Mr Maingi said the country is in an electioneering mood and caution must be taken to avoid a repeat of 2007 post-election violence. He sai...
Mr Maingi said the country is in an electioneering mood and caution must be taken to avoid a repeat of 2007 post-election violence.
He said the trend taken by politicians was likely to plunge the country into chaos as some leaders had intensified incitement ahead of the 2017 elections.
“We urge this court to take judicial notice that as the country gears up for the general elections, incidents of hate speech, intolerance and outright incitement to violence are taking a dangerous trend,” Maingi said.
The packed courtroom was ringed with police officers from the General Service Unit in anticipation of a clash between Opposition and Jubilee supporters.
Starehe MP Maina Kamanda was forcibly ejected from the courtroom before the proceedings began. It took the intervention of police to have him escorted out of the Milimani Law Courts.
Kuria also provoked the crowd when he held Waititu and Ngunjiri’s arms and raised them in a victory salute. They were booed by the Opposition supporters before Raila reprimanded them and asked them to be calm.
Lawyer James Orengo for CORD MPs urged the court to dismiss the application on grounds that there were no compelling reasons to continue holding them.
He said since police had obtained the said footage there was no likelihood of them interfering with the investigations. He said the nature of the application does not disclose any offences committed by the CORD legislators.
He further said the CORD MPs voluntarily appeared before the police and were not arrested as alleged.
For Jubilee, Francis Munyororo said bail was a constitutional right that cannot be denied on basis of apprehensions. He said the subjects were willing to report to respective police stations for interrogation.
The Prosecution said Kuria on June 13 made remarks alluding to the physical injury and death of Raila Odinga at the Kasarani gymnasium.
Waititu, the prosecutor said, also alluded that it was desirable to kill the CORD leader.
The Prosecution said Mr Mohammed, Mr Muthama, Mr Bosire, Ms Mutua and Ms Jumwa at a press conference on June 13 at Capitol Hill uttered words to the effect that they would create chaos and forcibly storm the IG’s office if “certain people” were not arrested.
The prosecution wanted four days to hold the politicians for in-depth investigations into the alleged utterances.
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