Law is clear; arrest leaflet hate speech authors

The message to all purveyors of hate speech in any and all its forms should be unmistakable and the punishment swift and deterrent enough to discourage copy-cats. That must extend to hate-filled venom spewed atop political campaign podiums, religious sanctuaries, electronic mail (SMS and e-mail) or leaflets by unnamed authors.

That unsigned leaflets have sprung up across parts of the Coast Province telling “upcountry people” to vacate the region is unconscionable and unmistakable red flag towards the security bullpen. The Constitution of the Republic of Kenya is crystal clear that nobody should curtail another’s freedom to live, work, eat, invest or otherwise conduct lawful business in any one part of this country.

In various sections of the Bill of Rights, the supreme law also sets out basic and fundamental rights and freedoms due to all people residing within the international boundaries of the Republic of Kenya.

It goes further to guarantee the enjoyment of such freedoms and condemns any politics or talk of exclusion on the basis of tribe, race, creed or gender.

In short, no one person’s enjoyment of his freedoms or personal space, economic activity or property ownership should stand in the way of another’s enjoyment/entitlement to his. No individual shall, under this Constitution, be deemed to accrue more right than fellow citizens.

Matter-of-factly, it is time police, National Cohesion and Integration Commission, Office of the President, neighbours, religious leaders, Captains of Industry and other Kenyans of goodwill banished the ghoul of eviction leaflets dotting parts of the Coast for several reasons.

First, that is the gateway to East and Central Africa and has the deepest harbour for importation and export of goods and has been so for almost 600 years. Various nationalities have come and gone, but the Coast has remained a critical gateway for everyone and everything that shores up several regional economies.

That is why the secessionist agenda pursued by proponents of the now outlawed Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) has met stone-cold reception from a government that is unwilling to cede an inch of its internationally demarcated landmass and sea limits.

Secondly, President Kibaki has personally sworn to defend the Constitution of Kenya and has even recently chaired a Cabinet meeting that condemned acts of terrorism, sheer thuggery and opportunism by vested interests and ordered a crackdown on the MRC. The President needs to reiterate this message, any way he can, that Kenya shall not allow politics of exclusion as has often happened on the eve of election years. We witnessed it in the Kanu zones in 2002, Gema, Kamatusa, Alachua, Fear, and Baghdad of 2007 and the country bled.

 Majority Kenyans learnt their lesson and passed the national referendum for a new governance structure that guarantees resources to all people in all corners, regardless of their ethnicity. These pro-Kenya citizens must not allow the few disgruntled to undo this great work.

Short-sightedness

Third, when the President made the keynote speech on August 30th at the official opening of this year’s Mombasa International Show, he paid great tribute to the theme of the fair “Enhancing Technology and Industry for Food Security and National Growth” as being appropriate.

That the coastal region earned Sh5.9 billion from beef, dairy, poultry and bee-keeping products last year after Government re-opened Kenya Meat Commission, New KCC, rehabilitated Mariakani Dairy Co-operative Society plant to handle a higher daily processing capacity, was in no small measure accomplished by indigenous coastals only.

Many more Kenyans and development partners have been involved in revamping the Kwale International Sugar Company, horticultural crop production, ensured 53,000 squatters were resettled under the Squatter Programme, and several thousand land titles issued to indigenous people.

Fourth, the envisaged infrastructural investment that shall give birth to the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor, deepen Mombasa harbour, build a second container terminal and build the Dongo Kundu by-pass alongside dual carriages and highways around Mombasa Island at an initial cost of Sh30 billion are no pipe dream.

At what point does the Coast belong exclusively to certain unidentified leaflet authors out to spread fear and despondency?

Finally, the tourism investments and promotion activities that have seen a spike in domestic tourist numbers to ensure bed occupancy even during lean seasons is a continuous programme. Also that such leaflets are picked up by a sensitive international Press and lead to booking cancellations and travel advisories show the shortsightedness of the authors.

Their exclusion agenda must be nipped in the bud and an integrated development mindset encouraged to shore up the short-term Millennium Development Goals and the national masterplan of Vision 2030.