It is wrong to drag president's name in disruptive politics

Politicians opposed to the "handshake" and the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) process have lately intensified their campaigns against President Uhuru Kenyatta. 

They are taking advantage of the woes facing lawyer Miguna Miguna and MP Moses Kuria to portray the Head of State in bad light.

One would not need to be a rocket scientist to know that when they talk of "orders from above", they mean orders from Uhuru.

The failure by State officers to respect court orders issued in favour of Mr Kuria and Mr Miguna is worrying. Unfortunately, some politicians have blamed this failure on the President.

A number of these leaders have not bothered to check who exactly is guilty of disobeying courts. It is these politicians, I feel, who are disrespecting the presidency.

What I also find laughable is the fact that when these leaders appear on national television and radio stations, they claim to fully respect the president, and recognise him as the supreme leader in Central region.

These leaders, in my view, have been setting a very bad precedent.

Please allow me to explain why. As stipulated in the 2010 Constitution, the President is the symbol of peace and unity in the country. Spreading derogatory and often defamatory statements about him means you are demeaning the sovereignty of Kenya.

I do not say that gagging MPs from speaking their minds is wrong. In fact, such a move is unconstitutional. They are allowed to express their sentiments in whichever platform they wish.

But they should follow the law as they do so. And the law states that respecting the president is imperative.

If the politicians feel the democratic space is shrinking due to State intolerance, why don't they raise such an issue in parliament? After all that is the avenue that provides the ultimate checks and balances on the State machinery. Why transverse the country slandering the President on ethnic platforms?

The talk that "the President does not pick our calls or listen to our views" is part of a propaganda machinery being mooted by politicians who simply cannot stand him as a leader.

Going around using foul language to attack the President in public is wrong. I hope the leaders who are guilty of this would learn a lesson and reconsider their stand.

This is because they are doing harm to their political careers as we head to 2022.

The president is a human being just like anyone of us. He is all flesh and blood. I believe he gets annoyed when he is unfairly attacked.

Perhaps this explains why the latest reports indicating that the rift between him and his deputy has undeniably widened seems to have annoyed him.  

Joseph Mutua, Nairobi