Salasya freed on Ksh200K cash bail after being charged with hate speech
Mumias East Member of Parliament (MP) Peter Salasya has been set free on a surety bond of Ksh500,000 or a cash bail of Ksh200,000.
Salasya was on Monday, May 19, 2025, arraigned before Magistrate Paul Mutai at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi, where he was charged with hate speech contrary to the National Cohesion and Integration Commission Act.
The Democratic Action Party of Kenya (DAP-K) lawmaker is accused of publishing inciteful remarks likely to stir ethnic hatred on his verified X (previously Twitter) handle.
According to the charge sheet seen by K24 Digital, the post that Salasya made on May 10, 2025, is the one that landed him in trouble.
Salasya is said to have made the said post at an unknown place within the Republic of Kenya.
“On the 10th May 2025, at an unknown place within the Republic of Kenya, knowingly and intentionally published insulting words online, to wit, “Luos are number one enemies of Luhya people. We must fight back this narrative of Luos, or they sink us. They are in gvt but still fighting an innocent person. Ama tuwatahiri iishe” while using your verified X account (formerly Twitter) handle @pksalasya and named Hon. Peter Salasya knowing it to be insulting, inciteful and well calculated to stir up ethnic hatred between the Luhya and Luo communities,” the charge sheet read.
However, the lawmaker pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released, with the case set for mention and further directions on June 4, 2025.
Salasya’s dramatic arrest
Salasya was arrested along the Isiolo-Nanyuki highway and locked up at Nairobi Central Station on Friday, May 16, 2025.
The MP took to his social media accounts after the incident, saying that the persons who had arrested him had introduced themselves as Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers.
Salasya said they ambushed his convoy, shot at his vehicle, and disarmed his security team.
“I have just been attacked by unknown individuals claiming to be DCI officers,” Salasya wrote on his social media.
“They disarmed my security team, shot at my vehicle, and pursued me. One of my guards managed to help me flee into nearby bushes for safety.”
According to the legislator, multiple vehicles intercepted his convoy, shot at the tyres of his four-wheel drive, and immobilised the car.
He was returning from political engagements in Meru and Isiolo and was headed to Nanyuki for a series of rallies when the incident occurred.
