Referendum exposes hate speech perpetrators

Kenya has some extremely dangerous perpetrators of hate speech. Whenever they succeed, like they did at the end of 2007 and at the beginning of 2008, the country experiences serious internal conflicts between communities that have lived together harmoniously for a very long time. Though the country lost well over 1,500 people as a result of hate speech during the 2007 election campaigns, the perpetrators of hate speech ended up in the coalition Government’s cabinet as beneficiaries of the country’s notorious impunity.

Short of the efforts by the ICC, which saw the bloodbath of 2007-2008 as a crime against humanity, Kenyan authorities did not bother to prosecute the masterminds of the mass murders that took place in this country as a result of the hate mongers’ calls for tribal wars. The action by the ICC therefore has the support of the majority of the people of Kenya; but it seriously embarrasses the Kenyan leaders both locally and internationally.

The embarrassing Government inaction against the war mongers of the post 2007 elections was unnecessary because the law in Kenya is so strict against anyone who prepares for war unlawfully. According to Section 44 of the Penal Code any person who, without lawful authority, carries on, or makes preparation for carrying on, or aids in or advises the carrying on of, or preparation for, any war or warlike undertaking with, for, by or against any person or body or group of persons in Kenya, is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life. If the law was followed to the letter a number of Ministers in Kibaki’s Government would today be serving life sentences.

Jailing the war mongers in the Government, however, would not only have collapsed Kibaki’s regime, as it would have heightened the ethnic tensions that existed at that time, but it would also not really have solved the conflict of 2007. No conflict can be solved without understanding its root causes. And the causes of hate speeches that led to the post election bloodbath were really based on tribal animosity that was rampant in many parts of the country. So to solve the problem at its roots the Government came up with the National Cohesion and Integration Act of 2008 which was operationalised on March 9 last year.

The act deals with many aspects of tribal animosity that can cause trouble in the country. These include ethnic discrimination, discrimination by way of victimization, harassment on the basis of ethnicity and hate speech. Section 13(1) of the Act says a person who (a) uses threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or displays any written material;(b) publishes or distributes written material; (c) presents or directs the performance the public performance of a play; (d) distributes, shows or plays, a recording of visual images; or (e) provides, produces or directs a programme; which is threatening, abusive or insulting or involves the use of threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour commits an offence if such person intends thereby to stir up ethnic hatred, or having regard to all the circumstances, ethnic hatred is likely to be stirred up. Section 13 (2) says any person who commits an offence under this section shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one million shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to both.

It is under this law that the Chairman of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission, Dr. Mzalendo Kibunja , recommended the prosecution for hate speech of the suspended Road Assistant Minister, Wilfred Machage , Mt. Elgon MP, Fred Kapondi and Cherangani MP, Joshua Kutuny together with Christine Nyagitha Miller , the wife of the late former Chief Justice Cecil Miller . Armed with the evidence televised throughout the country showing the accused people committing the crime while campaigning for the “NO” team, the prosecution has the task of proving the charged people’s utterances stirred up ethnic hatred.

Whether the accused people are found guilty or not it is obvious that the referendum has helped to expose the new breed of people in Kenya who are out to propagate hate speech. It so happens that before the National Cohesion and Integration Act, some unscrupulous people stirred up ethnic hatred to become tribal heroes in their villages. That way they ended up in Parliament, and if they were lucky enough, they became cabinet Ministers, depending on the sizes of their tribes and the seriousness of the hate speeches they made. The larger the tribe and the more serious the threat the greater the chances of the perpetrator of hate speech being appointed to the Cabinet. Fear made them get what they wanted. There are at least two members of the Kibaki Cabinet who rose to power through that dirty channel.

Realizing that the Proposed Constitution has no room for the promotion of tribal chiefs to the Cabinet of the country, the hate mongers have resorted to another tactic to remain village heroes. They are using extremely dangerous language to threaten the stability of the country so as to deliberately provoke the NCIC to take them to court with hate speech charges. The act of being taken to court itself would hopefully win them the sympathy of fellow tribesmen who would conclude the charged men were only suffering as defenders of the betterment of the tribe. Many tribal demagogues rose to power through that path.

Little do the villagers realize that the people prosecuted for hate speech are only fighting for their own personal gains. The so called heroes realize, to their great disappointment, that Article 152 (2)of the Proposed Constitution clearly says the President shall nominate Cabinet Secretaries who he or she can only appoint to the Cabinet with the approval of the National Assembly. The hate mongers would stand no chance what so ever of getting that approval from the National Assembly which will only be looking for technocrats rather than politicians to sit in the next Cabinet.

The hate mongers also realize that Article 152(3) of the Proposed Constitution also clearly says that Cabinet Secretaries shall not be members of Parliament. That proposal would completely eliminate village heroes who get elected to Parliament in order to sit in the Cabinet and get all the chances to loot the country from the position of political power.

Since the prosecution of the suspected MPs, the hate speech is now directed to Mzalendo Kibunja and his NCIC. William Ruto devoted his “NO” campaign speech in Kitale on Saturday June 19th to a vehement attack on the NCIC chairman whom he accused of being used by the “YES” camp to harass the “NO” camp leaders.

When the attacks and counter attacks are made by both the “NO” and the “YES” camps journalists have the most difficult job to report the events where hate speech is used in the attacks. Faced by that professional challenge journalists must make sure that they do not either deliberately or inadvertently spread hate speech through their publications or broadcast stations. If it becomes absolutely necessary to draw the attention of readers, viewers and listeners to the hate speeches then all the journalistic skills must be used to present the story without repeating the hate speech and then openly condemning it in editorial columns.

By the time the referendum comes to the end Kenyans will have a very good idea about the people who want to occupy top positions in this country through hate speeches. Hopefully the referendum itself will effectively be used by the people to reject those dangerous leaders. The only way to do so is to vote “YES” on August 4th.