Muluka: Any regime that fails to protect rights must be removed
By Kiprono Keileb, August 6, 2025Political commentator Barrack Muluka has said that any government that fails to uphold human rights forfeits its legitimacy and deserves to be removed through democratic means.
Speaking during a political talk show aired by a local television station on Tuesday, August 6, 2025, Muluka strongly criticised the handling of recent events involving police brutality and rising cases of rights violations, warning that a regime that cannot guarantee the protection of its citizens has no moral authority to lead.
“A government that fails the test of protecting human rights loses its moral authority,” he said.
Muluka stressed that the government’s duty goes beyond implementing policies and development projects; it must also protect the lives, dignity, and freedoms of its people at all times.
“It doesn’t matter whether it is the government itself perpetrating these ills or if it is somebody else. If they happen under its watch, then the government has failed,” he said.
He added that no excuses should be made for a government that remains passive in the face of increasing incidents of injustice, enforced disappearances, or the excessive use of force by security agencies.
“The government has the responsibility to protect the lives of the people, both from itself and by itself or other perpetrators. That is why police services and police forces are constituted in the society, not to shoot people in their legs, but to protect them,” Muluka said.
He further noted that even civilian institutions within the government must actively work to detect and address threats to fundamental rights such as the freedom of movement, speech, and life.
“There are civilian entities that are supposed to work for the people to find out what endangers people’s rights and freedom of movement and living and therefore intervene,” he said.
Muluka warned that ignoring systemic failures in protecting rights only emboldens abuse of power and reiterated that democratic change remains the only proper response to regimes that allow such conditions to prevail.
“If the regime allows those failures, then the regime that is in power for the time being deserves to be removed democratically,” he said.
He ended his remarks by urging leaders and citizens alike to confront these challenges boldly and without sugarcoating.
“We cannot tiptoe around issues and apologise,” Muluka concluded.