Should Raila be held to account for alleged inflammatory remarks in Kajiado?

[Company Disclaimer: This article has been lifted from the nation.co.ke website to appear only on the Presidential debates website]

Jubilee Party wants the Nasa presidential flag bearer Raila Odinga to be held to account for alleged inflammatory remarks he made on Thursday during a rally in Kajiado.

The party’s Secretary General Raphael Tuju said the remarks made by Mr Odinga amounts to hate speech and called the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) to immediately stamp its authority and bring to book all hate mongers.

“Anyone seeking to incite such tensions and violence must face full force of the law.

This must be demonstrated very publicly so that the entire country and indeed the entire world can see immediately that such behaviour will not be condoned or tolerated in the 21st century,” Mr Tuju said.

GOOD PEOPLE

“It is the responsibility of all good people of Kenya never to be silent when we recognise that some among us seek to take us down a dangerous path that could destroy this country,” he added.

In a video which has been doing rounds on social media, Mr Odinga, while addressing the public in Kajiado, is heard cautioning them against selling their land to unnamed people.

The letter by Jubilee calling on NCIC to take action against Mr Odinga has also been copied to the Law Society of Kenya, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), heads of diplomatic missions, KNCHR and religious organisations.

“With only 51 days to the national elections, we consider that Raila’s use of irresponsible and inflammatory language will ignite tensions within local communities and can only be regarded as hate-speech,” added Mr Tuju.

DIVISION AND HATRED

He added that the country must move forward as a united nation and not be allowed to fall back into the abyss of violence, division and hatred.

“It is the responsibility of all good people of Kenya never to be silent when we recognise that some among us seek to take us down a dangerous path that could destroy this country,” Mr Tuju said.

The remarks by the opposition leader have caused an uproar within Jubilee circles who accused Mr Odinga of inciting Kenyans ahead of the General Election.

Speaking on Friday at Sigor in Bomet County, President Uhuru Kenyatta said the opposition leader is using the same statements he used previously and which he termed as dangerous and might harm the unity existing between different communities in the country ahead of the elections.

CREATE CONFLICT

“Yesterday (Thursday), he (Odinga) was talking about “wenye nchi and wenye wanafaa kurudi kwao (those who own the land and those who should return to where they came from),” and that is the same language he used to create conflict the last time,” said President Kenyatta.

The head of state accused Mr Odinga of inciting Kenyans to violence and treading on the same path that stirred ethnic violence after the 2007 General Election.

Mr Odinga however, through his spokesman Dennis Onyango, denied asking communities to return to their ancestral lands. “Raila has made no such utterances...,” Mr Onyango said.

Source: Daily Nation