Court summons Johnson Muthama to answer to incitement charges

A Nairobi court has issued a summons requiring Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama to answer to charges of incitement and disobedience of the law.

The summons comes barely 24 hours after he failed to secure an order to prohibit his prosecution.

(READ: Muthama in court bid to stop his arrest - VIDEO)

Nairobi Chief Magistrate Daniel Ogembo issued the summons on Friday after Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Leonard Maingi applied for the same.

Dr Maingi said activist Japheth Muroko, alias Japhet Thuranira, would also face charges alongside the senator.

"The DPP had made the decision to charge the two after receiving evidence linking them to incitement," Dr Maingi told the court.

The charge against the senator is that on September 23 at Uhuru Park, Nairobi, he uttered words in Swahili that have been translated as: “From Friday next week if teachers will have not been paid, nobody will go to work and whoever goes shall be stoned."

The charge notes that the words indicated "that it was desirable to bring death and physical injury to person in Kenya".

Mr Muroko faces a similar charge, whose particulars have also been translated from Swahili to mean, "We are saying, the motion being brought to impeach Uhuru, any Member of Parliament who votes against it will be lynched."

The offence, according to the prosecution, was committed on September 23 at Uhuru Park, Nairobi.

PLEAD TO CHARGES

Mr Muthama and Mr Muroko are expected in court on October 15 to plead to the charges.

The said utterances were made during a Cord rally held at Uhuru Park on September 23.

Justice Joseph Onguto on Thursday declined to issue a prohibitory order against the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on the grounds that the respondents were yet to respond to the issues raised in the petition.

The respondents named in the application are the public prosecutor, the Cabinet secretary for Interior and the Inspector-General of Police.

The judge directed the petition be served upon the respondents and the matter be heard on Friday "inter partes" for the court to determine whether to issue the conservatory order sought.

The hearing, however, was postponed until Monday.

The senator, through lawyers John Khaminwa, James Orengo and Antony Oluoch, separately in their submissions, told the court that their client was being charged "selectively" with the offence of incitement to violence, contrary to Article 50 (1) of the Constitution.

They said the charge was discriminatory is it was not based on proper investigation as required by law.

"The utterances made by the petitioner were well within his right as senator and citizen of the Kenya," they said.

All that was said, the lawyers had told the court, was within his constitutional rights and freedom of speech enshrined in the Constitution.