NCIC pulls out of hate speech deal with Moses Kuria
The National Cohesion and Integration Commission on Friday announced that it has withdrawn from the conciliation process involving Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria citing lack of co-operation.
In a press statement, the commission Chairperson Francis Ole Kaparo stated that Mr Kuria had not displayed conciliation efforts on social media.
“While the conciliation process has been in progress, Kuria has continued to post material on his social media accounts that in the opinion of the commission may cause disharmony and are in contradiction to the spirit of conciliation,” he said.
Mr Kuria was charged with hate speech last year in June and through his lawyer applied to take part in conciliation as granted in the law.
The court granted him the request and, together with the commission and the Law Society of Kenya, held conciliation talks.
On January 12, 2015, an agreement was reached with several conditions for Mr Kuria to observe, among them to publicly apologise for his hate speech messages.
CIRCUMCISION
But immediately after he was let off the hook, the legislator changed his Twitter name to Genesis 17:14 that talks about circumcision.
Mr Kuria was accused of using the Bible to spread hate speech, a claim he rubbished when he appeared on NTV.
His account has since been deactivated and efforts to call him to seek an explanation on both incidents have been unsuccessful.
Mr Kuria was back in court on Thursday where his lawyers informed the magistrate that they were taking part in the conciliation process and had publicly apologized in the dailies.
The MP is facing incitement to violence, hate speech and ethnic contempt charges and will appear for mention on February 14.