Moses Kuria goes to court to prevent TNA from disciplining him for hate speech
Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria will on Monday move to court to challenge a decision by his party to institute disciplinary proceedings against him.
Mr Kuria’s lawyer, Mr Danson Mungatana, will be seeking to have The National Alliance party (TNA) disciplinary committee compelled by the Political Parties Tribunal, a quasi-judicial body to retract the summons.
The party wants Mr Kuria reprimanded for claims of incitement and propagating ethnic hatred. The summons seen by Sunday Nation indicate he is set to appear before the committee on Wednesday at TNA headquarters.
Mr Kuria believes that subjecting him to the committee would amount to double jeopardy since the issues the party have raised against him are the same ones he is facing in the High Court.
“First of all, the committee is not properly constituted at this stage, and formation of the national oversight board was skipped. We will not allow our client to be subjected to an execution squad, like this promises to be,” said Mr Mungatana, who also accuses TNA chairman Johnson Sakaja of being an interested party in the issue.
INCITEMENT TO VIOLENCE
“On or about 10th June, 2015, you uttered words that were ordinarily understood to incite violence against other Kenyans. Further, you inappropriately associated those words with the President of Kenya, contrary to the creed and Constitution of TNA,” reads the particulars of the offence.
The disciplinary committee is chaired by Ms Halima Kiniti, assisted by Dr Washington Makodingo, who made the announcement this week.
Ms Kiniti will be the final arbiter in determining who bears the onus of proof for the entire case.
If found guilty, Mr Kuria will face sanction as decided by members, which, among others, range from suspension, termination of membership to monetary fine not exceeding one-month’s salary. Like in any judicial proceedings, there is room for appeal.
The MP, who is said to evoke passion among masses in Jubilee’s central Kenya bedrock, and hatred in opposition areas, is facing incitement to violence charges in court over allegations that he urged youths in Gatundu to attack those opposed to projects being undertaken by the National Youth service (NYS).
On Friday, Mr Kuria lost a bid to block an application by Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko to cancel his bond in the hate speech case. Mr Tobiko is seeking to have the Sh2 million bond cancelled, accusing the MP of breaching a “conciliation pact”.