Parliament in a past session. The Parliamentary Budget Office has warned that funding could hinder the implementation of the Kenya Kwanza manifesto.
MPs are planning to abolish the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) for failing to address the spread of hate speech in the country, in the latest threats of reform that will start with slashing its budget.
This comes as a section of MPs from Meru region demanded that the NCIC summon impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua for making "inflammatory remarks" after he said President William Ruto should not be allowed to set foot in the region if Chief Justice Martha Koome is bundled out of office.
CJ Koome and other Supreme Court judges are fighting a petition that could cut short their jobs if successful.
The claims by members of the National Assembly's Administration and Internal Security Committee gave the impression that the commission had failed in its mandate and that it was time to remove it from the statute books.
During a session with Ms Anne Ng'etich, the Principal Administrative Secretary in the
Ministry of Internal Affairs, on the 2025 Budget Policy Statement (BPS), the MPs, led by the committee's chairperson, Mr Gabriel Tongoyo (Narok West), said the commission was treating suspects of hate speech with kid gloves.
"You have to justify the expenditure of public funds allocated to you because you are doing little to ensure peaceful coexistence in the country," Mr Tongoyo said, adding,
"You summon the people you are investigating and then the matter ends there. You need to pull up your socks".
NCIC had requested Sh750.5 million from Treasury for the 2025/26 financial year, but BPS instead provided Sh568 million, the same amount allocated for the current financial year, leaving a funding gap of Sh182.5 million.
The NCIC, a government agency, was established by the National Cohesion and Integration Act of 2008 to reduce inter-ethnic conflict and promote national identity and reconciliation following the 2007 post-election violence in which more than 1,600 people were killed.
In carrying out its mandate, the Commission is required to facilitate and promote equality of opportunity, good relations, harmony and peaceful co-existence among persons of different ethnic and racial communities and to advise the Government on all matters.
The body, which is not one of the 10 protected commissions listed in Article 248 (2) of the Constitution, is also mandated to eliminate all forms of ethnic or racial discrimination and to discourage persons, institutions, political parties and associations from advocating or promoting discrimination as it seeks to promote tolerance, understanding and acceptance of diversity "in all aspects of national life".
Referring to the commission's mandate, Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma noted that its failure to play its role was a serious concern for the country.
"NCIC is an agency that we should remove from the statute books because it is not doing anything useful," Mr Kaluma said as he accused the commission's chairman, Rev Samuel Kobia, of making insensitive political statements.
"The NCIC chairperson said the impeachment of Gachagua will cause chaos in the country," Mr Kaluma said, noting that it was an inflammatory political statement for which he must be held accountable.
But even as the two committee members called for the abolition of the commission, Saku MP Dido Raso, a member of the committee, urged his colleagues to tread carefully.
"However much we criticise it and complain about an institution, we need to look at the policy issues," said Mr Raso, without elaborating.
At the same time, a group of Meru MPs led by Mugambi Rindikiri (Buuri) and Moses Kirima (Central Imenti) demanded that the NCIC summon Mr Gachagua to record a statement.
"The commission should investigate the former DP with a view to prosecuting him. If he is allowed to walk free, he will be the cause of chaos in the Mount Kenya region," said Mr Kirima.
Mr Rindikiri berated the former DP for his comments on the president.
"If he wants demonstrations, let him take them to Mathira and Wamunyoro first," the Buuri MP said.
