Former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Justin Muturi has condemned the shooting incident in Ishiara, Mbeere North, Embu County, where two people were killed during protests over the state of services at Ishiara Level 4 Hospital.
In a statement on Tuesday, Muturi questioned the use of force during the protests, saying the incident was painful and personal given that it occurred in his home area.
“What kind of nation are we becoming?” he posed, expressing anger over the deaths of residents who had taken to the streets to demand better healthcare services.
The protests were sparked by concerns over poor service delivery at the hospital, including shortages of medicine and limited capacity to handle patients.
What began as a peaceful demonstration later turned violent after police moved in to disperse the crowd.
Muturi said the residents were exercising their constitutional right to demand better services and questioned why the response escalated to gunfire.
“Instead of listening to their cries, the response was bullets,” he said.
He also raised concern over reports that some officers involved may have been in plain clothes, saying the situation raises questions about command responsibility and accountability.
“These are grave concerns about accountability, command, and the rule of law. Who was in charge? Who gave the orders?” he asked.
Muturi linked the incident to broader challenges in the health sector, saying failures at the county level are increasingly leading to public frustration and unrest.
He said the deaths should not be treated in isolation, but as a reflection of deeper problems affecting service delivery.
The former CS called for an immediate, independent and transparent investigation into the incident, insisting that those responsible must be held to account.
“I will pursue every avenue necessary to ensure that those responsible are held accountable and that such a tragedy never happens again,” he said.
Muturi further warned against what he described as the normalization of violence against unarmed citizens, stressing the need to protect the right to peaceful assembly.
He extended condolences to the families of those killed, saying he stands with them in grief and in the pursuit of justice.
“We cannot normalize violence against unarmed citizens. We must defend the right to peaceful assembly, restore accountability in our security agencies, and fix the broken systems that are pushing our people to the edge,” he said.