The High Court has overturned the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) decision to ban the use of hatupangwingwi phrase during campaigns.
In a landmark ruling delivered by Justice Antony Ndung'u on Thursday, July 14, the court noted that the Commission did not follow due process when banning the phrase alongside other words that were classified as lexicon or as bordering hate speech and incitement to violence.
Additionally, the court overturned the decision to ban the phrase watajua hawajui, loosely translated to they will know they don't know.
"An order of certiorari is hereby issued quashing the NCIC's decision made on April 8, 2022, vivid Hatelex: a lexicon of hate speech terms in Kenya banning and or classifying "Hatupangwingwi" and "Watajua Hawajui" phrases as hate speech," the High Court ruled.
The judgement came after lawyer Felix Kiprono petitioned the court to overrule NCIC's decision arguing that it was discriminatory.
He argued that the ban would have seen Kenyans charged for hate speech yet the words carried different meanings depending on the context they were used.
The two phrases have commonly been used by Deputy President William Ruto and his allies on the campaign trail.
The Kenya Kwanza team have majorly used the word in reference to their affirmation of not allowing any interference in the election by government operatives.
In April, NCIC classified the phrases as hate speech alongside 21 others that were popularly used by the two leading political outfits - Kenya kwanza and Azimio La Umoja.
Among the banned words were madoadoa (dots), chunga kura (secure the vote), mende (cockroach ), and watu wa kurusha mawe (people who throw stones) among others.
However, both political outfits defied the NCIC directive and continued to use the phrases.
"I think it is an exercise in futility to try and tell us which Swahili or English words we should use. We are decent, intelligent and knowledgeable people. We know what we are saying.
"To our competitors, please try and cobble together a plan and an agenda to sell to the people of Kenya. Stop wasting your time trying to re-engineer our literature. The people of Kenya know how to speak and they will speak at the ballot. Let us not involve institutions of government in a circus that will not help anyone," Ruto stated at the time.
