Kenya politicians' jail risk for hate talk

Politicians who fan ethnic hatred during the referendum campaigns risk being fined upto Sh1 million or serving three years in jail.

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission chairman Mzalendo Kibunjia warned that his commission would take drastic action against any politician who uses hate speech during the campaigns, which have already kicked off in many parts of the country.

Speaking during a workshop for correspondents working for various media houses, Dr Kibunjia urged journalists to help expose politicians who will use language likely to divide Kenyans along tribal lines during the campaigns.

“We will not be intimidated. We will not shy away from taking action against those who divide the country (along ethnic lines) during the referendum,” he said.

According to clause 13 of The National Cohesion and Integration Act, a person who uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour likely to stir ethnic hatred is liable to a fine of upto Sh1 million or three years in jail or both.

Dr Kibunjia, however, stated that the commission was not out to muzzle politicians’ right to express their positions during the campaigns, saying that it would only be looking out for those who divide Kenyans through their speeches.

He at the same time said that the commission was still investigating reports that Prime Minister Raila Odinga used hate speech in a recent interview with a vernacular radio station.

“We have our template which we use to gauge whether the complaints raised have merit or not,” Dr Kibunjia said.

He said the commission had already reached out to the PM to hear his side of the story before making a verdict on complaints raised by Party of National Unity (PNU) activist Moses Kuria.

The PM is said to have made unsavoury statements bordering on inciting one community against another.

Mr Kuria had complained: "In the interview, Mr Odinga alleged that the Kalenjin community is being induced with peremende (sweets) by the people they were fighting during the 2007 election."

Dr Kibunjia, however, warned that the Commission would throw out any complaints if it established that they were motivated by political or any other ulterior motives.

“We will receive every complaint made and scrutinise them in accordance with the act, but we will throw out complaints we think are frivolous or are politically motivated,” he stated.

He hit out at the manner in which the government was resettling internally displaced persons, warning that it only helped to balkanise the country further.

Dr Kibunjia said the commission had already written to the government to warn that the trend to relocate internally displaced persons to their ancestral areas will only help to divide the country along ethnic lines.