National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) has dismissed reports that the agency is planning to ban the term "Tugege."
Tugege, a Kikuyu term which translates to sycophants or retard, has been recently used by leaders from the Mount Kenya region to refer to politicians who blindly follow the government.
Instructively, the phrase was a top trend for the better part of Wednesday morning, with speculation indicating that the commission was planning to ban the term which has become a political staple, especially in the Mt. Kenya region.
The initial reports which have now been dismissed as inaccurate, wrongly speculated that those who use the term risk arrest and a possible jail-term if found guilty.
NCIC, in a statement, distanced itself from the allegations and urged Kenyans to ignore the speculations.
"We wish to correct the information being peddled through social media to the effect that the NCIC is planning to ban the term "Tugege". The Commission disassociates itself from these allegations. Kindly ignore them," NCIC said.
The phrase became a popular term after the Kenya Kwanza government clinched power. The term is used to refer to Mt Kenya politicians who did not support Kenya Kwanza before the 2022 elections.
NCIC is a body that was established under the National Cohesion and Integration Act in 2008.
Its mandate is to facilitate and promote equal opportunity, good relations and peaceful co-existence between persons of different ethnic groups, religion and racial communities in Kenya.
In the past, the commission has banned terms used during political campaigns.
During the 2022 electoral campaign period, NCIC banned words such as madoadoa, hatupangwingwi, chunga kura, Watajua hawajui’, operation Linda Kura, watu wa Kurusha mawe among others.
Speaking before the 2022 elections, the commission's chair Samuel Kobia, said the terms were likely to encourage use of hate speech.
"These words have been listed as a result of the commission monitoring conversations and following how they have been framed towards violence," Kobia said at the time.
