DPP orders prosecution of activist Moses Kuria over hate speech

Political activist and Gatundu South Parliamentary aspirant Moses Kuria. DPP has ordered his prosecution for alleged hate speech. (Photo:File/Standard)

Nairobi, Kenya: The Director of Public Prosecutions has ordered the prosecution of TNA political activist Moses Kuria for incitement and hate speech on Facebook.

This follows recommendation by National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC).

DPP Tobiko Thursday said he had agreed with the recommendations of the commission and asked police to go ahead and charge him in court.

Tobiko received a file on the case on May 30 from NCIC recommending charges against Kuria.

Tobiko had written to the Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo, directing him to open up the investigation against Kuria following a complaint filed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK).

Kuria is seeking to be elected as the Gatundu South MP on TNA following the death of Jossy Ngugi last month.

The LSK singled out Kuria for allegedly uploading a series of inciteful Facebook posts targeted at a specific community.

“The posts incite the public to violence targeted at a specific community and may very well constitute hate speech, which if not curbed may plunge the country into chaos,” LSK said.

Section 13 of the National Cohesion and Integration Act makes it illegal to use threatening, abusive or insulting words, acts or materials liable to stir up ethnic hatred.

“Section 62 of the Act further outlaws speech intended to incite feelings of contempt, hatred, hostility, violence or discrimination against any person, group or community on the basis of ethnicity or race,” LSK Chief Executive Officer Apollo Mboya explained in the society’s letter.

LSK attached a download from Kuria’s Facebook wall together with comments.

In his response to the letter from the LSK, Kuria argued that he had not named any communities as such they had no basis for their allegations.

“I have not named any communities. Let them produce evidence of that. The boundary between the Law Society of Kenya and CORD is becoming increasingly thin.”

He was later grilled by the commission.

“They are just echoing the claims made by CORD at the Kibera rally which was full of tribal incitement. Apollo Mboya particularly is advancing a very thin Luo nationalist agenda. My stand against terrorism will not change. Sympathizers of terrorists should not hide behind their communities,” Kuria said in his response.