Political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi is in trouble with the government over his claims that Interior Cabinet Secretary was assassinated. And this has set the stage for battle between the government and internet giant Google over a video that Ngunyi has posted on Youtube, in which he repeats his earlier assertions on Twitter that the Interior CS was “forced to die”.
Youtube, a subsidiary of Google, allows users to post videos or open their own broadcast channels where they share content that meets its policies.
In the contentious video Ngunyi alleges Nkaissery was eliminated for political reasons because he was the only person who would stop violence after the elections. He says investigations in the death of Nkaissery should begin with the “drivers” of violence in the country, describing this year’s polls as black swan election that is full of surprises.
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Based on history of violence, it Ngunyi discreetly points a finger at the opposition who, he implies, would benefit from the absence of Nkaissery.
“We must ask a few hard questions….and the thing is Nkaissery was assassinated. Some say he was sick. But then the easiest target for assassination is a sick man since you can blame his illness,” he says in the video, posted on his Fifth Estate channel.
He bases his argument based on recent predictions by EU election observers that there would be violence after the elections. “Speculation is the gift of intellectual curiosity,” he says, justifying his conspiracy theory.
READ: Tough rules for journalists covering Nkaissery burial
ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru has singled out the video and called on Google to pull it down. The video had been viewed nearly 200,000 times as we published this article. A postmortem conducted on Monday revealed Nkaissery died of a heart attack and his burial is set for tomorrow.
The Government has generally raised concern over the proliferation of hate speech being published on social media channels including Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp. Already over 30 Facebook forums have been earmarked as bases of hate-speech, with their admins set for questioning.
The minister did not say what would be done to Mutahi Ngunyi, as owner of Fifth Estate and source of the speculation.
“We have seen a lot of activity online during the campaign season and I can tell you that almost every day, there is someone calling me to take down some piece of inciting content,” says Mucheru.
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