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Blogger's arrest shines light on Kenya's internet freedoms

By , Editor, ITWeb Africa
Kenya , 23 Aug 2012

Blogger's arrest shines light on Kenya's internet freedoms

The arrest of Kenyan tech blogger Robert Alai has shone a spotlight on the East African nation’s online civil liberties, with experts saying it has illustrated the possible vagueness of the country’s communications law.

Alai, who writes for technology website techmtaa.com, was put behind bars two nights ago by Kenyan police and released on a Khs100,000 yesterday, after he posted a tweet accusing a government official of ordering murder hits on two human rights activists.

Alai on his @RobertAli Twitter account, which has over 20,000 followers, said he believed that government spokesperson “Alfred Mutua ordered the execution of G.P. Oula and Oscar King’ara calling them Mungiki. He wants to do the same to me.”

The blogger, though, did not present any evidence regarding his public tweet, and has merely pointed to online articles alleging a link between Mutua and the murders.

Subsequently, Mutua, in reaction to the murder allegation, laid a charge against Alai for violating section 29 of the Kenya Information and Communication Act.

According to this section of the Act, “a person who by means of a licensed telecommunication system a) sends a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character, or b) sends a message that he knows to be false for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another person commits an offense and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand shillings, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to both.”

In an exclusive interview with ITWeb Africa, though, Alai says that Mutua also charged him on a second count - that of calling the spokesperson a “foolish pig”.

However, Alai has questioned what he says is the heavy-handedness laid down on him by Kenyan police.

“First the charge says that I misused a communications equipment, which is licensed by the Kenya Communications Commission, the CCK. Twitter is not a communication equipment; Twitter is not licensed by the CCK,” he told ITWeb Africa.

“And the charge which I was charged with can normally attract a maximum fine of Kenyan Shillings 50,000. It is very unfortunate that I was given a cash bail of 100,000, which never happens in such cases,” he added.

The blogger further says his case received unusual attention from top officials.

“I received a call from the (Kenyan Criminal Investigation Department - CID) deputy head of the whole province, which is very unfortunate, because most of the time you get it from a senior inspector of the police, but not such a very high ranking official.

“At first I thought it was a prank call, but later I realised it was serious.

He also says that when he presented himself with his lawyer to police in Nairobi, CID officials told him that they had been monitoring his telecommunications and wherabouts.

Alai's clash with Mutua, though, also stretches back to the blogger's claims that the spokesperson 'blocked' the arrest of the chief executive of affordable housing company Shelter Afrique, Allasane Ba. The Shelter Afrique chief executive is accused of assaulting the company's director Karen Kandie.

The techmtaa.com blogger's upfront approach with people has resulted in other conflicts too.

Erik Hersman, a tech blogger who goes by the Twitter alias of @whiteafrican, has harsh words for Alai, calling him "blogging scum".

Hersman, in a blog post, further says that Alai has been banned from Kenya's technology innovation centre iHub. Hersman even says that the Skunkworks community, Nokia and Google have banned and blacklisted Alai from several events.

"He consistently libels individuals for personal gain, to draw traffic and monetise his sites," says Hersman in a blog post.

But the man commonly referred to as @whiteafrican has raised concerns about the way in which the Kenyan Information and Communication Act is drafted and how it is implmented, with Alai as an example.

An ammendment to act, implemented in 2009 following ethnic violence that ensued in the country's elections, was put in place by the government to prevent Kenyans from inciting hatred using communications.

"There were many of us who warned against the real danger in 2008 and 2009, this Kenyan Information and Communications Act that allowed for censorship based on fuzzy details and definitions, and how it could all be done at the behest of one man, with little oversight.

"It is a controversial amendment of the Kenya Communications Act, 1998 because it gives the state power to raid media houses and control the distribution of content," says Hersman.

Hersman goes on to say that according to the act, "Alai doesn’t run, own or license any telcoms system." But Hersman concedes it's probable that Alai is being held for section b) of the act, which includes libel and defamation.

East African telecommunications analyst Danson Njue, from Informa Telecoms & Media, agrees that the law could be vague.

"Most of these documents from the government don’t make sense. I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t make sense.

"Being the government, you cannot fight the government, so the only thing is to play along,” Njue said.

Njue, however, says he does not think that events surrounding Alai's arrest and the implementation of the communication law affects internet freedom in the country.

“They are free to say what they want, but based on what we had four years ago, the government has put up some legislation to govern that. You can say what you want but you need to check that you don’t incite people.

“If somebody written that you committed murder, the best thing for you is to go to the authorities,” he says.

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