You are embarrassing President Uhuru, Jubilee MP to Moses Kuria

A Jubilee MP has expressed his disapproval of utterances allegedly made by Gatundu South legislator Moses Kuria targeting CORD leader Raila Odinga over the weekend.

At Mutige Secondary School while officiating the prize giving ceremony, Gichugu MP Njogu Barua said that the remarks by Kuria were reckless and an embarrassment to President Uhuru Kenyatta.

“Moses Kuria, MP for Gatundu South, is an embarrassment to the President especially because he is the legislator of President Kenyatta’s home town,” he said.

“This amounts to a display of charisma without character and participation in empty activism which is not supported by information.”

He called on political leaders to be considerate in their utterances saying they should be ready to bear the consequences of their actions.

“Do not go abusing other tribes then when arrested, you say it is your tribe that has been arrested. This country is made up of more than 42 tribes which have equal rights.”

The National Alliance (TNA) party has also distanced itself from the statements made by Kuria, Kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu and his Bahati counterpart Kimani Ngunjiri which have been labeled as hate speech.

TNA Secretary General Onyango Oloo said the statements, if verified to be true, are quite unfortunate adding that the MPs did not speak on behalf of the party.

Addressing a press conference in Kisumu on Tuesday, Oloo called for action to be taken against the Jubilee MPs in order to tame cases of hate speech and tribal conflict in the country.

Kuria has been on the receiving end after a video showed him making pronouncements that have been alleged to amount to or border on hate speech.

In the recording, Kuria said: “No emenyerere, ona mbembe no arie, tutigutorio thinaine ni mundu umue. Na arie mbembe tumuthike jumatatu iria ingi, maikie mahiga wiki imwe na Kenya ithii na mbere . Okoruo ni haro me kwenda niyo me kuona. Mwire raila ona mbembe no arie na thii ihore na tuthii na no menda thayu moke tuarie tuikare wega IEBC yenda guthii ithii okoruo tii uguo mathii ma kiumaga.”

Loosely translated: “…he (Raila) should be careful because he can still bite the bullet. We won’t be troubled by one person forever. He can as well bite the bullet and we bury him next Monday. His protesters will throw stones for just one week and life continues.”

The Jubilee MPs were on Monday ordered to record statements at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) over their remarks.

The three, together with Suna East MP Junet Mohammed and his Kitutu Masaba MP Timothy Bosire, Kilifi Woman Representative Aisha Juma and Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama were at the DCI headquarters Tuesday to record statements over the allegations.

NCIC chair Francis ole Kaparo has stated that he would crack down on political leaders who are spreading hate in the country, calling on the public to also be cautious about what they post on social media.

“We cannot clump down social media sites to tame the spread of hate; all we can do is to ask the public to be cautious about what they post online.”

@benjaminwafula