NAIROBI, Kenya Apr 9 – The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) has found itself on a collision path with Kenya Kwanza Alliance leaders allied to Deputy President William Ruto on the use of the phrase, hatupangwingwi.
Ruto and his team embraced the phrase from the ‘Sipangwingwi’ hit song by Kenyan artiste Exray Taniua featuring Trio Mio and Ssaru.
On Friday, Ruto released a remix of the song in which he was featured by musician E-xray.
The remix was released on the day NCIC announced that Hatupangwingwi is among phrases categorized as hate speech during the electioneering period.
“Stop wasting time trying to reengineer our literature. That’s an exercise in literature,” Ruto said, “the people know how to speak and they will speak on the ballot”.
Kandara MP Alice Wahome was brutal directing her tirade to the Commission Chairperson Samuel Kobia accusing him of “suffering from either age or lack of capacity to deal with political situations”.
The Commission on Friday unveiled a list of 23 lexicon words deemed to be hate speech notably hatupangwingwi, watajua hawajui and linda kura terms which are commonly used and associated with the Kenya Kwanza Alliance.
Ford Kenya party leader Moses Wetangula asked the Samuel Kobia-led Commission to familiarize itself with its mandate “and avoid falling into a trap of Kenyan public servants who think at every time they must appear to be doing something however ridiculous”.
“Do not ridicule yourself and in our next rally we are going to use all the words that you have told us not to use,” he said.
He noted that the growth of the Kenyan language can never be inhibited and that language is dynamic.
Mathira MP Rigathi Gachagua said the alliance will not succumb to threats and intimidation and asked the deep state to “expand prisons because Kenyans will not agree to be forced to do what they do not like”.
According to the commission, politicians who continue to use the words will be put on the wall of shame.