In a statement on Wednesday, the ODM leader said the proposed Bill by Parliament’s National Security Committee that seeks to criminalize the ‘hustlers versus dynasties’ campaign slogan is unnecessary. The Bill proposes severe fines, jail time, and removal from office for any leader who propagates it.
According to the former Prime Minister, Ruto has freedom of speech and association as stipulated in the Constitution and should therefore be allowed to run his campaign without inhibitions.
Raila, however, noted that the hustler versus dynasties narrative is dangerous and scary. He likened it to Adolf Hitler’s National Socialism(Nazism) which profiled German society along racial and tribal lines.
“Hustler vs Dynasties’ is scary in its similarity to Adolf Hitler’s national socialism, most often referred to as Nazism.
“Nazism profiled German society on the lines of race, social classes and tribe. It had the Aryan race, which it considered the master race, and whose survival Hitler pegged on the elimination of Jews, Romanis or Gypsies, the Indo-Aryan, the Slavs and the “inferior sub-humans” who were seen to be the problem in Germany. 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,” Raila stated.
Odinga urged MPs not to legislate against the narrative for the purposes of respecting Ruto’s freedom of speech.
“However, 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.”
He further 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.”
