NCIC wants Kuria charged for hate speech

The recommendation came just a day after Kuria’s Facebook account was pulled down on account of the allegedly hateful postings/FILE

“DPP Tobiko today received a file from NCIC recommending charges against Moses Kuria for hate speech on Facebook,” ODPP_KE tweeted on Friday.

The recommendation came just a day after Kuria’s Facebook account was pulled down on account of the allegedly hateful postings.

“I had just posted about me and Waititu inspecting KICC grounds today at 11.30. Comments were running fast and furious. Within less than 5 minutes the account was pulled down. They have shut down my Facebook account. They can do that but they will not shut down my resolve. I will be back!” Kuria tweeted. READ: Kuria’s Facebook account shut amid probe.

The ODPP had also directed the Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo to open investigations into Kuria’s Facebook postings after receiving a formal complaint letter from the Law Society of Kenya (LSK).

“The posts incite the public to violence targeted at a specific community and may very well constitute hate speech, which if not curbed may plunge the country into chaos,” LSK Chief Executive Officer Apollo Mboya wrote.

Kuria has however denied the accusations and in turn accused Mboya of pushing a Coalition for Reform and Democracy (CORD) agenda against him. READ: DPP orders Moses Kuria probed over hate speech.

“I have not named any communities. Let them produce evidence of that. The boundary between the Law Society of Kenya and CORD is becoming increasingly thin,” Kuria fired back.

“They are just echoing the claims made by CORD at the Kibera rally which was full of tribal incitement. Apollo Mboya particularly is advancing a very thin Luo nationalist agenda. My stand against terrorism will not change. Sympathisers of terrorists should not hide behind their communities,” he added.

Kuria also dragged unnamed Americans into the affair following the pulling down of his Facebook account, “Americans and CORD are determined to expel me from Social Media,” he said. READ: NCIC begins probing Kuria over Facebook post.

The NCIC summoned Kuria over his postings on May 26 given the LSK has accused him of contravening Section 13 of the National Cohesion and Integration Act that criminalises the use of threatening, abusive or insulting words, acts or materials liable to stir up ethnic hatred.

About The Author

OLIVE BURROWS

With a decade of storytelling under her belt, Olive Burrows has been with Capital FM for the last four years and perhaps most notably interviewed US President Barack Obama. Committed to asking the hard questions and telling the story in the most engaging way possible, she has also interviewed Melinda Gates, a UK Minister and severally had the opportunity to sit across from President Uhuru Kenyatta and address the pressing issues of the day. Other notables she has had occasion to seek answers from are UN Secretary General António Guterres and John Kerry in his time as US Secretary of State.

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