WHAT is hate speech? In Kenya, a country where most educated people speak three languages—English, Swahili and one of around 40 tribal languages—it is a question people are grappling with. This month Moses Kuria, an MP from Jubilee, the governing party, was recorded appearing to call for Raila Odinga, Kenya’s main opposition leader, to be assassinated. Mr Kuria, from the Kikuyu tribe, said that Mr Odinga should “eat corn”. In Kikuyu, “corn” is slang for bullets, but Mr Kuria says he was misinterpreted.
Whatever he meant, Mr Kuria’s words have landed him in jail on charges of “hate speech” and inciting violence, together with seven of his colleagues—three others from the government and four from the opposition. All eight are accused of stoking ethnic tension ahead of Kenya’s presidential election. Polling day is still over a year away, but the rhetoric is already heated.
The government now seems determined to calm things down: the arrests came as President Uhuru Kenyatta agreed to negotiate with the opposition about the make-up of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). That brought an end to a...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/28Z07Gg
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