Check social media 'terrorism' before it gets out of hand

The country awoke to news of the death of Homa Bay Senator Otieno Kajwang on Wednesday.

Kajwang' had endeared himself to the people through a unique brand of politics and personal charisma. Though a post-mortem examination had been scheduled for yesterday, preliminary reports indicated that the bubbly Senator had succumbed to cardiac arrest. One week prior to his death, it is reported that a car he was in had rolled.

There are no details of the accident or whether the senator received any medical attention because it is said he proceeded to a function his party leader Raila Odinga was presiding over in his county.

The possibility of internal injuries cannot be discounted, but of particular concern, is the stand and pronouncements made by leaders that have precipitated ill feelings.

Even as a majority of leaders expressed shock and sent condolence messages, there are those that rushed to impute ill motives; pronouncements that went viral on social media.

Though fellow senators intimate that their colleague was in very good health the previous day, his sudden death does not necessarily point to foul play. This conclusion should have been left to the independent pathologists hired by the family to carry out an autopsy.

The extent of the abhorrent and ill-mannered debate on social media was such that President Uhuru Kenyatta had to intervene and ask those on Facebook to tone down and allow the family of the late senator to mourn his passing quietly.

What informs all this hatred among Kenyans that instead of celebrating their leaders and their countrymen, many choose to hurl invective at each other on the basis of tribe and party affiliation?

Mr Francis Kaparo, chairman of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission has a lot of work on his hands to bring Kenyans together as a nation.

No doubt, if such intolerance continues, Kenya is in danger of disintegrating further, for, seemingly, the events of the 2013 election campaigns have refused to go away because we keep dredging them up for selfish interests.

On the surface, we look and act like one country, yet on social media, we seem irredeemably divided. The divisions may appear minor at the moment, but if allowed to continue, could implode to the detriment of all.

Yet the biggest blame for the growing mistrust and disunity among tribes and groups goes to the leaders who are wont to utter alarmist statements without considering the implications such cause to the country's body fabric.

Social media users must appreciate that there are moments when bereaved families need some privacy to mourn their departed kin.

It was insensitive and in bad test for bloggers to hasten to splash the pictures of the body of the late senator, outside the Lee Funeral Home, on Facebook.

Such disrespect is anathema in our African tradition.