8 MPs Face Hate Speech Charges Due In Court Today

Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama. PHOTO: COURTESY

The Eight Jubilee Alliance and CORD legislators facing hate speech and incitement allegations were due to appear in court Friday to plead to the charges.

The lawmakers who were held at various police stations were taken to the Milimani Law courts at 5.30am after being detained for four days to allow for further investigations into the allegations.

The prosecution had pushed for the detention, arguing that the period was sufficient for a forensic analysis of the statements which the MPs which were captured making on video.

The MPs who were held in police stations included Moses Kuria, Ferdinand Waititu, Kimani Ngunjiri, Timothy Bosire and Junet Mohamed.

Others are Woman Representatives Florence Mutua, Aisha Jumwa and Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama.

On Thursday, President Uhuru Kenyatta told off CORD leader Raila Odinga for demanding the release of the eight stating that they were not above the law and no one had jurisdiction over the courts.
Odinga had earlier in the day demanded the release of the MPs.

He made the demand at the Pangani Police Station where he’d gone to visit with the MPs and described their detention on the court’s orders pending the conclusion of investigations into the incitement charges leveled against them “a gross violation.”