State to go for the property of hate speech mongers

DPP Noordin Haji. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard]

The DPP will now rope in the Asset Recovery Agency and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption body to hunt for the wealth of hate mongers and election offenders, in new measures to tame the perpetrators. 

Guidelines by the Director of Public Prosecution Noordin Haji reveal that his office will be working with a multi-agency team to ensure that hate speech perpetrators and individuals involved in election offences will not benefit from the proceeds of crime if it is established that they were paid to spread hate.

According to the DPP, once sleuths hand in investigation files, his office will guide on whether there should be parallel financial investigations for possible prosecution and recovery.

“The prosecution will guide on whether a parallel financial investigation is merited or the case may call for the potential involvement of the Financial Reporting Centre (FRC) and/or Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and/or Asset Recovery Agency (ARA). If so, the ODPP will, without delay, direct contact with those agencies in order to take forward the financial aspect of the investigations,” says Haji.

The guidelines are contained in a DPP’s book dubbed Compendium on Electoral Justice. In this book, Haji draws lessons on cases that have been concluded in a bid to build water-tight cases against perpetrators during this year’s election cycle.

When Kapseret Member of Parliament Oscar Sudi appeared before a magistrate court in 2020 over alleged hate speech, the state thought it has a solid against him.

He was however acquitted for lack of evidence.

The lawmaker is now part of Haji’s specimen cases in which he reflects on what went wrong.

“The guidelines are a culmination of knowledge shared by seasoned prosecutors from past experiences in handling election offenses. As we prepare for the 2022 General Elections the ODPP will draw from past lessons to ensure adequate preparations are in place for Election Security,” says Haji.

Mr Sudi faced two counts of hate speech and offensive conduct.

Mr Haji notes that the prosecution needed to prove that he was in a public place and he spewed the abusive words. At the same time, the State ought to have proved that Mr Sudi acted with an intent to breach the peace.

But the court found that the prosecution had not established its case to put him on defense.

According to the handbook, the court noted that there was no report on the authenticity of some of the accounts that were used to make comments on the clips. The prosecution did not file a verification report.

At the same time, Mr Sudi’s location was in contention and the court could not tell whether there were members of the public present.

During the 2013 and 2017 General Elections, the DPP says, a huge number of cases related to threats and incitement to violence were reported on social media platforms.