NCIC blacklists 'sipangwingwi' in war on hate speech
Musician Tony Kinyanjui, popularly known as Exray ‘Taniua’ who composed the song 'Sipangwingwi'.
The cohesion commission has listed the words and phrases it says are likely to spread hate during the ongoing electioneering period.
The words and phrases include ‘Hatupangwingwi’ which is associated with Deputy President William Ruto's Kenya Kwanza coalition.
This year, artistes like Exray ‘Taniua’ (Tony Kinyanjui), and TK Mario Kasela aka Trio Mio famous for the song “Sipangwingwi’, Bahati (Kelvin Kioko) and Emmanuel Musindi are the top musicians who have captured the interest of politicians seeking campaign theme songs.
Deputy President William Ruto and his United Democratic Allliance (UDA) have used the clarion call hatupangwingwi as a show of defiance and to urge their supporters to reject alleged schemes by powerful figures to impose leaders.
Exray performed “Sipangwingwi” last month when Dr Ruto was endorsed as UDA’s presidential candidate while Trio Mio sang the same song last December when Mr Odinga’s publicly announced his candidature.
Some of the other banned words are:
- Elimination
- Madoadoa
- Kill
- Fumigation
- Cockroach/mende
- Kihii (uncircumcised man)
- Uthamaki ni witu
- Mwiji (uncircumcised man)
- Kimurkeldet (Brown teeth, to refer to Kikuyu in Rift valley)
- Otutu Labotonik (uproot the weed)
- Ngetiik (uncircumcised)
- Kama mbaya ni mbaya
- Operation linda kura
Speaking during the event, NCIC chairperson, Rev Samuel Kobia noted there are political expressions of hate that are triggering dissonance among communities and political followers of various parties.
“We know that death and life are in the power of the tongue. The commission has classified terms, which have been regularly used in Kenya’s political landscape with the intent to provoke violence among communities of diverse political viewpoints,” he said.
