President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto have been strongly warned against what has been termed as continually insulting Opposition leader Raila Odinga.
In a strongly-worded letter, the ODM Party observed that Kenyatta and Ruto had consistently and with no care insulted Mr Odinga, adding that the duo was "lighting a fire that they will not be able to extinguish".
“Words like stupid, wicked, witch, small man, mad man or insane cannot be the language of conducting the business of the presidency,” ODM chairman John Mbadi said.
“These cannot be the language of civilised politics and transformation that Uhuru and Ruto purport to represent. Yet such language has become the stock-in-trade of the President and his deputy,” he said.
The ODM Chairman further stated:“Unless they stop, Uhuru and Ruto will burn Kenya. If it comes to that, they will have no one but themselves to blame and they must be prepared to shoulder responsibility.”
According to Mr Mbadi, the investigation agencies had turned a blind eye to the insults being uttered by the president and his deputy.
He noted that the prolonged verbal attacks had made it seem okay to insult Mr Odinga and the opposition.
“It is a very dangerous message because the Opposition leaders being insulted and their supporters will somehow look for ways to defend their beliefs, their political choices, their dignity and their candidates,” Mr Mbadi further warned.
The statement came a few hours after Odinga in a series of tweets complained of the utterances directed at him by Uhuru and Ruto.
One of the tweets read: "Raila, Raila, Raila." The President and DP should move on from this tired line of using negative, scare tactics as campaign tools."
