The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) has singled out 36 Azimio la Umoja Movement and Kenya Kwanza bloggers for perpetuating hate speech.
During a press briefing on Friday, NCIC chairman Kobia said that nine hate speech cases were already in court.
"Social media platforms are awash with ethnic hatred, hate speech and incitement to violence. In February alone, we flagged out nine ethnics and hate speech cases. The main perpetrators of these are large, Azimio la Umoja coalition and Kenya kwanza Alliance," NCIC Commissioner Danvas Makori said.
Kobia said that the commission had noticed that there is an increase in inflammatory attacks, ethnic contempt and hate speech by politicians.
“We want to urge the communities living in the areas of Kisumu, Kericho, Nandi, Kisumu and Kuria east borders to maintain the peace they have enjoyed in the past, and not to allow criminals used by certain individuals to cause ethnic divisions," NCIC Vice-Chair, Wambui Nyutu.
Kobia has urged the security team to be all eyes and deal with criminals and individuals behind the inter-cultural conflicts occasioned by incitement.
"We will meet with key stakeholders within the investigative, prosecutorial and judicial sectors to curb any possible violence in the country. We are monitoring all TV, radio and social media to ensure we are aware of what is going on," Kobia said.
Kobia said that they were in talks with the inter-religious council so that they can come up with peace messages that would be read in mosques, churches and temples.
“We are going to publish a list of Kiswahili, English and vernacular words that constitute coded hate speech. The words will be banned from any political talk shows. This will do a long way in containing hate speech,” Kobia said.
