DPP TO REOPEN HATESPEECH CASES AGAINST KURIA AND ALADWA

The Director of Public Prosecutions has moved to the High Court in a fresh bid to have former Nairobi mayor, George Aladwa, and Gatundu South MP, Moses Kuria, detained over hate speech and incitement to violence.
The DPP, through his deputy, Dr Leonard Maingi, is seeking to overturn the rulings in favour of the two politicians that saw them released on bail pending the hearing and determination of their cases in the chief magistrate's court.
The new application states that the magistrate who granted bail did not address himself to the compelling reasons as had been presented and "that national security and public safety considerations require a denial of bail".
"The correctness of the order of November 6 granting bail despite clear findings on compelling reasons justifying the denial of bail require urgent and supervisory intervention by the High Court,” the application presented before Justice Ngenye Macharia reads.

In the new onslaught, it is also stated that there is apprehension that the two politicians may continue to engage in hate speech in violation of conditions given to them when they were separately released on bond.
However, Dr John Khaminwa, who represents Mr Aladwa, said the DPP’s application "was served late" and sought time to respond.
He was granted till January 6, when the application will be heard inter partes while Mr Kuria's case will be heard on January 19.
Mr Aladwa was charged with incitement to violence and released on a Sh3 million bond with an alternative cash bail of Sh500,000.
The hearing of the case was set for January 20.
Nairobi Chief Magistrate, Daniel Ogembo, dismissed a similar request seeking to have Mr Aladwa and Mr Kuria incarcerated pending the determination of their cases.
The prosecution had asked the court to deny the politicians bond on the grounds that "there is increased hate mongering and incitement to violence that may plunge the country into bloodshed".
At the time, Dr Maingi told the court that despite stringent bond terms meant to deter politicians such as Mr Kuria from making inflammatory remarks, they had gone ahead to "spew similar or even worse vitriol".
The court was told of Kiambu Governor William Kabogo's remarks that were said to border on contempt of court and the justice system.
However, the politician is yet to be charged.
Mr Aladwa's case, according to the prosecution, indicated it was desirable to bring death to certain Kenyans and was an affront to "the existence of an open and democratic society".
The DPP states that even after the court warned Mr Kuria to desist from hate speech he went ahead and posted inflammatory remarks on his Facebook wall.