Court to rule on whether to drop hate speech charges against Muthama

A Nairobi court will on July 28th rule on whether incitement to violence charges against Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama will be dropped or not.

Milimani Law Courts Chief Magistrate Daniel Ogembo said that the court will make the determination after Muthama, through lawyer James Orengo, argued that charges against him are defective.

In his argument, Muthama said that the charges amount to abuse of court process adding that he was charged with similar charges in October 2015 and, therefore, the charges should be quashed.

“In October 2015, Muthama was charged in a Nairobi Court over utterances he had made at an Uhuru Park in a similar charge, why did it take them long to charge him?” Orengo submitted.

Muthama was last month charged alongside seven other lawmakers with incitement to violence where he pleaded not guilty and was released on a cash bail of Ksh 100,000.

However, the prosecution has opposed to the application saying that the Magistrate Court lacks jurisdiction to entertain the application.

State Prosecutor Leonard Maingi submitted that charges are properly drafted as per the Constitution.

“The issues raised by the applicant are constitutional and, therefore, this court has no powers to interpret,” Maingi added.