Haki Africa director Hussein Khalid who trained the 25 officers. [Photo/ hrw.org]
Twenty five election cohesion officers have been trained in Mombasa and will be deployed in various parts of the county during the campaign period.
Those trained will be recording and reporting incitement and hate speech statements from politicians.The move will enable police institute charges against the culprits who will be charged before courts of law.Last year, hate speech charges against MPs Junet Mohamed (Suna East), Kimani Ngunjiri (Bahati), Ferdinand Waititu (Kabete), Florence Mutua (Busia women rep), Moses Kuria (Gatundu South), Aisha Jumwa (Kilifi women rep) and Timothy Bosire (Kitutu Masaba) failed due to lack of evidence.The media has on several occasions been blamed for failing to produce videos and audios, which can be used as evidence against the politicians in court leading to dismissal of hate speech cases.The cohesion officials were trained by Haki Africa director Hussein Khalid, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission and the IEBC.Speaking during the training, Khalid said the officers will be relaying the evidence to security agencies instead of banking on the media.“The action was prompted by a report listing Mombasa as a hotspot for violence,” he said.The project will run at a cost of Sh1.8 million. The funding came from the civil society.