•Kobia said tensions are rising as elections draw nearer with an increase in memes and social media posts that are filled with hate speech and incitement.
•He said there is heightened localised political tension between supporters in Kisumu, Nairobi, Kirinyaga, Marsabit, Meru, Isiolo, Trans Nzoia, Busia, Nakuru and Narok.
Image: FILE
The National Cohesion and Integration Commission is assessing whether the war of words between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto is heightening political tensions.
The commission, while releasing a statement under the Uwiano Platform for Peace banner, said it is evaluating whether the spat between the two has the potential of inciting Kenyans into violence.
“We take our time to investigate before making recommendations. We do not rush to act,” NCIC chairman Samuel Kobia said while releasing a report on the status of cohesion and political decency on Tuesday.
Uwiano for Peace brings together peace actors including NCIC, the Office of Registrar of Political Parties, National Steering Committee on Peace Building and Conflict Reconciliation.
Others are National Police Service, IEBC, and Kenya Private Sector Alliance among other key partners to enhance peaceful coexistence.
Kobia said tensions are rising as elections draw nearer with an increase in memes and social media posts that are filled with hate speech and incitement.
“Despite the relative peace and calm experienced, we have witnessed pockets of heightened tension. This has led to conflicts escalating to violence in some parts of the country,” he said.
Uhuru took a swipe at his deputy on Saturday saying he has no moral authority to lecture the government on perceived failures.
He said instead of persistent attacks, Ruto should explain to Kenyans why he did not deliver on the promises he is now giving Kenyans in his manifesto.
“Someone who has been given a task to serve the country, instead of performing his role, he is just busy making noise here and there,” he said.
Kobia said there is heightened localised political tension between party supporters in Kisumu, Nairobi, Kirinyaga, Marsabit, Meru, Isiolo, Trans Nzoia, Busia, Nakuru and Narok.
Registrar of Political Parties Ann Nderitu said there are increased incidences of hate speech and incitement on social media.
“In June, through the support of UNDP, 31 cases of hate speech were flagged out. The cases have mainly been linked to campaign rallies with the Jacaranda rally contributing to the highest number of cases identified,” she said.
“Twitter has been identified to be the main platform for hate speech in the period under review, with 16 cases, compared with seven cases identified on Facebook and five on Tiktok,”
The group said it was concerned by the increasing number of hate speech cases on the social media platforms with chaotic rallies being a trigger for incitement on social media.
“We are concerned with the discrediting of government institutions that is currently ongoing on social media space which is one of the roadblocks to peace as they lead to apathetic citizens who are more likely to be incited to violence,” Nderitu said.
“The campaigns to discredit the credibility of IEBC on Twitter has happened before being observed in previous elections in 2013 and 2017. This method aims to project the IEBC as incompetent, thus sowing doubt in citizens’ perception of the ability of the IEBC to deliver credible results they can believe in.”
Jeremiah Were, a member of the National Steering Committee on Peace Building, said calls by politically influential people to protect their votes after casting them reflect poorly on the credibility of IEBC.
“The campaign to discredit the IEBC was well coordinated on Twitter, with evidence of artificial amplification of this message using manipulated or photoshopped images and bot accounts,” Were said.
He urged candidates to refrain from invoking ethnic affiliations and using provocative language that may lead to violence, discrimination, and other human rights violations.
Kobia said NCIC will meet Tiktok representatives next week for discussions about people abusing the platform.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris