Ethnic bigotry unacceptable and we must confront it now

The level of political and social intolerance in Kenya is reaching crisis levels with more groups publicly displaying prejudices against other communities in various fora.

Increasingly the most abused platforms by such bigots is social media where users anonymously post filthy insults — mostly tribal invectives — against other communities.

One such case that caught public attention was that involving Gatundu South Member of Parliament Moses Kuria, who was accused of inciting Kenyans against a certain community following a series of terror attacks in various parts of the country last year.

After he was charged in a Nairobi court with incitement to violence, ethnic contempt and hate speech, the MP was asked to apologise to those he had maligned through a reconciliation process brokered by the Law Society of Kenya.

The Gatundu MP duly made a public apology through paid adverts in the media. Almost immediately after running the apologies, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) — the national institution mandated by law to promote social harmony — accused him of posting other offensive material on social media.

NCIC announced it was withdrawing its support for the reconciliation process between the legislator and the LSK.

But it is not just in social media where such bigoted attacks are brazenly displayed. During the recent burial of Fidel Odinga, son of Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) leader Raila Odinga, a Cabinet Secretary was heckled as she read President Uhuru Kenyatta's condolence message to the Odingas. Water bottles and stones were flung at her.

These events are coming at a time a growing number of bloggers and social media users are finding themselves on the wrong end of the hate speech laws. Not long ago, a university student pleaded guilty to a charge of slur against the President in a series of Facebook posts. Not long before then, a blogger with one of the largest following in Kenya was charged with posting offensive messages targeted at an ethnic community. It would seem most of the hateful messages posted online target ethnic communities and are crafted to incite and promote disaffection.

The NCIC, as the national institution mandated by law to deal with such crimes, has a lot in its plate and its newly-appointed chairman Francis ole Kaparo, the former National Assembly Speaker, has his work cut out to inspire confidence on the commission which has often been dismissed as irrelevant and partisan. Much of the criticisms have been by the Opposition which has severally accused the NCIC of handling those purportedly aligned to the ruling elite with kid gloves, while showing a heavy hand when dealing with those on the other side of the political divide.

However, passing the entire responsibility of policing hate speech and attendant crimes to the NCIC is impractical and unacceptable. Every Kenyan bears a greater responsibility of ensuring we tolerate others and treat Kenya's diverse ethnic groups with utmost respect and decorum.

It has been argued political leaders have contributed immensely to spawning and propagating ethnic intolerance by balkanising the country into tribal enclaves to suit narrow political and sectarian interests. This became significantly manifest when more than a thousand people were killed in politically-instigated violence after the 2007 General Election. It is as a result of this violence that the NCIC was established.

To make NCIC's work easier, we must have codified renditions of what constitutes hate speech. One of the greatest criticisms of the NCIC Act, 2012, is its ambiguous provisions. But that does not let us off the hook. The most important guard against ethnic intolerance is ourselves. We must play our role to build and nurture a more inclusive society as Kenyans.