DPP Haji directs IG Mutyambai to probe doctored Ruto clip shared by Joho, Junet
Inspector General of National Police Service Hilary Mutyambai left confers with the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji during the launch of the National Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Risks Assessment Report 2021 on July 27, 2022, at the Serena Hotel.
What you need to know:
- The clip was edited to portray Ruto as issuing threats to non-Kalenjin residents of Uasin Gishu county and shared widely in an attempt to cause panic.
- Mr Haji “says the alleged remarks or alleged doctored remarks or altered clips” are capable of propagating ethnic incitement, vilification of others or incitement to cause harm contrary to Articles 33(2) of the Constitution.
Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji has directed the Inspector General of Police Hilary Mutyambai to investigate the source of incitement remarks that have been attributed to Deputy President William Ruto in an edited clip shared on Twitter by Mombasa governor Ali Hassan Joho and Suna East MP Junet Mohamed.
The remarks are contained in an edited clip that went viral Tuesday depicting Mr Ruto as asking people from Western and Central Kenya who are living in Uasin Gishu county to leave the region.
In the original clip, Mr Ruto is heard complaining about an alleged plan by the state to disrupt Tuesday’s polls using chiefs. He also tells non-Kalenjin residents living in Uasin Gishu that the county is home to every Kenyan.
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The clip was then edited to portray Ruto as issuing threats to non-Kalenjin residents of Uasin Gishu county and shared widely in an attempt to cause panic.
Ethnic incitement
In his letter to the IG, Mr Haji “says the alleged remarks or alleged doctored remarks or altered clips” are capable of propagating ethnic incitement, vilification of others or incitement to cause harm contrary to Articles 33(2) of the Constitution.
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He also says they are likely to incite feelings of contempt, hatred, hostility violence or discrimination against any person, group or community on the basis of ethnicity contrary to section 62(1) of the National Cohesion and Integration Act, 2008.
The clips further risk causing panic, chaos or violence among citizens of the Republic, contrary to Section 23 of the Computer Misuse and Cyber Crimes Act,2018
“Consequently, pursuant to Article 157 (4) of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, you are hereby directed to undertake comprehensive investigations into the aforementioned vi8deo clips including publication, the authenticity and source(s) thereto. The investigation file should be submitted to the office of the undersigned, within seven days of the date hereof,” he says.
