The National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) has dismissed reports suggesting that it cleared Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma and Busia Governor Paul Otuoma over remarks that had triggered investigations.
NCIC chairperson Dr Kepha Omae said the commission’s determinations contained adverse findings against both leaders and that reports portraying them as having been “cleared” misrepresented the decisions.
He also rejected suggestions that the commission had summoned the two leaders to sanitise their remarks.
According to Omae, the Commission investigated the statements and considered the respective defences before arriving at its determinations.
In Kaluma’s case, the NCIC found his speech to be “intemperate, ambiguous and dangerous in its reasonably understood meaning”, saying it created an appreciable risk of political intimidation.
The commission similarly found Otuoma’s remarks threatening and exclusionary in their context and said they were likely to stir hostility against residents and traders perceived as outsiders because of their ethnic or national origin.
“These are serious adverse findings,” Omae said.
He said the commission consequently issued immediate cessation notices and directed both respondents to undertake corrective measures.
The measures included public clarification, withdrawal or correction of harmful messaging and peace engagements at the respondents’ own reasonable cost, as provided for in their respective determinations.
“The commission neither endorsed nor excused their language,” Omae said.
He said the determinations were reached after an assessment of the available evidence under the National Cohesion and Integration Act, the Constitution and relevant legal authorities.
Omae urged media organisations reporting on the matter to distinguish between the recorded statutory outcomes and the Commission’s adverse findings and corrective directions.
“Reporting only that the respondents were ‘cleared’ gives the public a materially incomplete and misleading account,” he said.
The NCIC chairperson said the Commission was bound by the law governing its work, including Section 61(2) of the National Cohesion and Integration Act, which requires it, where satisfied after investigations that a person has contravened Part III of the Act, to make all reasonable efforts to conciliate the matter.
He said the law also gives the commission a broader mandate to promote conciliation, under which the preventive resolution in the Kaluma matter was recorded.
“The use of this statutory process cannot reasonably be presented as favouritism or an attempt to sanitise harmful speech,” Omae said.
The Commission said both determinations provide that if it formally records that conciliation has failed to achieve a satisfactory resolution, appropriate compliance notices will be issued under Sections 56 and 57, with enforcement governed by Section 58.
Omae stressed that the immediate cessation notices issued against the two leaders remain in effect throughout the process.
He said while the NCIC welcomed scrutiny of its decisions, media reports should accurately reflect the contents and legal effect of its determinations.
“Media freedom carries a corresponding responsibility to report accurately and fairly,” he said.
The commission has called on media houses that published or broadcast what it described as misleading characterisations to issue corrections promptly and give them prominence comparable to the original reports.
Omae said future coverage should present the findings, statutory outcomes and corrective directions contained in each determination together.
