A human rights lobby group has called on politicians to engage each other with utmost decorum to avoid raising political temperatures and set good examples for society.
Muslims for Human Rights on Friday said political differences should not necessarily lead to verbal insults or physical abuse that decay the morals that leaders should display.
“We have for a while now been seeing politicians in Mombasa engage each other, some using abusive languages either in podia or through social media, either because of a call for unity or because of political alignment. Let political leaders be people of good morals,” Muhuri’s rapid response officer Francis Auma said.
He spoke at his office after a Nairobi court ruled in favour of Nyali MP Mohammed Ali in a defamation suit he had filed against Suna East MP Junet Mohamed.
Sitting at the Milimani Commercial Court, principal magistrate S. N. Muchungi ordered Junet to pay Ali Sh6 million, broken down as general damages of Sh5 million and another million shillings in aggravated and exemplary damages.
The Nyali MP, who is in UDA, had filed a suit against ODM’s Junet, who is also the minority whip in the National Assembly, on October 11, 2022, at the High Court before it was transferred to the Milimani Commercial Court on July 19, 2023.
Ali, who is a staunch Muslim, found a tweet by Junet offensive saying his Islamic upbringing does not allow such.
The tweet attracted 1,756 comments, 233 tweets, 1,075 retweets and 4,954 likes at the time of publication.
Both Ali and Junet had a cumulative Twitter following of over 2.4 million people at the time.
Ali argued that the tweet jeopardized his standing as a family man, a husband and father of four.
Muchungi, in her judgment, said:
“In the instant case, I am in agreement with the plaintiff that the tweet in the natural and ordinary meaning was understood by members of the public to mean that the plaintiff is a man of loose morals”
“Secondly, the tweet portrayed the plaintiff as a hypocrite who professes the Islamic faith yet goes against its core teachings,” Muchungi said.
On Friday, Auma said the use of social media has become a weapon for politicians who abuse the computer skills of innocent youth to malign other leaders.
“In most cases, the politicians hire bloggers and other keyboard warriors to insult their rivals. It is wrong. Leaders should act with utmost decorum,” Auma said.
He called on the ICT ministry to flag social media handles that engage in abusive language.
