The eight legislators from both CORD and Jubilee who were being held by police over hate speech allegations have been charged with incitement to violence.
The politicians arrived at the Milimani Law Courts at 5am Friday morning under heavy GSU escort and were locked up in the cells before opening of the court.
They include Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama, Busia woman representative Florence Mutua, Kilifi woman representative Aisha Jumwa, Moses Kuria (Gatundu South MP), Ferdinand Waititu (Kabete MP), Kimani Ngunjiri (Bahati MP), Timothy Bosire (Kitutu Masaba MP) and Junet Mohamed (Suna East MP).
Police report indicates that they had to ferry the MPs to court very early before sunrise to avoid confrontations from their supporters and sympathizers.
The leaders have been in police cells since Tuesday and were not allowed to meet their political leaders and friends.
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The High Court on Thursday upheld the lower court’s decision to detain them after considering public interest as opposed to individual interests. Further detention of the legislators was also meant to allow police finalise hate speech allegations facing them.
NCIC chairman Francis ole Kaparo emphasized the need to deal firmly with hate speech suspects as he said the commission wouldn’t allow bail for the legislators.
