Moses Kuria returns to court to know fate of his bond terms
Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria when he appeared in a Nairobi court on July 16, 2015 to face charges of incitement and hate speech. FILE PHOTO | PAUL WAWERU | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- In his request, the DPP seeks the cancellation of the bond, accusing the controversial blogger of breaching a “conciliation pact”.
- The court has since declined to bar the media from the proceedings as Mr Kuria had requested.
- The prosecution has annexed a forensic transcript of the recent remarks he made in his Gatundu South Constituency.
A proposed cancelation of the bail terms granted to Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria take centre stage before a criminal court in Nairobi Monday where he faces charge of hate speech, ethnic contempt and incitement to violence.
His lawyer, Danson Mungatana is expected to convince the court why the Sh2 million bond should not be cancelled and the politician sent into custody pending the hearing and determination of the case, as the DPP had requested.
In his request, the DPP seeks the cancellation of the bond, accusing the controversial blogger of breaching a “conciliation pact” when he allegedly incited youth to attack and “slash” politicians opposed to NYS projects.
“The panga remarks” as they are now referred to in court were allegedly captured and aired on national television after the MP addressed youths in his constituency recently.
The DPP in an affidavit before the court says that while the politician addressed armed youth, he implored them to “come with your pangas” and also said that “pangas are not just for cutting weeds only.”
The court has since declined to bar the media from the proceedings as Mr Kuria had requested.
Mr Kuria had been restrained, as a condition for his release pending trial “to desist from making statements that amount to incitement to violence and ethnic hatred pending the outcome of the case.”
The prosecution has annexed a forensic transcript of the recent remarks he made in his Gatundu South Constituency.
Initially, the MP and the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) were “negotiating” to have the earlier case of incitement settled out of court but immediately after one of the meetings and an apology in through paid-up advertisement in the press the politician posted a message deemed as further hate speech.
The DPP later said he was not a party to the negotiations and that the NCIC had no constitutional mandate to withdraw a criminal case.
NCIC on January 16 said it had halted the reconciliation talks with Mr Kuria and was withdrawing the olive branch it had extended to him, adding that the politician had “failed to adhere to the conditions of the conciliatory process.”
