Uhuru denies hate speech against PM

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta has accused the national cohesion team and the media of being part of a wider scheme to undermine his political future.

Mr Kenyatta, who is also the Finance minister, denied making hate speech utterances against Prime Minister Raila Odinga, saying he was only reacting to the PM’s “divisive actions”. (READ: Uhuru and Ruto warned over hate speech at rallies)

“How can going head-to-head with the Prime Minister be hate speech? The truth must be said, and we know it hurts, but it must be said!” he said in a statement through his director of communications, Mr Munyori Buku.

“Which community has been incited? Is it only the DPM and his supporters who speak in the home language?

“Does the NCIC (National Cohesion and Integration Commission) collect intelligence on other leaders, including the PM?” Mr Kenyatta added.

He reiterated his claim that his complaint lies not with one community but an individual, Mr Odinga, “whose stock-in-trade is divisiveness”.

“Raila campaigned on the platform of hate against one community. If this is not a crime against humanity, I don’t know what is. We go to The Hague with the goodwill of the people of Kenya,” he added.

NCIC chairman Mzalendo Kibunjia told the Daily Nation on Saturday that the commission’s monitors attended the rallies addressed by Mr Kenyatta, Mr William Ruto and MPs who support them.

He said the teams have been collecting evidence to be used when politicians who made statements that could amount to hate speech are eventually taken to court.

He is yet to name the individuals who could face charges, and has not indicated when this could take place.

The NCIC chairman met Internal Security permanent secretary Francis Kimemia last Friday, who told the Daily Nation that the politicians would soon be summoned to explain their statements.

Mr Kimemia said the government would not hesitate to “charge warlords and inciters in court irrespective of who they are”.

Public Works assistant minister Mwangi Kiunjuri and PNU chief whip Johnstone Muthama were among MPs who used negative language to describe the PM.