Gatundu South Member of Parliaments lawyers Danson Mungatana,MP Moses KURIA(center) and law Society of Kenya (LSK) CEO Apollo Mboya during the hearing of a case in which the state have sued the legislator for posting of the alleged hate messages in facebook platform in relating of the Gikomba fire last year.
BY SAM ALFAN
Statements posted by controversial Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria on social media relating to the Gikomba fire last year did not amount to hate speech or incitement, Court heard on Wednesday.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) Apollo Mboya was put on the spot by Kuria’s tough Lawyer Danson Mungatana to explain whether the remarks linked Cord Leader Raila Odinga or any ethnic Community in anyway.
In his response, Mboya said the statements were not linked to Raila but were laced with hate speech and ethnic contempt on May 16th 2014.
Earlier on, Mboya had stated that the statements were linked to Cord Leader Raila Odinga since Kuria had written the attacks were planned from Boston where Raila was at the moment.
Mboya told the court that he was called by four people which included advocates to check the various updates the Gatundu South MP had allegedly made.
However Kuria’s lawyer Danson Mungatana questioned whether Mboya acted on a personal initiative or as mandated by LSK since there were no minutes to indicate the council recommended Kuria’s Prosecution.
Mboya defended himself saying the agreement was met by an evaluation team.
‘I made communication with the office of the Director of Public Prosecution which included screen shots of the said posts. The DPP then requested the Inspector General of police by a letter to cause speedy thorough investigations on allegations and submit a report and findings,” he said.
Mboya denied the issue of political enemity saying that he forwarded the issue to the DPP because the social media updates would have caused incitement
Kuria had written on social media, “I think it’s just a matter of time before Kenyans start violence against perceived terrorists, their sympathizers, their financiers and those issuing travel advisories without sharing intelligence. I am not sure I will not be one of those Kenyans. When you touch Gikomba the nerve centre of our economic enterprise,y ou really cross the line. Brace yourself. Choices have consequences.”
He was charged after the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) wrote to DPP Keriako Tobiko demanding that action be taken against the legislator for posting messages which they said displayed and encouraged ethnic hatred.
On June 2014, he was charged with three counts of incitement to violence on Facebook and was released on a cash bail of Sh2 million. Kuria was later charged on the recommendation of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC). He however sought an out-of-court settlement where he was to offer an apology for his postings and refrain from committing similar offenses in future.
He had earlier been charged with hate speech after he linked Gikomba bomb blasts to members of the Luo community.
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