An open letter to NCIC: Justice cannot be selective

Dear Rev Dr Samuel Kobia,

Let me begin by commending the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) for finally rediscovering its voice. By summoning Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga over his reckless and regrettable remarks on the late Raila Odinga, you demonstrated that the Commission still remembers its founding purpose to guard the moral and social fabric of our Republic. For that, I say kudos.

But Reverend, justice that is selective is injustice in disguise. For NCIC to be credible, it must be consistent. Its silence in the face of other, equally grave violations has not gone unnoticed. The country remembers that Farah Maalim, the former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, declared without shame that if he were President William Ruto, he would have killed 5,000 Gen Z demonstrators per day. Governor Kahiga’s words were insensitive, but Farah Maalim’s were genocidal. Yet the NCIC, whose duty it is to prevent the normalisation of hate and violence, remained unmoved.

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Similarly, the Commission watched in silence as Governor Gladys Wanga, MP Peter Kaluma, and their ilk publicly profiled Kikuyus to shadow-box former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua turning an individual political contest into an ethnic confrontation. It also said nothing when leaders such as William Kamket and Wajir Woman Representative Fatuma Jehow boasted that they would “steal the 2027 election for Ruto.” These are not careless remarks. They are deliberate provocations that corrode national unity. And yet, NCIC, the very body created to tame the monster of ethnic hatred, has been a bystander.

This pattern raises troubling questions. Why is outrage loud when the offender is from Mt. Kenya, but muted when the offender is not? Why does the Commission’s moral radar only seem to activate when a Kikuyu politician errs? We can not build cohesion by vilifying one region while excusing another. Kenya deserves a commission of conscience, not one of convenience.

Let me be clear: Mutahi Kahiga’s comments were unacceptable. They were hurtful, reckless, and unbecoming of a leader. But he has since apologised and resigned as Vice Chair of the Council of Governors, an act of humility rare in our politics. He has been summoned, condemned, and corrected. Meanwhile, those who have called for mass killings or profiled entire communities continue to walk free, smiling for the cameras, unbothered and unaccountable.

This is not cohesion. It is hypocrisy. It is as though in Kenya, hate speech has a tribe and justice has a direction.

Reverend Kobia, I write not as a critic but as one who once served in that very commission. I understand its constraints and its potential. But I also know that the NCIC’s true power lies not in police summonses or press conferences, but in moral courage, the courage to be fair when fairness is inconvenient. Cohesion can not be built on selective outrage. The law can not thunder at one community and whisper to another.

The Mt. Kenya region has become Kenya’s favourite political scapegoat, condemned when it supports the government, condemned when it questions it. Every election cycle, the mountain is treated as the cause of all problems and the cure for none. This collective resentment has bred a dangerous national bias: to hate Mt. Kenya is to appear progressive; to defend it is to appear tribal. Such distortion is poisonous to the idea of nationhood.

But what is worse is that NCIC, the very body meant to neutralize these divisions, sometimes appears to amplify them through omission. When you punish selectively, you don’t silence hate. You feed it. You tell Kenyans that some tribes are safe to insult and others are not; that justice depends not on the law but on identity.

As I have written before, “The moral test of a nation is not in how loudly it condemns, but in how fairly it judges.” NCIC’s duty is to ensure that standard applies to everyone from Kahiga to Maalim, from Wanga to Kamket.

Reverend, your office carries a sacred trust. You are not merely the head of a statutory commission; you are the custodian of our fragile national soul. You must not allow NCIC to become a public relations theatre that performs outrage for headlines while ignoring deeper injustice. The Commission must rise above political convenience and reassert itself as the impartial guardian of Kenya’s social peace.

Therefore, I urge you to summon all those who have recently crossed the line of decency, Farah Maalim, Gladys Wanga, Peter Kaluma, William Kamket, and Fatuma Jehow among others. Let the law speak evenly. Let Kenya see that NCIC does not judge by tribe, status, or political alignment but by principle.

Our cohesion will not come from selective punishment but from consistent justice. If we are ever to heal, we must learn to be fair even to those we love to hate.

Yours sincerely,

Prof Gitile Naituli

Former Commissioner, National Cohesion and Integration Commission

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