Court releases eight legislators in hate speech cases on bail

Eight legislators accused of hate speech and incitement to violence have been freed on bail.

The Nairobi Chief Magistrate Daniel Ogembo released legislators Johnston Muthama, Timothy Bosire, Aisha Jumwa, Junet Mohamed, Florence Mutua and Kimani Ngunjiri on a Ksh 1 million bond each with a surety of a similar amount or an alternative cash bail of Ksh 300,000.

In his ruling, Ogembo further released legislators Moses Kuria and Ferdinand Waititu on a Ksh 5 million bond each and a surety of a similar amount or Ksh 2 million bail.

The court noted that Kuria and Waititu face similar cases but are innocent until proven guilty, therefore, dismissing the prosecution’s application to deny them bail on grounds that if released, the accused persons are likely to commit similar offences.

The court agreed that the accused persons were facing serious charges but the prosecution had failed to prove that they were previously convicted and likely to commit a similar offence.

Ogembo further ruled that since no witnesses have been disclosed to the accused persons, there are, therefore, no compelling reasons to deny them bail.

CORD legislators Johnstone Muthama (Machakos Senator), Aisha Jumwa (Kilifi Women Representative), Timothy Bosire (Kitutu Masaba), Florence Mutua (Busia Women Representative), Junet Mohamed (Suna East) were arrested alongside Jubilee’s Moses Kuria (Gatundu South), Ferdinand Waititu (Kabete) on Tuesday and locked up at the Muthaiga and Pangani police stations.