Director of Public Prosecution’s plea to deny Moses Kuria bond rejected

Gatudu South MP Moses Kuria (left) with his counterpart Dennis Waweru of Dagorati South addressing journalists at Jacaranda Hotel in Nairobi. The two want ICC judge Sanji Monageng to be investigated after she opted out of the appeal case involving Deputy President William Ruto and former journalist Joshua Sang. PHOTO BY WAWERU MURAGE

A Nairobi court has rejected the Director of Public Prosecution’s application to deny Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria (right) bond in a case where he is charged with incitement.

Senior Principle Magistrate Teresa Nyangena said the court had found the DPP’s application inadequate to provide compelling reasons on the matter.

Nyangena said the right of bail was a constitutional right for every accused person unless it was proven otherwise. “The DPP should have provided a certificate on the video in question to show the words were spoken and if the words amounted to violence, who took the video, where, when it was taken, why it was not submitted in court,” she said yesterday.

The magistrate also found fault in the inadequacy of the police to arrest Kuria, saying if DPP had found enough evidence, the accused should have been arrested.

She said that the transcript of the video presented before court was not clear on what the Kikuyu words meant, if the Swahili words indicated were connected to the Kikuyu ones and whether they were spoken at the same time or on different intervals.

public interest

Nyangena said the interpreter had not submitted her qualifications and capacity to translate and her relationship with the accused.

“The interpreter Salome Wachira does not explain her capacity to translate, how she acquired the video, how she knew the accused and whether she identified him through visual or voice recognition,” she said.

The magistrate said the DPP submissions should have convinced the court that the utterances were spoken by Kuria.

“The court cannot deny bond on allegations that the accused uttered the words that amounted to insecurity, which affected public interest and national security,” Nyangena said in her ruling.

She also said that the prosecution had not proven that Kuria had defied court directions.

Kuria had asked a Nairobi court to dismiss the application seeking the cancellation of his bond over alleged incitement remarks, saying he was ready to co-operate with the court.

bond cancelled

The DPP wanted the bond cancelled for what he calls breach of a “conciliation pact” when he allegedly incited youths in his constituency to attack and “slash” politicians opposed to the National Youth Service projects.

As a condition for his release pending trial, the Gatundu lawmaker had been restrained from making statements that amount to incitement to violence and ethnic hatred.

Kuria’s lawyer Danson Mungatana urged the court not to cancel the Sh2 million bond, saying Kuria had not acted in a manner that was insubordinate to the court.

Mr Mungatana said the prosecution was being driven by extraneous factors and circumstances.