Mutahi Ngunyi gets more time to settle hate speech case out of court

Political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi leaves the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi yesterday after he appeared for the hearing of his hate speech case. [PHOTO: FIDELIS KABUNYI/STANDArD

KENYA: A Nairobi court Wednesday gave political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi, who is facing ethnic contempt charges, more time to settle the matter out of court.

Mr Ngunyi's lawyers, Jennifer Shamala and Michael Amalemba, told the court that their client had written to the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) to notify it of his intended reconciliation.

Ms Shamalla asked the court to grant them more time, saying that they had written a letter dated December 9, 2015, to Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and NCIC seeking to settle the matter out of court.

She said a similar reprieve had been granted to former minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere, whose case was dropped after he made a public apology over his remarks.

Milimani Senior Principal Magistrate Martha Mutuku allowed Ngunyi to pursue reconciliation and report to the court on his progress on March 1.

The magistrate allowed an application made by the accused to be given more time to reconcile with NCIC and Apollo Mboya who represents the Law Society of Kenya.

Ms Shamala said the Constitution has a window for reconciliation and Ngunyi should be given an opportunity to exercise that right.

She also informed the court that she never got a reply from Keriako Tobiko and Francis ole Kaparo regarding defence request.

Leonard Maingi appearing for DPP wants the criminal case to proceed to a full hearing. He opposed the application for adjournment saying that the defence had not followed the provisions provided in law regarding reconciliation in a criminal case.

Ngunyi faces four charges of ethnic contempt and hate speech. He is out on Sh200,000 cash bail after he denied the charges. He was charged after losing a bid to stop his prosecution by the DPP.

The case arose from messages Ngunyi allegedly posted on his Twitter page, disparaging CORD leader Raila Odinga and the Luo community.

This came after Mboya petitioned for a probe into Ngunyi over alleged hate speech against a particular
community.

The LSK boss wrote to the NCIC seeking investigations into the political analyst's tweets.

In a letter dated August 24, Mboya said Ngunyi's tweets were intended to incite feelings of "contempt, hatred, hostility and violence".