Leaders have been told to stop politicising the Ocampo Six trials and warned against public utterances likely to rekindle violence in the country.
Anglican Church Archbishop Eliud Wabukala on Sunday told a congregation at the All Saints Cathedral that inflammatory statements could lead to anarchy as Education minister Sam Ongeri warned against hate speech.
“The Ocampo Six and ICC trials should not be politicised. This is a foundation for chaos in the General Election,” Dr Wabukala warned.
Hate speech is in the eye of the person who wants to shut down what is being said. Governments love it.
Michael,
Please be careful. You evidently do not understand the issues in Kenya. Wabukala is talking about ethnic violence which led to many deaths in fighting between groups in Kenya after the last election. Shutting down speech like the Rwandan 10 commandments which led to hundreds of thousands of deaths in that country or the anti-Semitic speech that led to the holocaust is indeed a good idea – check out the book of James on what the tongue, untamed, can accomplish.
Grant, I understand, but laws against incitement to riot and other established laws can accomplish the protection that you seek. Hate speech criminalizes thought and can be used to shut down speech which is simply offensive and unpopular.
Michael,
I certainly agree that ‘freedom of speech’ is an important right to protect. The ability to express one’s views – even unpopular and even abhorant views – without fear is crucial to any society. That is not what Wabukala was talking about. He was talking about just what you said should be done – protect people from violence. After the last Kenyan election there was violence throughout the country except in the distrist where the present archbishop was then a diocesan – he was invited to come to the local radio station to make comments to keep people calm – he stayed on the radio all day, all night and the next day. There were no deaths in Bungoma. But in the rest of the country one ethnic blamed another ethnic group, etc, etc. People were targeted for because of their ‘tribe’ or language. That was real ‘hate speech’ – the kind that leads to genocide Wabukala is right – it needs to stop or Kenya may be in danger of a repeat of the last election. When politians blame members of a tribe that is at odds with his constituency, he/she is simply inciting violence in order to get votes. Such behaviour needs to be called criminal.
Grant