ODM Party Leader Raila Odinga has urged MPs not to criminalise Deputy President William Ruto’s ‘hustlers versus dynasties’ campaign slogan through a new bill.
In a statement, Raila says that he has learned that the Parliament’s National Security Committee is planning to pass a bill that will criminalise the slogan, and impose hefty fines, jail time and even removal from office for any leader who propagates it.
” I would strongly appeal to members of parliament to drop any attempts to legislate against this otherwise deadly slogan. As a country, we fought for, and should respect free speech and association. We should be able to allow the Deputy President and his team to continue with their chosen slogan without any inhibitions,” stated Raila.
Read: Raila Rallies Clergy To Back BBI As Ruto Fires Back Over Divisive Hustler Narrative
He however warned that the slogan was a danger to the social fabric of Kenya, but urged “those who understand the dangers” to keep on educating Kenyans.
“As I have explained on several occasions, the “hustlers vs dynasties” is a dangerous slogan. It is scary in its similarity to Adolf Hitler’s National Socialism, most often referred to as Nazism, the ideology of the Nazi Party, which ruled Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. These ideologies caused a great deal of trauma to Germany and the world. They ended in the Holocaust. I fear the “hustlers vs dynasties” narrative will have the same deadly consequences for Kenya as Nazism did for Germany,” he added.
“Those of us who see its dangers should continue educating our people against falling for it. I have faith that Kenyans will see through this divisive and potentially deadly rhetoric and its attacks on fellow Kenyans, and reject it in the end.”
The Ruto-led camp has been using the slogan in the recent past, arguing that they want to empower ‘hustlers’ (low-class Kenyans) to take up the leadership mantle from the rich.
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