NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 16 — The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) has launched an action plan against hate speech ahead of the August 9 polls.
Speaking during the ceremony to unveil the plan on Wednesday, Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia said the agency had deployed over 50 cohesion monitors across 47 counties that will be playing an active role in collecting, analyzing and cross referencing early warning information for hate speech and incitement in public forums such as campaign rallies and religious gatherings.
“This early warning information will be supplemented by reports from community perception surveys that will be conducted by Amnesty International and available to Uwiano Peace Partners. This helps in identifying the sentiments on how hate speech could trigger violence in the elections if we don’t take precaution,” Kobia who chairs the NCIC said.
He added that, through the support of the United Nations, and in collaboration with a social media consortium, they will handle social media monitoring.
“The NCIC will monitor and analyze social media platforms for mis/disinformation, hate speech and incitement that could trigger election violence,” Kobia said.
However, Rev. Kobia noted that social media had remained a major challenge in the fight against hate speech because of the use of pseudo accounts to incite.
Chief Justice Martha Koome who was the Chief Guest at the event said 9 hate speech cases pending before the Magistrates’ Courts have mention dates not later than June 2022.
“2 files are being investigated by the office of the Judiciary Ombudsman as they were reported missing and 1 case which was wrongly referenced,” Koome said.
Koome added that the Judiciary has been working on a plan to operationalize special election offenses courts focusing on hate speech in areas identified by NCIC as hotspots by using special magistrates gazetted in February 2022 to handle election offenses.
“I committed to extend special jurisdiction to additional Magistrates covering Nairobi (Milimani), Meru (Nkubu), Mombasa, Kisumu, Kakamega, Nyeri, Eldoret, and recently, Nakuru. The public is being sensitized that offenses related to hate speech can be filed and fast-tracked in these Courts,” she said.
The CJ said relevant actors had embraced a multi-agency approach, harmonizing the roles of agencies involved in investigations and prosecution of hate speech matters.
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