Monday, September 3, 2012

Mwakwere to face hate speech charges

Written By:Dzuya Walter,    Posted: Mon, Sep 03, 2012
The minister allegedly told voters that indigenous Coast residents were being oppressed by Kenyans of Arab descent.
Environment minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere will have to appear before the magistrate court after the high court declined to issue him with orders to temporarily stop the hate speech charges he faces pending an appeal.
This is the third time that the court has declined to issue any orders. Last week the judge temporarily stopped the criminal trial.
In the case Mwakwere had argued that his appeal is likely to succeed and therefore asked judge David Judge Majanja to temporarily stay the orders pending the outcome of the appeal.
However his application was opposed by the lawyers representing National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) and Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) on grounds that the minister was abusing the court process considering that the high court had dismisses same application.
In his ruling judge Majanja said that Mwakwere will not suffer any prejudice adding that there is no basis given in court to stop a lawful arrest.
This ruling means that Mwakwere will have to appear before the magistrate's court and answer to the plea.
Mwakwere engaged in hate speech during campaigns for the Matuga by-elections in 2010.
The matter will be mentioned on the 18th of this month before anti-corruption magistrate Lucy Nyambura.
Elsewhere, three orgarnizations have moved to court to stop the appointment of chairperson and commissioners of Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.
In their application the organizations argue that the selection panel failed to give a fair and equitable representation to the minority and marginalized community as required by the constitution.
The matter will be heard on the 5th of this month.

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