Information Cabinet Secretary nominee William Kabogo, on Tuesday, January 14, pledged to engage more actively with Gen Z to address the recent trend of circulating images of leaders in coffins on social media.
During his vetting before the Committee on Appointments at the National Assembly Mini Chambers, Kabogo was asked about the measures he would implement to address the misuse of social media by the younger generation.
In his response, he emphasized that engaging the youth on the ethical use of the internet would help reverse the current situation.
“We should be thinking about engaging the younger generations, the Gen Zs, the millennials to have ethical use of the internet space. Today they will be Gen Zs but in a couple of years, they will be parents,” Kabogo stated.
“The engagement should be such that if you put Kabogo in a coffin as is the case now, at one time they will be fathers like me. How will they feel if their father is put in a coffin? Genuine engagement is needed with the parties involved in doing these things,” he added.
A collage of President William Ruto and social media applications. PHOTO/ William Ruto.
Kabogo highlighted the existence of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, which was put up to address such issues. He added that there is a need for stronger enforcement and a thorough review of the legislation to better tackle the problem.
“The laws are there. For example, we have the Computer Misuse and Cyber Crimes Act. But we need to improve the enforcement of that law as well as its regular review,” he stated.
The former Kiambu Governor noted that it was essential to balance the freedom of expression with regulation to ensure that the rights of other Kenyans would not be infringed upon.
“We should also be cognizant of the fact that there is freedom of expression in Kenya. We have to strike a balance such that the freedom of one does not infringe upon the freedom of another,” Kabogo noted.
Kabogo’s soft-spoken sentiments seem contrary to the hard-hitting stance taken by Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen who vowed to charge individuals caught misusing social media by sharing distasteful images of Kenyan leaders.
Murkomen’s approach was revealed on Friday, January 10 while launching sub-county offices in Turbo in the presence of President William Ruto who has borne the brunt of such images.
“I want to assure you, your Excellency, myself, and our team in Interior, we are going to relook at this behaviour. We will make sure that we will charge all of those who are using social media to threaten others because if we do not do so, we will not have a country that is in order,” Murkomen averred.
The sharing of distasteful images on social media has led to a spate of alleged abductions where individuals who circulated such images disappeared for some time.
The abductions led to demonstrations with local leaders, the general public and the international community demanding for the release and fair trial of the youths who were abducted.
A photo collage of Bernard Kavuli, Peter Muteti and Billy Mwangi who were reportedly abducted for sharing AI-generate images of the President.