The law and morality of politics in Kenya

(Photo: Courtesy)

This month, the 2017 General Election enters the home stretch. The campaigns, already filled with sordid character assassination and disparaging confrontations, raise questions about politics and the applicable law on defamation.

On an even more serious tone, the antagonisms we watch on newslines, on a daily basis, raise questions on democracy. Does democracy by its very nature attract and engender demagogues? Is political rhetoric governed by or is it outside the ordinary rules of defamation? What effect does the corrosive, dishonest and inflammatory political defamation and negative campaigns portend for our democracy?