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According to the NCIC lawyers, there is usually a problem with witnesses and evidence when it comes to video or audio clips that prove that someone spread hateful remarks.
Usually, for a clip to be admissible, the person who recorded it must tell the court that yes, he was there and he recorded the event. Unfortunately, most of such clips are caught by media houses, and journalists are not inclined to turn witnesses – their job is to expose the suspects and let the law take its course.
Still, the NCIC contends that most politicians, when caught making hate remarks, usually insist that the law requires the commission to "make all reasonable endeavours to conciliate". This means, they can avoid the sanctions in court, and then turn around and make the same remarks that landed them in trouble in the first place, the NCIC lawyers explained.
"... the Commission shall ...promote arbitration, conciliation, mediation and similar forms of dispute resolution mechanisms in order to secure and enhance ethnic and racial harmony and peace;" reads the law.
If you ask President Kenyatta, there's a group of politicians hell-bent on violence, and they were likely to incite the millions of jobless youth into violence.
"I tell our young people, do not allow yourselves to be used so badly. These people care nothing for you their way is the way of division and agitation, not development and building," he said in his New Year's message.
But the NCIC is not giving up. According to its vice chairperson Irene Wanyoike, it has acquired over 100 video cameras and audio recorders which will be distributed across the country to help the NCIC monitors gather evidence against suspects. They are tired of relying on media footage to lay a case which then crumbles when they don't have a certificate to authenticate the evidence.
Aside from the NCIC, the National Intelligence Service and the police were also out to monitor the political rhetoric as the 2017 poll campaigns take root.
"The commission has already acquired equipment to be given to our staff and police to record speeches at political rallies and meetings organised by both sides of the political divide," Ms Wanyoike said.
The commission has also been seeking a role in vetting candidates for political seats.
"This will enable us to lock out anyone making tribal remarks and inciting communities to war at public rallies" said the vice chairperson who spoke in Nyeri a week ago.
