Mama Ngina insult: Case against MP Oscar Sudi flops

A Nakuru court has acquitted Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi of hate speech and offensive conduct charges.

The lawmaker was accused of using threatening words likely to stir up ethnic hatred on September 7, 2020, at an unknown place within the Republic of Kenya.

He was also accused of abusing President Uhuru Kenyatta's mother, Mama Ngina Kenyatta.

But in a ruling delivered on Friday by Principal Magistrate Isaac Orenge, the court said the MP has no case to answer after the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Sudi had committed the offences.

Mr Orenge said that the court could not fill gaps in the insufficient evidence provided by the prosecution, noting that worthless and discredited evidence cannot warrant placing the MP on the defence.

He also noted that the prosecution had failed to establish the accused person was in a public place when he uttered the words and that he used abusive words against the complainant with intent to provoke breach of peace.

“The prosecution is dutybound to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the act by the complainant would make people resort to physical violence,” ruled the magistrate.

After watching a video clip of Mr Sudi's speech, the Principal Magistrate said it was clear that the utterances were made in an unknown place and it was difficult to know if it was public or not.

He said that there was no member of the public an opinion leader from the communities allegedly mentioned in the clip that were called by the prosecution to adduce evidence to the effect of the words that were uttered stirred up ethnic hatred.

“The prosecution's witnesses themselves informed the court that mere mentioning of the two tribes in the clip didn’t amount to hate speech,” he said.

On the offensive conduct count, the magistrate ruled that it was not established that the MP's statements were intended to cause breach of peace. He noted that no witness stated that the words uttered had affected them personally.

"One of the prosecution witnesses told the court that there were demonstrations in Kiambu County but there was no evidence that was presented showing that it was in relation to the words uttered by the accused," said the magistrate.