Keep h**e sp*ech
out of campaigns
To say that comments by controversial politician Stanley Livondo at a prayer meeting about threats on President Uhuru Kenyatta’s life in the past were reckless is an understatement.
They not only touch on the person of the Head of State but were also made in a highly-charged electioneering period. It is these kind of remarks that can be a recipe for ethnic hatred and incitement in a country whose vulnerability to electoral violence is well documented.
It is irresponsible for any right-thinking person to make unsubstantiated claims clearly targeted to instill fear and entrench hate, at a time when key voices in the church and political leadership are rallying the country towards unity.
It is such kind of incendiary outbursts that nearly plunged the country towards the brink of the abyss in the aftermath of the 2007 General-Election. The commission that probed the post-election violence cited a culture of impunity as among the reasons for the chaos. There was failure to punish war-mongers who whipped up emotions of their communities to shield themselves. The other was lack of national cohesion. That is why we will never tire reminding our political elite to be responsible even as they exercise their freedom of speech especially in the ongoing campaigns.
We call on the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to take appropriate action against all the people spreading unfounded propaganda and incitement to avoid a degeneration. It also high time the National Cohesion and Integration Commission rose to the occasion and executed its mandate.
The team is the only standing commission among those formed to address the Agenda Four issues identified by the Kofi Annan mediation team as the main causes of the 2007/8 post-election violence. We are aware that the commission has mapped out 23 counties as likely hotspots to be monitored during the poll campaigns. The 23 counties include Kisumu, Mombasa, Lamu, Bungoma, Vihiga, Kiambu, Homa Bay, Bomet, Garissa.
The team has indicated that it is monitoring ethnic balkanisation, inflammatory attacks and hate speech and misuse of social media platforms. The commission notes that since the beginning of the year, hate speech on social media had gone up by 20 per cent.
But it is noteworthy that politicians are not the only culprits of hate speech. Social media platforms are becoming increasingly acidic with hate rhetoric. While we call for action on political war mongers, we demand greater individual responsibility among ordinary folk.
