Court rules that Boniface Mwangi’s right to demonstrate was violated by police

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Court rules that Boniface Mwangi’s right to demonstrate was violated by police

Court has declared that the rights of human rights activist Boniface Mwangi were violated by Kilimani OCPD when he prevented him from demonstrating at state house to deliver a petition to the president about a year ago.

While delivering the judgment on behalf of Judge Isaac Lenaola, Judge Chacha Mwita said that powers to bar the March, assemble or present a petition to state house are only vested to the OCS.

Judge Chacha said a regulating officer is an OCS and not any other police including OCPD

“Stopping the activist from matching to the statehouse without good reason was a violation of his right,” said Chacha.

However, the judge said that demonstrating at the statehouse is legally limited in the constitution hence the reason he directed Mwangi to express the grievances to the president at his Harambee’s House Nairobi Office in Nairobi.

Mwangi moved to court in the year 2015 seeking orders restraining the Inspector General of police Joseph Boinett from stopping demonstrations that were planned December 9, 2015.

He was also seeking to be allowed to present a petition to President Uhuru Kenyatta regarding the state of corruption in the country on the same day at the state house gate A together with his team during the UN International day.

In the petition, Mwangi stated that on December 3, 2015, he delivered a written notice to the officers at Central Police station and Kilimani Police station notifying them of his intention to hold an assembly at freedom corner in Nairobi and statehouse.

He said that his application was denied by the Kenya Police Without any reason.

Mwangi contested that failure by Inspector General of Police and the officer commanding police division to block him was unlawful

He contested that Kilimani Police Division refused to allow him and a group from demonstrating to State House Gate A.

Mwangi contested that the right to freedom of peaceful assembly comprises the right to choose the venue, time and purposes of assembly.

Incitement charges against Aladwa not defective-court rules

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Incitement charges against Aladwa not defective-court rules

Nairobi ODM chair George Aladwa incitement to violence case will now proceed to hearing after he lost a bid to have the charges withdrawn on grounds that the charge sheet was defective.

While delivering his ruling on 1st February 2017, Chief Magistrate Francis said the matter should proceed to full hearing because he did not find any ground that the charges were defective as contested by the defense.

“I have seen the signature of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Keriako Tobiko which means after police completed their work they referred the file to him,” said Andayi.

He added that the DPP submitted that the charge sheet was properly drafted at as it was confirmed to court that it is the DPP who is handling the matter.

The magistrate said he considered the submission from both the prosecution and defense while he made the ruling and was not persuaded how the charge sheet was defective.

“The defense did not provide enough evidence to show that the charge sheet was defective,” said Andayi.

The magistrate noted that the defense failed to provide any authority to show how the rights of the accused are violated.

He said the Christian names indicated in the charge sheet of which have been contested shows that prosecution acknowledges and respect religion.

Through his lawyer John Khaminwa, Aladwa had earlier submitted that the charge sheet was drafted under the old constitution and therefore cannot be used to prosecute him.

“The charge sheet should be amended to show clearly that it is the police and not the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) who recommended that my client charged,” said Khaminwa.

“The police no longer have authority to institute criminal proceedings only the DPP has that mandate,” said Khaminwa.

The lawyer also wanted the parts indicating the ‘Christian’ and ‘tribes’ in the charge sheet deleted and a proper charge sheet drafted.

Lawyer Khaminwa had submitted that the accused person is a senior politician who is contesting for the Makadara parliamentary seat and the case may affect him during the next general election.

According to Khaminwa, the charge sheet contains a police rubber stamp despite the fact that they are not allowed to prosecute.

The magistrate set the case to be heard on 23rd and 26th May 2017.

In the case, Aladwa is accused of uttering words allegedly to be desirable to bring death to certain Kenyans.

He was arrested on October 23, 2015 by Flying Squad officers and taken to the CID and Kilimani Police station to record statements.

Recently, former chief Magistrate Daniel Ogembo had declined to stop the proceedings against Aladwa and said the hearing will continue unless the high court issues orders suspending it.

Khaminwa had requested Ogembo to suspend the proceedings at the trial court pending the outcome of the petition filed at the high court.

Aladwa is out on Sh3 million bond.

Kenya union of clinical officers want their union registered

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Kenya union of clinical officers want their union registered

Clinical officers want the court to compel the registrar of trade union to allow them register their own group.

The health workers say that forming their own union like the doctors and nurses will help them push for higher pay.

Kenya Union of Clinical Officers chairman Peterson Wachira says that the clinical officers have been deprived of the right of association by being barred from registering their Union of Kenya Clinical Officers (UKCO).

The clinical officers have threatened to go on strike if the government fails to address their grievances.

The Respondents in the case did not appear during the mention of the case. Justice Nduma Nderi directed that the matter be heard on the 13th of February.

“The members of the proposed Kenya union of clinical officers are working under very challenging conditions including working for 24 hours a day every week because the officers do not have a mechanism for bargaining collectively for suitable terms and conditions of service” said the officers

The clinical officers went ahead to say that it is in the interests of justice that the human suffering be ended as soon as possible as they continue to suffer because of overwork.

This comes in the midst of the doctor’s strike which has gone on for about two months now and the court has given the KMPDU officials an extra five days to complete negotiations to call off the strike.

The KMPDU officials were found guilty of contempt of court last month after they failed to suspend their strike as ordered by the court on 5th December last year. They were therefore sentenced to one month imprisonment on a suspended sentence. The doctors’ officials will know their fate on 3rdFebruary 2017

court temporarily stops deportation of two former SPLM-IO officials

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court temporarily stops deportation of two former SPLM-IO officials

A Nairobi court has today issued orders prohibiting deportation of two South Sudan Nationals who went missing on Monday 23rd until the hearing and determination of the application

High Court judge Luka Kimaru has also directed that officer Nicholas  Kamwende takes over the investigation of the missing persons, activists Samwel Dong and Agrey Idri. Kimaru who were the former deputy chairperson of the SPLM-IO committee for constitutional affairs and chairperson of the SPLM-IO committee for humanitarian affairs respectively.

 Justice kimaru also directed that the officer appears in court on Tuesday 31st of January to explain the position of the missing persons.

The judge also ordered Safaricom and other mobile service providers in the country to release data from the phones of the applicants

He also ordered that a Senior Security official here in Kenya to be investigated whether he has anything to do with the disappearance of the two

In an application filed in court, the two Sudanese were allegedly unlawfully detained on 23rd January by security officials and if the court does not intervene they will be deported to  their war-torn country

It is alleged that Dong left town on Monday at around 9.00 pm heading to his house in South C but his Family claims that he never got home while Idri went to exercise in the morning but never went back home

The family is said to have reported their disappearance to the police on the same day to no response

UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI LECTURER CHARGED WITH RECEIVING SH 5,000 BRIBE FROM STUDENT FOR AWARDING OF EXAM MARKS

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UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI LECTURER CHARGED WITH RECEIVING SH 5,000 BRIBE FROM STUDENT FOR AWARDING OF EXAM MARKS
A University Of Nairobi lecturer was today charged with three counts of receiving and requesting bribe from a student in order to award him exam marks after he was  found cheating on exam last semester.
Vincent Mbindo Kathumo who is alleged to have committed the first offence on 18th January 2017 at UON upper Kabete Campus is also demanding money with intent to steal.
On the first count, Kathumo is accused of requesting 5000 shillings from a student by the name Duncan Kibet in order to award him the exam marks.
On the second count, he was charged with receiving 3000 from the said student as part of the bribe at Uthiru area in Nairobi.
the accused is lastly charged with demanding 2000 cash and 3000 shillings via m-pesa from Kibet with intent to steal.
He denied all charges before anti-corruption magistrate Lawrence Mugambi and was released on a bond of 100,000 or a cash bail of 80,000.
 The matter will be mentioned on 17th February 2017.

kiambu governor William Kabogo Acquitted of ethnic contempt charges

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kiambu governor William Kabogo Acquitted of ethnic contempt charges
A Nairobi court has acquitted Kiambu County Governor William Kabogo of ethnic incitement charges. Senior Principal Magistrate Martha Mutuku dropped the charges against the governor for lack of sufficient evidence.
In her ruling, the magistrate said that the video clip from the two media houses could not be authenticated since the original raw data could not be produced before court.
The magistrate added that the clip was obtained from a third party and not the media houses and had been edited therefore the prosecution failed to establish a case against the governor.
According to the magistrate, the prosecution was unable to establish that Kabogo uttered words that are likely to cause violence and the community the alleged words were referenced to therefore no direct evidence connected the accused to the words
Magistrate Mutuku also criticized the state for failing to call the person who recorded the incident to testify and confirm to the court whether the Governor made the alleged remarks as the two media houses claimed to have gotten the clip from social media
It was also her view that two witnesses who were called upon to give evidence were not sure whether the Governor uttered the said remarks.
“Prosecution has not established a case against the accused person, I therefore acquit him under section 215 of the criminal procedure rule,” ruled Mutuku
Governor Kabogo was charged with ethnic contempt in august 2016 and was represented by lawyers Mansur Issa and Edward Oonge.
kabogo was alleged to have uttered the words at Thika stadium on November 2015 during musician john de Matthew’s album launch. He denied the charges and was released on a cash bail of 200, 000 thousand.

Other politicians such as former mayor George Aladwa are facing incitement charges before court

Others who are facing hate speech charges include Machakos Senator Johnson Muthama, Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria, kabete MP Ferdinand Waititu Kitut Masaba MP Timothy Bosire, Kilifi woman representative Aisha Jumwa among others.

 

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