NCIC to map out political violence hot-spots

NCIC chair Rev. Sam Kobia (left), January 2020. Right, NCIC commissioner Phillip Okundi. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) has embarked on mapping out political violence hotspots in the country ahead of next year's polls.

According to the NCIC director of programmes Millicent Okatch, the commission would also rely on past records to pick out the areas that were most affected by political violence.

She noted that the commission was keen on averting chaos before, during and after the elections.

“We have also started to engage the youths so that they are not misused by the politicians to cause violence during political campaigns,” she said.

Okatch spoke during a consultative meeting with the security officials, Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and leaders in Naivasha.

Okatch denied that the commission was a toothless bulldog. “Our mandate is to investigate politicians spewing hate speech and handing over the evidence to the Director of Public Prosecutions.” 

She noted that hate speech on social media was their biggest challenge.

“Hate speech has now been directed to social media platforms. We shall be working with other government agencies to stem this,” she said.

NCIC chair Rev. Sam Kobia. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Naivasha deputy OCPD Jared Marando said they had already identified the hotspots in the lakeside town that was hardest hit during the 2007 post-election violence.

The police boss said that they had opened a police post in some of the estates that had been mapped out as hotspots.

“We are ready to use prison officers in the patrols so that we don’t have a repeat of the 2007 violence,” he said.

One of the youth leaders, Sophia Lenguya, said that they were working as peace mobilizers in the constituency and engaging the youths on the need to maintain peace.