Kitui County Governor Charity Ngilu has condemned Meru Senator Mithika Linturi’s ‘Madoadoa’ remark during an Eldoret political rally on Saturday, saying that such dangerous utterances from politicians allied to the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) threaten the coexistence of citizens.
Speaking out through social media, Ngilu insisted that Kenyans should quit pretending they do not understand that Mr Linturi is just a barking dog whose owner is publicly known.
“Forget Linturi, are we going to pretend that we don’t know the owner of the dog?” she asked on Saturday night.
According to the seasoned Kamba leader, it is the barking dog’s owner that should send chills down the spines of all Kenyans, not just those in the Rift.
“It’s the owner of the dog that should send chills down the spines of all Kenyans, not just those that live and work in the Great Rift Valley,” she added.
In the Eldoret rally, where Deputy President William Ruto was the chief guest, Linturi castigated Rift Valley residents for allowing people from other parties to seek votes.
The senator was captured on camera asking Eldoret residents during a Deputy President William Ruto rally to remove “madoadoa” who do not support him.
“Nawaomba kwamba madoadoa mliyo nayo hapa muweze kuondoa. [I urge you to do away with madodoa in your midst],” he roared to the excited crowd.
https://twitter.com/ItsNyambane/status/1479772262752559105?s=20
Hours after the unfortunate incident, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Noordin Haji directed Inspector General of police Hillary Mutyambai to commence investigations into Mithika’s inciteful statements.
Haji, in a statement, said the utterances by the Meru Senator are akin to hate speech.
The DPP has directed that comprehensive investigations be undertaken expeditiously on utterances made by Hon. Mithika Linturi. We wish to inform members of public that persons found culpable of hate speech and incitement will be prosecuted.#HakiNaUsawa #NoToHateSpeech pic.twitter.com/NAzeWVDBVU
— Office of The Director Of Public Prosecutions (@ODPP_KE) January 8, 2022
Further, the DPP expects Mutyambai to file and submit a report of the probe before Friday, January 14.
Madoadoa is a very emotive term in Kenyan politics.
It evokes memories of past episodes of pre and post-election ethnic violence where certain communities were attacked for not supporting a candidate from the larger host community.
