Moses Kuria, Ferdinand Waititu acquitted of hate speech charges

A magistrate's court has acquitted MPs Moses Kuria and Ferdinand Waititu of incitement to violence charges.

The MPs were among Jubilee and Cord politicians arrested and detained last year over alleged hate speech and incitement to violence.

Senior Principal Magistrate Charity Aluoch on Monday ruled that video evidence produced by the prosecution incriminating the two Jubilee legislators is not authentic to warrant their conviction.

The magistrate also ruled that public resources should not be misused and that the court is not satisfied that the utterances said to have been made by the lawmakers could result in incitement to violence.

She also pointed out that the original video or material used to record it and transcripts were not presented in court.

Five witnesses had already testified in the case against the two.

Mr Kuria is the MP for Gatundu South while Mr Waititu is the Kabete constituency legislator.

The prosecution had said Mr Kuria on June 13 made remarks alluding to the physical injury and death of Raila Odinga at the Kasarani Gymnasium.

Mr Waititu, the prosecutor said, also alluded that it was desirable to kill the Cord leader.