The Mijikenda Council of Elders has called on Parliament, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission and the Judiciary to take firm actions against leaders who engage in hate speech.
Speaking at a Kilifi restaurant after holding a consultative meeting of representatives of all the nine kayas among the Mijikenda on Monday, council members wondered why the three institutions were not giving proper guidance on the issue of legislators trading insults.
Mr. Tsuma Nzai Kombe, the council’s coordinator, asked National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi to call out MPs who perpetrate hate speech in order to instill discipline among elected leaders and thereby redeem the image of Parliament.
He urged the NCIC to conduct proper investigations, arrest and prosecute MPs and other leaders who propagate hate among Kenyans through trading insults, and told the Judiciary to mete severe penalties against culprits, including giving stringent bond terms to those who deny the charges.
He also called on political parties to institute disciplinary measures against their members who involve themselves in hate mongering and insults.
The Kaya elders condemned “in the strongest terms possible” utterances by certain leaders who are alleged to have insulted President Uhuru Kenyatta’s mother, Mama Ngina Kenyatta.
Mr. Kombe said the Mijikenda Council of Elders would soon summon coastal MPs and other leaders seen to be supporting the utterances of the errant leaders with a view to cautioning them.
Elder Hamisi Juma Mwaviko from Kaya Digo said those who would not heed the elders counsel would be placed under a curse and be rejected as leaders during the 2022 General Elections.
“Anyone who associates himself with a thief is also a thief. We shall call out our sons and daughters who are associating with the people who insulted our President’s mother, and those who will not listen to us will also be cursed,” he said.
He said the Kaya elders had been angered by the insults on the mother to our President saying the incident had brought shame to parents.
Mzee Mwaviko also called on the councils of elders of the communities from which the offending leaders came to discipline their own in order to absolve their communities from blame.
Mzee Erastus Murira Kubo from Kaya Kambe condemned vulgar language uttered by all leaders in the country. He said unless their utterances are tamed, there was a possibility of chaos to break out in the country especially as the country gears towards the 2022 General Elections.
By Emmanuel Masha
