Some Members of Parliament (MPs) have challenged the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) on its effectiveness, even threatening to disband it.
The NCIC is at the center of a storm as MPs express doubts over the commission’s ability to deal with an escalating hate speech problem in the country.
During a parliamentary session in the afternoon, Speaker of the House Moses Wetangula and other members of parliament blamed the commission for not being able to handle completely sufficiently the issues of inflammatory and divisive statements, especially those of some politicians. The root of this tension was the opposition leaders’ alleged remarks during the recent political rallies in Western Kenya.
It was observed by the MPs that although the ethnic and inflammatory speeches seemed to be on the rise, the NCIC was hardly seen taking any action. They made it clear that the failure of the commission to act will give the politicians who make such irresponsible statements the impression that they can carry on with impunity and without any repercussions.
Indeed, the Speaker of the House, Moses Wetangula, went so far as to say that, in his opinion, if the NCIC is found to be incapable of carrying out its functions, Parliament may then opt to dissolve the commission and form a new one that would be more efficient and have the protection of national cohesion as its top priority.