Moses Kuria banned from mentoring Kakamega youth

A section of Kakamega County officials have declared Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria a persona non-grata in the area over alleged habitual cases of incitement to violence.

In a statement to media houses, Mahiakalo MCA Cleophas Malala and a group of youth leaders in the county said Kuria has been severally accused of inciting the youth adding that his infiltration into the county would be detrimental to the welfare of the youth.

“It has been brought to our attention that a certain meeting between the youth of Kakamega County and Moses Kuria is slated to take place on or about June 10th in Mumias Town. The meeting is clothed in the drapery of Mentorship Talk or Programme,” he said.

“Kakamega County is not devoid of able mentors. We are not interested in the talk being fronted by Kuria who has in several occasions in the mainstream media been cited as an agent of tribal profiling, ethnic cleansing and youth radicalization.”

Malala urged Kuria to focus on initiative empowerment projects and mentorship programmes in his constituency to eradicate cases of alcoholism.

He singled out an incident in Gatundu South in November last year where Kuria was captured on camera allegedly inciting the youth to take up pangas and slash all those opposed to the National Youth Service (NYS) project.

Speaking in reference to CORD leader Raila Odinga’s allegations of corruption at the NYS, Kuria claimed that the Opposition was out to frustrate the project, calling on Gatundu youth to defend it.

The utterances led to the arrest of Kuria after Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Keriako Tobiko ordered that he faces charges of incitement to violence.

Appearing before Chief Magistrate Daniel Ogembo, Kuria had denied the charges saying the case was a political plot orchestrated by his rivals to ensure his downfall.

The legislator was released on Sh1 million cash bail after spending five days in police custody.

The terms were however extended from Sh 1 million to Sh3 million this year with the bond terms being revised to Sh10 million from Sh5 million.

In the ruling made in February 2016, High Court Judge Luka Kimaru said the revision was aimed at taming the increased cases of hate speech and incitement by political leaders.

Kuria is not new to controversy; In 2014, the legislator was charged with incitement to violence and ethnic hatred but was released on a Sh2 million cash bail.

The MP also has another case in court for linking two communities to last year’s explosion at Gikomba market.

Kuria’s planned visit to Kakamega county comes just a month after he held another meeting with youth in Kisii County.

The event dubbed Western Youth Forum is set to bring together 3,000 youth from 38 constituencies in the region and is to be attended by Kuria, former Shinyalu MP Justus Kizito and Water Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa.