The Editorial Board of KSB has resolved to deal ruthlessly with commentators engaging in hate speech disguised as comments at the blog site. While the blog is open for readers to air their views by commenting on posts, this opportunity is not an invitation to engage in hate speech against fellow Kenyans.
In the past few weeks, several comments have failed approval after being classified as “hate speech”. In some very serious cases, KSB has had to truncate comments then warn their authors that they are engaging in hate speech. While freedom of expression is sacrosanct at KSB, there is a clear line between expressing an opinion and engaging in hate speech.
So far, communities which have mostly been targeted by agents of hate speech have been Luos and Kikuyus, probably because both Raila Odinga and Uhuru Kenyatta hails from these two ethnic groups. The Board of KSB would like to encourage those engaging in hate speech that their comments will not be approved because hate speech directed against any community could constitute the ingredients of a fratricidal civil war in Kenya which could make the Rwandan inter-ethnic war look like a tea-party.
For the record, Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner following the March 4th elections but the millions of Kikuyus and Kalenjins who voted for both Uhuru and Ruto have nothing to do with the alleged election theft that has led to the current judicial process at the Supreme court. Millions of Kikuyus and Kalenjins who voted simply expressed their democratic right to vote for a candidate of their choice and in doing so, they did not commit any crime. Commentators attacking Kikuyu and Kalenjin voters for having made their choices are therefore missing the point because in a democracy, there is freedom of choice. Just like millions of Kenyans, millions of Jubilee voters are ordinary Kenyans who suffer the ravages of poverty, disease, hunger, unemployment, ignorance, homelessness and a host of other deprivations. To target them with hate speech is to miss the point.
Likewise, millions of Luos, Luhyas, Kambas, Coastals, Kikuyus, Kalenjins and others who voted for Cord are within their democratic right in supporting Cord’s move to the Supreme Court to challenge the pronouncement of Uhuru Kenyatta as President. The process is provided for in the Constitution and to engage in hate speech because Luos, Luhyas, Kambas etc have refused to accept the result is equally unacceptable.
Obviously, both ICC suspects Uhuru and Ruto did not rig elections. The 2013 election was rigged by the Mafia cartel running the Kenyan State because they alone had the logistical and technical capacity to compromise IEBC and to compromise the media into virtual silence in the face of rigging. According to information obtained by KSB, this state Mafia is led by NSIS, the Police Commissioner and the Army Chief. In rigging elections, these institutions were backed by top members of the Kikuyu ruling class who have been looting the Kenyan economy and who have been running the country like a family business. Both Uhuru and Ruto are culpable because they accepted the result of a rigged election.
Election was rigged because of fear of a RAO Presidency – that it will clean the mess brought about by years of looting and plunder of the Kenyan economy by both the Mavulture class and their Mademoni counterparts. Election was not rigged to save millions of poor Jubilee and Cord voters but to maintain the status quo and to preserve the wealth of the wealth grabbers. Since millions of voters who wanted to see Uhuru or Raila President had nothing to do with election rigging, directing hate speech against different communities in Kenya is stupidity.
To engage in hate speech is to display political immaturity
As the case begins at the Supreme Court, all Kenyans must appreciate the fact that there is no one who can effectively govern Kenya by coming to power through a rigged election. Whether Kenyans like it or not, neither Raila Odinga nor Uhuru Kenyatta can rule Kenya by using State agents to manipulate the vote. For this reason, it is important that the issues raised by Raila Odinga in his petition be looked into because getting to the bottom of the matter is good for future generations. The view of KSB is that any ethnic groups whose leaders are seeking power through rigging are beckoning civil strife, a road Kenya ought not to follow.
Just like all communities in Kenya, Kikuyus and Kalenjins are very hard working people. The over 12 million Kenyans who voted share more common problems than the ethnic ruling classes they voted for. At the end of the day, the Luo, Kikuyu, Luhya, Kalenjin, Kamba, Masaai and other ethnic groups resident in Mathare slums will continue to live side by side regardless of who becomes Kenya’s President. None of the Kibera residents will move to State House because Raila or Uhuru is President. For this reason, hate speech directed towards the millions of Kenyans who voted is of no significance and must be discouraged. To be exact, the most dangerous product of hate speech between different ethnic groups is civil war. Kenya cannot afford this kind of war and therefore, those rigging elections should all be identified, nabbed, charged in court and put behind bars for life so that they can rot in eternal peace.
Any community which feels left out of the political process as a result of a rigged election will have war as the only option and with the sole objective of ruling itself within Kenya. This is a simple fact. Secondly, if citizens can no longer elect leaders of their choice because there is a mafia cartel within the State which manipulates elections to favour a specific group, what is known as the “democratic process” will effectively come to a permanent end.
When this happens, the aggrieved usually have a tendency of looking for other options of rectifying what they view as a permanent political problem. Unfortunately, and in as much as few leaders want to address the issue, war is usually the only option. The Former Yugoslavia disintegrated because of this very reason. In the case of Kenya, the possibility of sorting the issue through dialogue no longer exists after the 2007 spectacle. Kofi Annan will not be coming back. The current court process is the only hope for Kenya and those who are engaging in hate speech at KSB, and during such a fragile moment are being irresponsible and unpatriotic.
Ethnicity thrives in Kenya due to the absence of ideological politics. Since what Kenyans have is ethnic politics, it is important that elections are not rigged in favour of certain ethnic groups. The main enemy of the Republic of Kenya is not millions of Kenyans who voted for their preferred candidates. The main enemy is the Mafia cartel rigging elections in favour of certain ethnic groups. Kenyans must identify the real enemy because if they don’t, they will soon begin to spill each other’s blood. It is the group of election riggers that needs to be weeded out of government for good.
If you are a Luo, the Kikuyu friend you encounter in your life is not your enemy. If you are a Kikuyu, the Luo friend you encounter in your life is not your enemy. The same applies to all Kenyans from all ethnic groups. Millions of Kenyans have more contacts between themselves than with the ruling classes. The point is that the ordinary Kenyan has more to gain through contacts with other ordinary Kenyans because very few Kenyans have contacts with members of the ruling classes especially when they are in power.
To engage in hate speech because a Mafia cartel is seeking to empower a specific ethnic ruling class through a rigged election is to display political immaturity. Instead, all ethnic groups should unite against this Mafia cartel to ensure that the winner of an election is declared the winner. Any Kenyan supporting a rigged election is guilty of cementing trouble in the country. Likewise, any Kenyan engaging in hate speech after a Mafia cartel has rigged election in favour of a specific ruling class is stoking the flames of civil war.
KSB will therefore deal ruthlessly with anybody engaging in hate speech at the blog site. Kenya must remain united and it can only remain united with truth and justice. A free and fair election is part of this truth. An impartial court ruling of the filed petition is part of this justice. There is no middle way. The sad news is that if the issue of election rigging cannot be fixed, Kenya ita gawanywa kabla haija unganishwa tupende tusipende.
Okoth Osewe
About the Author
If Uhuruto team rigged some votes then you can be rest assured cord rigged some votes in their areas too. We need to admit this gone elections did Kenya proud. No PEV, fairest election ever, least rigged election “by both sides” ….the positive list goes on and on…..democracy at its best in motherland. Its ok to sympathies with the losers especially with the new constitution they helped craft. Before the election polls clearly indicated Uhuru next president -and believe me i never wanted Uhuru to rule Kenya- and statistics show many of raila’s supporters did not turn up enmass like Uhuru’s supporters did. We should swallow our selfish egos and support the president and thinks of how we will get this KANU life members out of leadership. That’ll need an exceptional Kenyan and support from all tribes.
KSB: Kimani, it is great that you can express yourself without engaging in hate speech. That is the way to go.
Well-stated Osewe. Sometimes ethnic emotions turn even good people into demons.
Phone firms block 300,000 hate texts daily, says Ndemo
By FRED MUKINDA fmukinda@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Thursday, March 21 2013 at 00:30
Mobile telephone service providers block more than 300,000 text messages deemed to spread hatred daily, Information PS Bitange Ndemo said on Wednesday.
This is part of government efforts to curb spread of information that could cause violence following the March 4 elections.
“Most of mobile phone providers block 300,000 hate short message texts (SMSs) per day to prevent events similar to what happened in 2007,” the PS said.
Director of Public Communications Mary Ombara explained that the service providers had installed software that detects messages containing particular words and automatically flags them off for further scrutiny.
“If an SMS contains a word like ‘kill’, it would be detected. The context would then be scrutinised and if found to be offensive, the SMS would be blocked,” she said.
However, Mr Ndemo admitted that the government found it difficult to control spread of offensive messages on social media sites, Facebook and Twitter.
The management of the two social networks have agreed to meet government officials in regard to the matter.
“Our effort is to remove elements that contravene constitutional provisions. Our intention has never been to remove the blogs,” Ms Ombara said.
The two were speaking in Nairobi yesterday during the weekly briefing of National Steering Committee on Media Monitoring. The committee accused an unnamed FM station of broadcasting inciting statements at the weekend.
“A wide reach vernacular FM station blatantly violated a memorandum of understanding signed by all radio stations. The station proceeded to issue statements intended to incite particular communities in the context of grave national issues at hand,” Ms Ombara said.
The committee wants the Communications Commission of Kenya to take action against the FM station.
But Dr Ndemo said the government faced problems in translating such statements. Police spokesman Charles Owino said 100 election-related offences had been presented to the courts.
“There are people serving jail terms for contravening the law. As we ensure people enjoy freedom, we shall make sure nobody violates the rights of others,” he said.
The committee also appealed to all Kenyans to use social media to press for their Constitutional rights and to champion good governance.
“As a government, we are keen to fully join the cyber space to engage and communicate with Kenyans,” said the committee in a statement on Wednesday.
Thanks Mr makosewe for your observations. I live in Kenya and let me tell you that raila’s campaign also had weakness. the main driving force to vote is not reforms but food on the table and assistance to the poor. thus if one promises less taxes, free food to school kids, settlement of squatters, compensation for houses brought down during construction of roads and forest land for those with titles or simple things like study leave for junior civil servants and teachers, better working conditions you’d get more votes than if you said you’re gona expand democratic space stop land grabbing stop corruption arrest all thieves etc. it’s time Raila becomes a champion for the weak in terms of immediate needs for survival, personal developments regardless of whether it is wrong. life is just so hard and people disillusioned. without this it is hard to top up and win an election clearly. also the people beside the PM. have not run there ministries or activities in a manner that @would make that lowly Kenyan whenever he is really feel the need to vote without failure as Obama does in USA. surely there is need for younger blood in cord leading campaigns. also cord politicians do very little face to face campaign in their regions, no need for choppers, just walking or motorbike or cars as community workers do. without humility and change in tact cord will never make it. Twila rose as the week mans watchman and he better diversity this and very very soon he’s Gona make it.