Leaders should weigh their words when going public

When leaders speak, their words carry heavy implications. Through their rhetoric, leaders can bring hope to the people. Words can speak unity and amity; promote healing and close divides. Similarly, words can be the basis or genesis of dissonance, cruelty, discrimination and even death.

This is why recent utterances by some politicians have jolted the country into a debate about the limits of freedom of speech and how leaders should conduct themselves in public.