Editor's Review
NCIC found that Kaguchia's utterances undermined people's freedom to choose whom to support without threats or communal punishment.
On Wednesday, October 7, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) determined that Mukurweini Member of Parliament (MP) John Kaguchia's public utterances were threatening, intimidating, and coercive.
NCIC Chairperson Kepha Omae said that Kaguchia's remarks called upon listeners to identify, pursue and socially exclude people because of their political choice, including withholding support at funerals, dowry ceremonies and during illness.
Omae stated that the Commission found that the utterances undermined people's freedom to choose whom to support without threats or communal punishment.
"They failed to respect the rights of others and created a real and reasonably foreseeable risk of intimidation, exclusion and harm to peaceful coexistence," the statement read in part.
Consequently, NCIC issues seven corrective measures to Kaguchia for remedial conciliation, including unequivocally withdrawing the calls to record, follow, remove or deny communal assistance to locals because of their political choices.
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"Issue a public apology and corrective statement in Kikuyu, Kiswahili and English, with prominence and each reasonably comparable to the original speech," Omae directed.
The MP was ordered to affirm everyone's freedom to support a candidate without intimidation or exclusion, and give a written undertaking against establishing or encouraging political lists or records for surveillance, intimidation, discrimination or coercion.
Kaguchia was instructed to publicly call upon supporters and community members to stop identifying, recording, pursuing, threatening or excluding people for political coercion or social punishment.
Other remedial conciliation measures instructed include giving a written undertaking against repeating, publishing, endorsing or encouraging the impugned statements or statements with substantially similar effect, and organising and funding a restorative peacebuilding and social cohesion activity or activities at his own reasonable cost.
Earlier, NCIC issued a cessation notice to Public Service CS Geoffrey Ruku, directing him to stop repeating, publishing, endorsing, or encouraging the impugned collective ethnic allegations.
CS Ruku was directed to publicly withdraw, in both Kiswahili and English, allegations that Kikuyu people regard Kenya as their property or are collectively responsible for inequitable development and public appointments within seven days.
