Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria yesterday told the court he has no ill feelings against the Luo community.
Kuria pleaded innocent to three charges of incitement to violence, hate speech and fanning ethnic hatred in May 2014.
In a Facebook posting, Kuria allegedly said that the terror attack in Gikomba market that left 15 people dead and many injured was orchestrated by “Odhiambos” and not the “Somalis”.
He said it might have been a fake account.
He told trial magistrate Teresa Nyangene there is no community in this country known as Odhiambos.
“I was angry about the attack like I was angry yesterday on the Mandera attack. But my anger was not visible to anyone, except my wife,” Kuria said.
He said he has many friends from the Luo community whom he respects.
“Evans Odhiambo Kidero is my good friend from the Luo community. I have another friend called Patrick Odhiambo Kokonya who comes from Busia county,” Kuria said.
“Odhiambos does not necessarily mean someone is Luo, just like if you ask me about Kuria, I would tell you it’s the Kuria people of Nyanza.”
He said it would be erroneous to find him culpable, more so because the National Cohesion and Integration Commission that took him to court has never asked him to record a statement.
Kuria said he is not aware of any incident or social disturbance that might have been triggered following the posting.
He said the prosecution has not proved if the post came from his genuine Facebook account or from the many fake accounts with similar names. The court will deliver its judgment on December 9.