Daadab Member of Parliament Farah Maalim has found himself at the center of a digital storm after a video purportedly showing him threatening Generation Z over recent anti-Finance Bill protests went viral.
The unverified video, which started trending on X on Tuesday, July 9, depicted Maalim stating that he would have killed 5,000 Gen Zs if he were the current president.
However, Maalim swiftly refuted the authenticity of the video during an interview on KTN News, labeling it as a deliberate misrepresentation.
“The video making the rounds has been edited. It’s all cutting and pasting, taking a word from here and putting it together. It is Somalis who basically would do that, for other reasons, because I also weighed in on the politics of Somalia,” Maalim asserted.
He clarified that the number 5,000 was taken out of context from a discussion about a book launch.
Maalim’s primary concern with the anti-Finance Bill protesters was their threats to occupy protected areas such as the State House, which he categorized as a coup attempt.“
In a sense, when you say that you’re taking over a State House, you’re occupying a State House, and you’re occupying Parliament, two constitutional institutions that are a bedrock of the stability of the country, and the democracy that we practice, which is essentially what we do every five years.
To determine who is going to be the people who will run the system. And then you come and take it over.
That is a coup. There’s no question about that,” he elaborated.
Maalim emphasized that such actions threaten the very foundations of Kenya’s democratic processes, which rely on regular, peaceful transitions of power through elections.
His statement aimed to underline the importance of protecting constitutional institutions from being undermined by unlawful protests and occupations.
Despite Maalim’s clarifications, the video continues to circulate widely on social media, stirring heated debates and reactions.
The controversy highlights the challenges of the digital age, where misinformation can spread rapidly and affect public perception.
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