Githu’s talk of crime of ‘high treason’ is ignorance of law

Attorney General Githu Muigai

Attorney General Githu Muigai touched off a firestorm last week when – with braggadocio – he warned that NASA’s Raila Odinga would commit “high treason” were he to be sworn in as the President of the Republic of Kenya.

In Section 40(3), the Penal Code provides a mandatory death sentence for any person convicted of treason. It’s not clear what the Jubilee regime through AG Muigai was trying to say. Did they intend to prosecute, and send to the gallows, the man Kenyans call Agwambo? Were they bluffing to intimidate Raila? Or were they signaling zero tolerance for dissent?  Let’s dig deeper.