Sudi acquitted of insult case against Mama Ngina

Kapsaret Member of Parliament Oscar Sudi has been acquitted by a Nakuru Court in a case where he was accused of insulting President Uhuru Kenyatta’s mother and former first lady Mama Ngina.

This is after Principal Magistrate Isaac Orenge declared that the evidence presented before the court was not enough to convict the legislator.

“The prosecution evidence that the offensive words were uttered at an unknown place and he said was likely to occasion breach of peace. I have considered the evidence of all the witnesses. There were no witnesses who stated what effect the words uttered had on them,” the court ruled.

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

The Magistrate 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 duty bound to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the act by the complainant would make people resort to physical violence,” ruled the magistrate.

The magistrate said there was no indication that the words uttered by Sudi in a Youtube clip that went viral on social media platforms caused provocation and thereafter a breach of peace.

He also noted that there is no way of proving the authenticity of the social media accounts used to spread the clip and the people who commented on it.

Sudi was arrested in Eldoret in September 2020 and charged with three counts of incitement and hate speech.