Kisii MCA in court for 'belittling President Uhuru Kenyatta'

KISII: A member of the Kisii County Assembly appeared in court for the hearing of a case in which he is charged with allegedly undermining President Uhuru Kenyatta in public.

Kiogoro ward representative Samuel Aboko Onkwani was charged with uttering offensive words against the President.

He was charged with undermining the authority of a public officer contrary to Section 132 of the Penal Code.

The section provides that any person who, without lawful excuse, utters, prints, publishes any words, or does anything calculated to bring into contempt, or to excite defiance of or disobedience to the lawful authority of a public officer is guilty of an offence.

The accused, through defence lawyers Samson Nyagaka and Gideon Nyambati, argued that the evidence given in court was misleading and meant to infringe his rights.

In their cross-examination of the first witness Kerera chief Calvin Kengara, the defence maintained their client had not undermined the President.

Appearing before Principal Magistrate Kibet Sambu, Nyambati told the court the version of events as given by Mr Kengara were not correct.

Nyambati read to the court what he termed as the correct version of the remarks made by his client. "Those who are close to the in-charge of this world should advise him to stop taking bitter substances," read Nyambati.

Earlier, the first witness went missing from the court premises forcing the magistrate to call for a private session with the defence counsel. The lawyer requested the magistrate to issue a warrant of arrest for the witness.

The State counsel led by Desmond Majale could not explain the witness's whereabouts and called for the case's adjournment, which Nyagaka opposed.

The hearing will resume on March 17.