NCIC and police vow to jail hate-mongers

Director of Criminal Investigations ,Ndegwa Muhoro (left) flanked by Cohesion and Integration Commission(CIC) Chairman Francis Ole-Kaparo (right) address the press on the current hate-speech and action by some Members of Parliament on 14/06/2016 at their Nairobi offices. The Commission has summoned some of the members of the parliament suspected to be spreading hate-speech to appear before them. (PHOTO: WILLIS AWANDU/ STANDARD)

The cohesion team will now work with the police and the justice system to lock up hate-mongers.

In the recent wave of ethnically-charged remarks by politicians, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) said prosecution counsels had been assigned to deal specifically with individuals engaging in hate remarks.

Officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have also been assigned to monitor such utterances.

At the same time, NCIC has said it requires 800 police officers to be seconded to it for a year to assist in the fight against incitement and hatemongers.

The commission also said yesterday it is probing 16 'senior politicians' for inflammatory remarks with an aim to bar them from contesting in the next polls.

NCIC Chairman Francis Ole Kaparo yesterday blamed the wave of hate remarks on the "violent demonstrations" spearheaded by the Opposition against the electoral commission.

Kaparo said violent protesters destroying other people's property were not different from hate mongers.

"Violent demonstrations is what has led to this wave of hate speech, and violent demonstrators will also be dealt with firmly," he said.

Kaparo was speaking during a joint press conference in Nairobi with DCI Director Ndegwa Muhoro (pictured), who announced that the department had directed its officers in all the 47 counties to watch out on individuals spreading hate.

Lawmakers Moses Kuria (Gatundu South), Ferdinand Waititu (Kabete), Kimani Ngunjiri (Bahati), Timothy Bosire (Kitutu Masaba), Aisha Jumwa (Kilifi woman rep), and Junet Mohammed (Suna East) are some of the politicians the authorities want charged for allegedly inciting the public to violence.

Kaparo said the public is also to blame for the continued hate vitriol by elected leaders observing that Kenyans, "have put hate mongers on a higher moral pedestal".

But a Mombasa-based rights group Haki Africa accused NCIC of enabling the rise of hate speech and incitement, describing the commission's conduct as "the toothless barking of a dog" incapable of fostering national cohesion and integration.

Separately in Mombasa, NCIC officials said they were working with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to enact regulations making it mandatory for those seeking elective seats to obtain social cohesion certificates before they are cleared to run for office.