Mukurweini Member of Parliament John Kaguchia was attacked by residents of Embu County on Sunday, after revealing that he would be filing a motion to remove Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen.
Speaking during a bishop's retirement event, the MP claimed that, alongside Manyatta MP Gitonga Mukunji, they would be sponsoring the impeachment motion due to the CS's instructions to the police officers to shoot at unarmed young Kenyans.
"You heard the government say that if the youth show up, they will be killed, and 17 were killed. Murkomen, our CS, then said any man or woman who comes close to a police station will be shot, saying that that is instructions from above. We want to condemn those remarks completely," he stated.
It was at this point that the crowd started booing him and shouting "hapana," trying to cut off his speech as others stood to make their way to the MP.
Undeterred, the MP continued, "As the MP for Mukurweini alongside your MPs Mukunji and Karemba, we are going to file a motion to remove Murkomen from his seat."
By this point, some had arrived at the dais where he was addressing the crowd from, and the microphone was knocked out of his hands, successfully ending his speech.
As more people piled on to attack him, the host bishop tried to salvage the situation, picking up the microphone and warning against making any more political remarks during the event and instead concentrating on the event at hand.
Murkomen has been receiving a lot of backlash over the past week for remarks he made encouraging police officers not to be deterred from shooting at Kenyans they perceived as threats.
In his remarks following the June 25 remarks, Murkomen stated that his ministry would protect officers who found themselves in similar situations.
“Tumeambia polisi, mtu yeyote ambaye atakaribia police station, piga yeye risasi (We have directed the police that anyone who dares approach a police station with criminal intent, shoot them),” Murkomen directed.
Lawmakers, especially those not aligned with the government, activists and even his law professor, Kivutha Kibwana, have all denounced Murkomen's remarks, despite his continued claims that his words were taken out of context and he only meant for police officers to defend themselves from imminent threats of severe injury or death.
On Sunday, June 30, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga also condemned the remarks, stating, "Anybody giving instructions to a police officer to shoot anyone who gets near a police station, it's a big shame. Shame on you."
"We should not encourage taking away life in a way that is not constitutional. If someone has committed a crime, that person should be subjected to the law and taken to court. If the court finds him guilty, sentence him," he added.
