One charge against Ng’ang’a translated thus: “Before Jesus was crucified, he stood in the court presided by Judge Pontius Pilate and answered all the questions. The judge ruled he had no case. He asked the crowd if he would release Jesus or he be crucified instead and the crowd asked for the thief to be freed and for Jesus to be crucified.”
The audience laughed when the clerk said the extract from the Bible was intended to cause violence between the Kikuyu and the Luo communities.
Police claim the songs, which are packed with proverbs, riddles, and metaphors contained hate speech intended to incite feelings of hatred, contempt, and discrimination among the Kikuyu or the Luo.
But the musicians’ lawyers Gichuki King’ara, Mbiyu Kamau, Kibe Mungai, JM Waiganjo, Gathi Irungu, and George Kimani accused NCIC of igniting hatred between the Kikuyu and the Luo.
“The NCIC through its incompetence is inciting the hatred between the Kikuyu and the Luo communities. Words that have never been incitement are now given an incitement interpretation,” lawyer Mungai said.
King’ara, Mbiyu and Mungai said they would be taking the matter to the High Court to challenge the constitutionality of the charges and the trial.
He said the cases were intended to present one-sided political opinion on the debate revolving around the prosecution of Kenyans at the International Criminal Court, which features in one of the songs.
He argued that given the nature of the charges, the magistrate court could not deal with the matter before the ICC trials are concluded.
But the prosecution led by Police Superintendent Bridget Kanyai said the cases were totally different and independent from the proceedings before the ICC. The three who had been out on Sh10,000 police bond were released by the court on Sh100,000 cash bail each. The cases will be mentioned on July 18, but will be heard on various dates in August.
