NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 11 – Gatundu South Member of Parliament Moses Kuria and former Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama were on Monday arrested over hate speech remarks they allegedly made separately in the past week.
Kuria was picked up by detectives and whisked to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations headquarters where he was briefly questioned before he was taken to the Pangani Police station.
“We are investigating him over remarks he made in Kiambu for a crackdown of people who did not vote for Jubilee,” one senior detective said.
On the other hand, Muthama who is allied to the National Super Alliance was picked up by police from Kangundo and driven to the DCI headquarters and later to Pangani Police Station where Kuria had been taken.
Police said Muthama was being questioned over disparaging remarks he allegedly made in Kajiado targeting President Uhuru Kenyatta during a NASA rally.
The probe on the incitement remarks is being undertaken by police and the National Cohesion and Integration Commission.
On Monday, NASA leader Raila Odinga and a host of other Opposition leaders visited the station to persuade police to release both of them on bail, arguing that the offences they are accused of having committed are bailable.
“We are here with Odinga and all we are asking for is the release of the leaders on bail,” Simba Arati, the Dagoretti North Member of Parliament told Capital FM News on telephone.
Last year, Muthama and Kuria were detained at the same police station before they arraigned in court on hate speech charges, alongside four other legislators in what was then referred to as the Pangani Six.
Both cases were later dropped for lack of sufficient evidence.