{"id":118632,"date":"2025-07-23T11:03:39","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T11:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/07\/23\/rutos-shoot-to-maim-remark-made-for-speaking-sake-bishop\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T11:03:39","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T11:03:39","slug":"rutos-shoot-to-maim-remark-made-for-speaking-sake-bishop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/rutos-shoot-to-maim-remark-made-for-speaking-sake-bishop\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruto\u2019s shoot to maim remark made \u2018for speaking sake\u2019: Bishop"},"content":{"rendered":"

KISII, Kenya, Jul 23 \u2014 Kisii Catholic Diocese Bishop Joseph Mairura has defended President William Ruto over his controversial \u201cshoot on the leg\u201d directive, insisting the president never intended his words to be taken literally.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking at Cardinal Otunga Mosocho during celebrations to mark his 30th episcopal anniversary on Saturday, Bishop Mairura said politicians often make statements \u201cfor the sake of speaking\u201d and urged Kenyans not to interpret them at face value.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat politicians speak out here, they don\u2019t mean what they say. When someone dares you to shoot on the leg, do you think he really means it? Then let\u2019s go and see if he will shoot us,\u201d Bishop Mairura said.<\/p>\n

President Ruto made the \u201cshoot on the leg\u201d comments earlier in the month while addressing rising insecurity, a statement that sparked widespread criticism from human rights groups and opposition leaders, who warned it could encourage excessive use of force by security agencies.<\/p>\n

\u2018Peace must be maintained\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Mairura, however, emphasized the importance of peace and stability over political rhetoric:<\/p>\n

\u201cYou must maintain the stability of our country so that our children can inherit a nation that is stable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on his three decades of service, the bishop admitted he had never been as troubled as he is now, citing recent deadly protests, widespread theft of public funds, and the River Yala killings under the previous administration.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe River Yala killings \u2014 those were not goats but human beings. Those were one or two of my Christians. What are we doing? Come back to sanity,\u201d he urged.<\/p>\n

The bishop urged Christians to respect everyone, avoid chaos, and instead pray for those involved in unrest. He also called for continued prayers for President Ruto.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to pray for the president to finish well. Support him whenever he asks for your support \u2014 he can\u2019t harm you,\u201d Bishop Mairura told the congregation.<\/p>\n

Mairura, who reaffirmed his love for the youth, said he always reminds them that they are the future of the Church and that he does not want to lose them.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KISII, Kenya, Jul 23 \u2014 Kisii Catholic Diocese Bishop Joseph Mairura has defended President William Ruto over his controversial \u201cshoot on the leg\u201d directive, insisting the president never intended his words to be taken literally. Speaking at Cardinal Otunga Mosocho during celebrations to mark his 30th episcopal anniversary on Saturday, Bishop Mairura said politicians often […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118632\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}