Mumias East Member of Parliament Peter Salasya could be headed for a court trial over hate speech remarks made on his X account, it has now been revealed.
While referring Salasya’s hate speech case to the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), Senior Magistrate Paul Mutai warned that the MP risked going through a full trial if enough progress was not made in the matter.
In taking up the matter, NCIC was tasked with making a review and recommendations in the case against the vocal lawmaker.
The move to refer the matter back to NCIC came after a request by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to allow the Commission to assess the matter before making the next steps.
After referring the matter to NCIC, Mutai fixed the case for mention on November 11, to receive an update on NCIC’s findings, failure of which the case would proceed to trial. Salasya was also directed to appear before the NCIC today for questioning.
Further, the prosecution maintained that NCIC’s involvement would only be limited to evaluating the case and advising the ODPP, and not determining guilt or innocence.
Under current law, hate speech is punishable under the National Cohesion and Integration Act (NCIC Act), 2008.
If the prosecution and NCIC provide enough evidence on the hate speech charges, Salasya risks a three-year jail term or a fine of Ksh1 million or both the jail term and fine.
However, recent proposals to amend the law on hate speech could see persons convicted of hate speech face a ten-year jail term or a fine of Ksh10 million for publishing or disseminating hate speech via media.
Other penalties, housed under the National Cohesion and Integration (Amendment) Bill, 2022, include disqualification from holding public office for five years for those convicted.
Salasya had been charged with hate speech over inflammatory remarks made against certain members of two ethnic communities in posts made back in May.
The charge sheet stated that the MP intentionally published the words on his X handle, knowing that they were insulting, inciting, and calculated to stir up ethnic hatred between the two communities.
