were peaceful, questioning the use of the term to describe the violent breach.
“How can invasion and peace survive in one sentence? It must be, it must break our conscience that, so you’ve seen protests in other parts of the world, people marching peacefully along streets and making their statements,” he argued.
New legislation on demonstrations
Murkomen also revealed that the government is working on new legislation to regulate public demonstrations and ensure protests are carried out peacefully and per the Constitution.
“That is why part of the law that we are proposing is to create an opportunity for public order to give people the space to do protests in an environment that is peaceful and that respects the constitutional responsibility of every one of us,” Murkomen said.
His comments have sparked backlash from civil society groups, with Amnesty International Kenya Executive Director Irũngũ Houghton terming the remarks as both ironic and disturbing.
“It’s deeply ironic, even troubling, for the Cabinet Secretary for Interior to liken the protests by Gen Z to acts of terrorism,” Houghton said during an interview on Spice FM on Tuesday.
Abductions and deaths
Houghton further raised concerns over the conduct of security agencies, questioning their role in recent cases of abductions and deaths, including the controversial case of Albert Ojwang.
“Another critical conversation we need to have is whether the DCI officers who picked up Albert were part of the same multi-agency task force that has been linked to abductions of 89 people and 65 deaths just last year,” he said.
Ojwang, a schoolteacher and blogger, died in police custody at Nairobi’s Central Police Station just over a week ago. He had been arrested in Homa Bay over allegations of publishing defamatory content against Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Eliud Kipkoech Lagat, who has stepped aside over the case.
National outrage
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Ojwang's death has triggered national outrage, reigniting calls for accountability over persistent police brutality and extrajudicial killings.
Lagat, whose name has been mentioned in connection with Ojwang’s arrest, stepped aside from office on Monday to allow investigations into the incident.
But even with Lagat stepping aside, protests erupted on Tuesday, marred by violence allegedly orchestrated by suspected goons who disrupted peaceful demonstrations in Nairobi’s central business district.
The protests, which were aimed at seeking justice for Ojwang, began calmly at around 10:00 a.m., attracting dozens of demonstrators demanding accountability from the authorities.
However, the atmosphere quickly turned chaotic when masked individuals, believed to be hired thugs, stormed the crowd on boda bodas, wielding crude weapons and attacking protesters.
Eyewitnesses and activists at the scene said the attackers targeted demonstrators indiscriminately, stealing mobile phones, cash, and other valuables.
They also reported that police officers were present but did not act to stop the violence.
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