THE termination of the hate speech cases against political
analyst Mutahi Ngunyi, Kiambu Governor William Kabogo, Gatundu South MP Moses
Kuria and Kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu for lack of evidence points to a shoddy
prosecutorial case.
There was video and audio evidence, there were scores of
witnesses and yet the government and the Judiciary failed to prosecute a
professional and deterrent case. Instead, three leading figures walked
free.
This does not augur well for the lead-up period to the
general election.
Millions of Kenyans who are less intelligent and less
restrained than the public intellectual Ngunyi and the politicos Kabogo, Kuria
and Waititu will look at these cases, draw the wrong conclusions and breach the
peace. And violence could well be the result.
The police and the courts need to make the price of hate
speech much steeper than it is at the moment. The prosecutors should make the
cases watertight and the Judiciary ought to impose the stiffest penalties.
