"Hatupangwingwi": Ruto Drops a Remix of "Sipangwingwi" Song Hours After NCIC Classified the Word as Hate Speech

Deputy President William Ruto has released a remix video of the popular 'Sipangwingwi' song.

Ruto, who featured the hit’s original composer Gengetone artiste Exray Taniua, shared the remix video on his social media pages on Friday afternoon.

The deputy president captioned the three-minute remix video 'Hatupangwingwi', eliciting mixed reactions from Kenyans on social media.

The release came hours the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) listed the word Sipangwingwi among 25 terms that are considered hate speech.

NCIC argues that the word ‘Sipangwingwi’, which loosely translates to ‘No one can arrange us’, is dangerous as it allegedly implies that some families and communities have held on to power for far too long.

NCIC Chairperson Samuel Kobia, in a media briefing on Friday, said they classified the terminologies as coded messages that can be used to trigger ethnic hatred ahead of the August 9th elections.

"The NCIC has classified terms, which have been regularly used in Kenya’s political landscape with the intent to provoke violence among various communities of diverse political viewpoints,” said Kobia.

“We have classified these terms as coded messages which can be used to activate hatred and consciously eliminate other communities.”

The words are in various languages including English, Kiswahili, Sheng, Kikuyu, Kalenjin, Meru, and non-verbal nods.

English words listed by NCIC as hate speech include fumigation, uncircumcised, eliminate and kill.

Madoadoa, watu wa kurusha mawe, watajua hawajui, wabara waende kwao, kaffir, chunga kura, wakuja, chinja kafir, kwekwe, and mende, are the Swahili words in the hate speech list.

Sheng terms that are considered hate speech are kama noma noma, kama mbaya mbaya, operation linda kura and hatupangwingwi. 

Kikuyu terms in the list include kihii and uthamaki ni witu while Kalenjin words are kimurkeldet (brown teeth), otutu labotonik (uproot the weed), and ngetiik. Mwiji was the only Meru term on the list.