Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama could face arrest after he failed to honour summons by the cohesion body over alleged hate speech.
Mr Muthama had been ordered by the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) to appear before it Friday at 10am to assist with investigations on utterances he made on June 23 at Machakos AIC Church.
According to NCIC, the Machakos Senator reportedly said “…how can he appoint an Asian to run the affairs of the County…?” utterances the cohesion body says are contrary to section 13(1) (a) as read with section 13(2) of the National Cohesion and Integration Act touching on hate speech.
The legislator is said to have issued a response to the NCIC summons through his lawyer where he denied the allegations, claiming that the said utterances were “in the spirit of Article 10 of the Kenyan Constitution 2010 that attempts to foster public debate and participation within the County on a suitable criteria for the appointment of public officials within the County”.
A statement by the NCIC notes the Machakos senator had failed to honour the summons by NCIC at the mentioned place, date and time, which amounts to an offense as provided under section 63(c) as read with section 63(e) of the NCI Act.
The offense, the statement said, called for the arrest and charging of Mr Muthama before a criminal court.-nation.co.ke
