Kaluma says police who kill unlawfully should be sentenced to death
Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma has advocated for the death penalty for police officers who unlawfully kill civilians, arguing that life imprisonment would not be sufficient punishment for such crimes.
Speaking on a local media station on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, Kaluma, who was weighing on the conduct of police officers during recent protests, emphasised that while security officers may be permitted to use force in certain situations as outlined in law, any abuse of this power should be met with the harshest possible consequences.
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“If any police officer uses the firearm paid for by taxpayers in circumstances not permitted by law, that police officer must be held culpable, must be arrested, must be prosecuted, must be jailed. And where a person died in consequence of such action, not even life imprisonment would suffice. That police officer has to die, has to also be executed,” he stated.
Use of police force
However, Kaluma defended the legal framework governing police use of force, arguing that there are circumstances where officers are legally permitted to use lethal force.
He referenced provisions in the law that allow police to shoot in specific situations, citing an incident where a female police officer was nearly killed while her colleagues fled.
“It is unfortunate if Kenyans lost lives. But we must also be alive to the fact that these rights, including the right to assemble and picket, can be limited,” he stated.
“You cannot sit as leaders, knowing the law, and tell people there is no situation where the police will not shoot. Read part B of the sixth schedule. There are circumstances where a police officer will shoot. Let me tell you, under that law, if those people are shot, it is not extrajudicial,” he explained.
Need for guidance
The lawmaker also criticised what he described as irresponsible guidance to Gen Zs, referencing religious leaders who pray for demonstrators to safely return from protests.
“So let us not have a situation where, like the last time you see a bishop praying for our young people to go to State House, God protect them, they go and come back alive. Who, how are we guiding our young people?” he stated.
He urged leaders to guide young people toward constructive national dialogue rather than confrontations with law enforcement.
“Let us tell our young people that the nation called Kenya needs to be stable. Ruto still has to develop the country. Why don’t we listen as a people and see the solutions?” he remarked.
