By Joyleen Akware & Becky
There is widespread outrage following remarks made by Member of Parliament Farah Maalim in a viral video on x, suggesting that if he were president, he would have slaughtered 5,000 young protesters daily.
The video of his inflammatory comments, delivered in the Somali dialect, sparked demands from Kenyans for his arrest and prosecution.
Maalim dismissed the video stating it was doctored and misleading. He added that the video was doctored by unknown people from Somali to misrepresent the facts about what he said. Farah Maalim stated that he never issued threats against Gen Z’s over protests.
The video is all cutting and pasting, taking a word from here and putting it together. It is Somalis who basically would do that, for other reasons, Malik said he also weighed on the politics of Somalia.
He explained that the 5,000 was taken out of context as he talked about a book being launched. What Farah Maalim said about Gen Z protests was that his only issue with the anti-Finance Bill protesters is the threats to occupy protected areas such as the State House, which he termed a coup.
Maalim added that taking over the State House is the same as occupying the State House and is like occupying two constitutional institutions that are a bedrock of the stability of the country and the democracy that is practised.
Maalim attempted to justify his controversial statement by arguing it was a warning against threats to national stability posed by attacks on key government buildings, likening such actions to destabilizing events in other nations like Sudan, Syria, and Iraq.