National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichungwah and his Minority counterpart Junet Mohammed on Friday, December 27, challenged authorities to arrest those misusing the internet in line with the provisions of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act 2018 in light of the recent wave of abductions in Kenya.
While speaking at a function condoling with the family of National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula following his mother’s passing in Mukhweya, Bungoma, the two leaders waded into the discourse that has gained momentum and called upon law enforcement bodies to do due diligence in light of the recent trend.
The two leaders urged the police and other investigative bodies to go after such individuals who they argued are contravening the law put in place in 2018 to tackle cyber-bullying and cyber crime.
“The ongoing behavior and trend by Kenyans to abuse people through the internet by posting images such as the ones we have been seeing lately is very depressing,” Junet stated.
Police Officers during the closing of the Multinational Security Support Mission to the Republic of Haiti Course at the National Police College Embakasi ‘A’ Campus.
NPS
“I want to challenge the DCI to arrest individuals who are violating the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act and make it public that you have arrested them and taken them before courts of law so that it can be a deterrent to those who are misusing computers and artificial intelligence to insult and do very uncouth, uncivilised things,” Ichungwah stated.
“To the DCI, you must make use of the laws that we created and enacted in Parliament back in 2018. I know it had challenges in court back in 2019 but the same courts reaffirmed that law and all the provisions of that law, if the DCI are not aware and the police are not aware are fully in force,” he added.
“All they need to do is implement that law and end these shenanigans of people insulting each other left, right and center with impunity and imagining nothing can happen to you,” he asserted.
Individuals who have allegedly been abducted by individuals believed to be officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) are said to have shared AI images seen to be in bad taste towards government leaders.
Bernard Kavuli, Peter Muteti, Billy Mwangi and Gideon Kibet aka Kibet Bull have over the past week been allegedly abducted for their actions online with many Kenyans reprimanding the State against ‘state-sponsored’ abductions adding that the enforced disappearances were against the law.
At the same time, Ichungwah urged Kenyans to be respectful to politicians in the online arena and steer clear of spewing negative discourse on social media.
“I want to urge Kenyans to respect the families and homes of the politicians who you are targeting online. The same level we expect as Kenyans, let us extend the same level of respect to our leaders,” the majority leader stated.
Additionally, he reprimanded individuals who he accused of faking their abductions amongst them local politicians and urged the police to take note of such incidents.
“We have seen others alleging that they have been kidnapped and abducted. They should also be dealt with by the authorities. Report to police incidents of abduction so that action can be taken. These are crimes in the law of the land and should not be used for political expediency,” Ichungwah affirmed.
Meanwhile the police have steered clear of allegations over their involvement in the abductions reiterating that all police operations were conducted within the confines of the law.
A picture of a hooded person coding behind a computer.
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