Punish leaders who stoke flames of hatred and violence in Kenya

From left: Moses Kuria (Gatundu South), Ferdinand Waititu (Kabete), Timothy Bosire (Kitutu Masaba), Junet Mohammed (Suna East) and Senator Johnson Muthama (Machakos) appear before Milimani Law Courts on June 14, 2016 after they were arrested on hate speech claims. The Judiciary must realise that it has a key role to play in ensuring that those threatening peace are punished. PHOTO | JEFF ANGOTE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • This country is surviving on a thin thread of peace and stability, which we have slowly but steadily been building since the 2008 post-election violence.
  • The Judiciary must also realise that it has a key role to play in ensuring that those threatening peace are punished.

My colleagues in Parliament are behaving badly. In pursuit of, perhaps, their personal political ends, they have become quite irresponsible and seemingly unable to decipher the implications of the language they have been using in public forums.

This country is surviving on a thin thread of peace and stability, which we have slowly but steadily been building since the 2008 post-election violence.

I am perturbed at the rising inflammatory statements and innuendos that demonstrate a stark lack of understanding of the consequences of our political activities.

Our security system must be strengthened to decisively deal with hate speech. The trend of pouncing on political leaders and arraigning them in court, where they are released on bail seems not to be enough of a deterrent.

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) must do more than just talk tough. The Judiciary must also realise that it has a key role to play in ensuring that those threatening peace are punished.

We cannot have arrests and charges over hate speech become a ritual for elected leaders to seek sympathy from their tribes.

We must craft laws to make any elected leader dread being charged with propagating hate speech. The current situation, where the dramatic arrest of leaders is almost becoming fashionable, just advances impunity.

Those convicted of hate speech should be barred from running for political office in the next election. This would make politicians watch their tongues.

The wounds inflicted by violence in past political disturbances are yet to heal. We must not allow this country to plunge back into ethnic insecurity and fear.

2017 must not be allowed to go down in history as the year this country plunged into ethnic animosity again. Not again.

The security agencies must decisively deal with elements that have started to beat the drums of ethnic hatred. It is utterly irresponsible for an elected leader to insinuate that people should leave any region for political reasons.

These happenings have the potential to cause the withdrawal of both local and international investments.

BE SMARTER
This country needs stability to continue enjoying the goodwill we now have globally. We have been endorsed by world and continental economic players as a new business hub and gateway to Africa.

We are at a critical stage of economic recovery and growth. It would be untenable to give investors the impression that they cannot trust our political environment with their capital.

This is not just from an international perspective. Locally, the kind of talk currently going on sends a negative message to anyone who would want to cast their die with us, economically speaking.

In their raw defence of power and outright battle to wrest power from those holding it, political leaders go to any lengths to push their agendas, in the process causing confusion, tension, anarchy, and displacement of people.

In 1992 and 1997, when former president Daniel arap Moi faced the opposition’s threat to his stranglehold on power, this country burned. Thousands were killed and displaced in the Rift Valley and the Coast.

In 2002, Moi was not personally defending power and so the stakes were much lower. The transition was smooth because the opposition, then led by Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, conceded defeat even before the last vote was counted.

But when President Kibaki was defending power in 2007, the country burned.

Next year, President Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, will be defending power. We must break the cycle of this country burning each time an incumbent is defending power.

Elected leaders must desist from thinking that their personal political survival is the paramount priority ahead of elections. Is it worth it being elected in a country torn apart by utterances of hate?

We must all safeguard our country from the dangers of hate speech.

Mr Mositet is the Kajiado senator. [email protected].