Wheelbarrow to Wheelchair: Ruto's shoot-to-maim directive is not a laughing matter

Speaking just two days after the country witnessed prodigious hooliganism, police brutality, wanton killings, destruction and runaway looting of private businesses, Ruto bore his fangs and claws, angrily sniping at his political detractors while accusing them of a plot to overthrow his government and cause national anarchy.

An evidently miffed Ruto went on to present a spirited defense of the Kenya Police, and, at that juncture, loosened up a little, putting all presidential decency aside and insolently ordered his officers to carry on with the pervasive shootings - only this time, don't shoot to kill, shoot to maim, instead.

He said: "Anyone who burns down someone else’s business and property, let them be shot in the leg and go to the hospital as they head to court. Yes, let them not kill, but shoot and break the legs. Destroying people’s property is not right."

As he made those chilling remarks, a ragtag group of women, gathered just beneath him, cheered on, albeit uneasily.

These were Ruto's toughest remarks yet about the wave of protests over economic stagnation, corruption and police brutality which have continued to rock the country, as he sought to appropriate blame and reassert his dominance after enduring a nightmarish stint at the presidency.

His shoot-to-maim order would be quickly picked up by the press and heavily dissected by Kenyans online, with many left bewilderedly stumped at the unfiltered brazenness of a president who was openly dishing out crimes against humanity, in broad daylight and with the cameras rolling.

From lawyers to politicians, activists to every day folks, everyone appeared to agree: The president had suddenly gone rogue and that statement should never have come out of the mouth of the man considered a national symbol of peace.

Lawyer Kelly Gitahi wrote, "In a normal country, this a career-ending statement. Impeachment and removal from office proceedings would have commenced in Parliament."

Someone else wrote, "Lethal force is only permissible when strictly necessary to protect life from an imminent threat. "Shooting in the leg" as a directive, even if intended to incapacitate rather than kill, carries a high risk of severe injury, permanent disability, or unintended death. In a country where police kill with zero accountability, telling them to shoot the leg isn’t wisdom, it’s a dangerous joke. That leg could easily become a head or a coffin. We know this pattern too well."

On his part, Medical Doctor Mohammed Jamaal wrote, "Does the president know that a shot on the thigh can cause a massive femoral artery bleed potentially losing upto to 30-50% of blood within minutes? Class 3 shock is not a child’s play even with efficient response - that we don’t have. Shooting isn’t a solution, solve from the roots!"

X user Dicap La Merveille also joined the conversation, sharing a few nuggets in opposition to the president's ominous edict.

He wrote: "Did you know International human rights law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Kenya is a state party, strictly limits the use of force by law enforcement?"

"Lethal force is only permissible when strictly necessary to protect life from an imminent threat. "Shooting in the leg" as a directive, even if intended to incapacitate rather than kill, carries a high risk of severe injury, permanent disability, or unintended death."

He added, "This can be considered excessive force, especially against individuals engaged in property destruction rather than direct threats to life. The principle of proportionality dictates that the force used must be proportionate to the threat."

Many more castigated the head of State for issuing such an alarming declaration, utterly disregarding human rights laws, further injuring an already hurt public psyche and barking contemptously at families who are still grieving and burying their loved ones killed during Monday's unrest.

As it all unfolded, some creative Kenyans even found a different angle to the entire debacle - creating memes out of a solemn scenario.

Online, many shared AI-generated photos of crowds of demonstrators in wheelchairs and crutches, with many also suggesting that Ruto's shoot-to-maim order had seen him metamorph from a Wheelbarrow crusader to a Wheelchair evangelist.

Someone even christened him 'Wheeliam Samoei Ruto. "

While describing President Donald Trump's overstepping of the US law in his mismanagement of White House affairs, the American Enterprise Institute's Jack Landman Goldsmith wrote, "Larger passions motivate Mr Trump’s Caesarean presidency: his will to power, extreme demands of loyalty, indifference to legal constraints and desire to eliminate all personnel or policy friction between his impulse and executive action."

While he may have been describing the leader of the Free World, Goldsmith may as well have had President William Ruto in mind, as those words succinctly express the very nature of the almighty Ruto monocracy.