Standard Group journalist Wahome Thuku says he was a******d for sending an annoying message to Mukurweini MP Kabando Wa Kabando, but remained defiant even as police confiscated his phone for further investigation.
A section of the media, including this website, reported on Tuesday that Mr Thuku, a lawyer-c*m-journalist, had been a******d for defamation, a*********s that had raised debate over the freedom of expression in Kenya, especially among critical journalists. He revealed the charges against him as sending a message, “knowing it to be false, for the purpose of causing annoyance” to the MP.
Mr Thuku wrote on Facebook that he had spotted Kabando d***k at a funeral in Mukurweini constituency. “It (is) not i*****l to be d***k during the daytime at a social gathering, more so a burial, and I can say he is the perfect role model for the youth in Mukurweini. So let him tell us where we will start and where we will stop in this new Mau Mau w*r,” Mr Thuku wrote.
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Mr Thuku said he was a******d by CID officers on Tuesday, on a charge of improperly using a telecommunication system (mobile phone). He said an officer informed him that Kabando had filed a complaint against him.
In a Facebook post a day after the a****t, he said; “H**e speech as defined in the law is not something you will ever see on this wall. What you are likely to find here is h**e speech as defined by yourself,” he said, noting that there is a clear distinction among the three offenses.
He noted that the maximum sentence for the offense is Ksh50,000 or three months in jail, or both. Mr Thuku was later released from Parliament police station but his mobile phone was confiscated for further investigations.
He said he will get a new line and post it on his Facebook page “as a public line for anyone wishing to get in touch with me, and I mean everyone”. He said he was asked to report back on July 30.
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