Muturi calls for ICC outreach office in Nairobi amid ethnic rhetoric concerns

Muturi said political leaders should avoid rhetoric that could revive tensions associated with the 2007–08 post-election violence and potentially intimidate communities from participating freely in the electoral process.

Speaking during a meet-the-people tour in Othaya, Nyeri County, Muturi warned against the use of ethnicity and memories of past violence as political mobilisation tools.

“No Kenyan community should be threatened, collectively targeted or frightened out of exercising its constitutional right to vote,” he said.

Muturi said his United Alternative Government was pushing for an ICC outreach presence in Nairobi as a preventive measure. He argued that such an office could provide a channel for victims, witnesses, civil society organisations and other institutions to raise concerns and facilitate the preservation of information that could be relevant to crimes falling under the court’s jurisdiction.

He warned that inflammatory political rhetoric could escalate if left unchecked, moving from public statements to organised mobilisation and, eventually, violence.

“The objective is to intervene while rhetoric is still rhetoric—before it becomes mobilisation, mobilisation becomes violence, and violence becomes mass atrocity,” Muturi said.

The former Attorney General also urged political leaders to exercise restraint and said political influence should not shield anyone from accountability.

“Do not weaponise ethnicity, do not manufacture fear, and do not imagine that political power places anyone beyond accountability,” he said.

Muturi said Kenya should draw lessons from the 2007–08 post-election violence by responding to warning signs before they develop into violence.

“Kenya belongs to every Kenyan, and the right to participate freely in our democracy must never again be secured only after blood has been shed,” he said.