A 21-year-old commercial photographer has been arrested for allegedly posting an insulting message on Kikuyu MP Lewis Nguyai's Facebook wall. David Ndung'u was arrested at his studio in Kikuyu town after being sought by police for several weeks. He is expected to be arraigned in court today. Ndung'u's arrest follows a complaint filed by Nguyai who visited his wall and found Ndung'u had posted a ''discriminatory, defamatory and high profile insult''.
Allegedly the insulting comment read, “Cal him Nguyai... nawa dais HE is called... NGUI INO… coz he is useless as a dog is… don’t apologize 4 telling the truth… tell him 2 go 2 hell 4 we are…” ‘NGUI INO’ can be loosely translated from Kikuyu as 'this dog' which police said was an unacceptable insult to the assistant minister.
A policeman said, “The MP reported the matter two weeks ago and we have been looking for this young man. He is a traveling man due to the nature of his job. But we were able to arrest him yesterday evening and we shall arraign him before court. But we shall first wait for the MP's directive.” The alleged insults by Ndung'u were read by more than 1,000 of Nguyai's Facebook friends.
Some warned him that personal or constitutional issues should not descend into insults. Nguyai has been reluctant to have the man prosecuted. Lari police chief Joshua Opiyo said if the MP had complained and the suspect was arrested, there was no option other than taking the man to court. He said the suspect could be released after 24 hours if the MP did not file a complaint. “Honorable Nguyai brought us the Facebook printouts yesterday but he is yet to record a statement with the police. The moment he records the statement, the young man will be taken to court but in the meantime, we cannot release him on cash bail until the MP records the statement,” said Opiyo.
Hate speech is covered under section 13 of the National Cohesion and Integration Act. National Cohesion and Integration Commission chairman Mzalendo Kibunjia has warned that hate speech in social media can land culprits in court. Nguyai intends to run for the Kabete parliamentary seat after the Kikuyu constituency was split into two. The MP dropped an earlier bid to run for senator after he won a case against residents who accused him of implementing most CDF projects in his home area of Kabete.
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