By Isaiah Lucheli
Environment Minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere appears before a Nairobi court to face charges of hate speech in a case that could have far-reaching ramifications on his political career.
The flamboyant legislator’s ministerial portfolio now hangs in the balance as the High Court set August 15 as the date to hear his application to stop his arrest and prosecution.
An attempt by the Matuga MP to block the case through the High Court collapsed after the judge, Lady Justice Florence Muchemi, declined to grant his request.
Precedence was set where ministers formally charged in court with criminal offences resigned until the case was concluded.
Victims of the precedence include former Agriculture minister William Ruto, his Industrialisation counterpart, Henry Kosgey, and Assistant ministers Wilfred Machage and James Gesami.
Another legislator, Embakasi MP Ferdinand Waititu, escaped by a whisker from being charged by a lower court after he obtained orders in the High Court blocking his prosecution.
The Matuga MP had sought to have the magistrate’s court stopped from prosecuting him because he had filed a notice of appeal against the ruling by Justice David Majanja thrown out his petition and paving way for his arrest and prosecution.
The minister had claimed that his right to access justice under the Constitution would be severely prejudiced and grossly violated if he faced charges for expressing himself about the injustices suffered by the people at the Coast.
He added that following the ruling by Justice Majanja the Director of Public Prosecutions ordered the Commissioner of Police and the National Cohesion and Integration to Commission (NCIC) to arrest and charge him, whereas he had been agitating against historical injustices the people of the coast region had suffered.
Historical injustices
“The matters which the petitioner is alleged to have uttered have been a subject of public and open debate regarding the alleged marginalisation and historical injustices perpetrated against the people who up to date suffer from decades of denial of access to land rights and face exploitation,” reads the petition in part.
