AG: MP's case to send clear warning to inciters

Attorney General Githu Muigai has said Embakasi MP Ferdinand Waititu will serve as an example in the government’s bid to curb hate speech and incitement as the country heads towards elections.

“The government wants to send a strong message that nobody, no matter how high or low will escape the full force of the law on this matter of hate-speech…this case is a good example, it will send a clear warning to people inciting communities against each other , that the government will not tolerate such conduct,” Prof Muigai said Wednesday.

“This sort of conduct will be apprehended quickly and will be followed by swift prosecution. We hope the courts will give appropriate punishment,” he said, noting that the country was unwilling to abet utterances similar to those that led to the 2007-2008 post-poll violence.

The AG made the remarks in Parliament as MPs pressed for the dismissal of Mr Waititu from government, and asked that he be charged with murder and incitement.  Prof Muigai termed Mr Waititu’s remarks to the residents of Kayole “ to cleanse the area of members of the Maasai community” as  “highly regrettable”.

“We therefore take great exception to the hateful, derogatory, odious, vile and ill-informed utterances said to have been made by Mr Waititu,” the AG said.

Day in court

However, he added, that the government was unlikely to fire Mr Waititu until he has his day in court.

“The Executive cannot remove from office a person who has not been charged in a court of law and answered to a criminal charge in a court of law,” said the AG.

Olago Aluoch (Kisumu Town West) and Isaac Ruto (Chepalungu) said that because the utterances could have resulted to the death of “three Maasai young men in Kayole”, then Mr Waititu ought to be charged with murder and not just incitement.

Prof Muigai agreed with the MPs, but said that the Director of Public Prosecutions was an independent office as per the Constitution, and that the DPP Keriako Tobiko was the one to take decisions to prosecute.

“We don’t want to tell him how to do his job; but should he seek my view, I would be of the same view (that the charges should be upgraded to murder),” said Prof Muigai.

Gitobu Imanyara (Imenti Central) also sought to know how Mr Waititu dodged the police on his way out of Parliament. Mr Imanyara said Mr Waititu could only have made it out of the precincts of the House with the collusion of his colleagues, the police or parliamentary staff.

“This was an unhappy incident, but immunities of the House precincts must be respected,” the AG said.