Police in Kirinyaga on Thursday arrested a man for allegedly posting a defamatory statement on Facebook against area Governor Anne Waiguru.
Kirinyaga County Criminal Investigations officer Bernard Korir said the man was arrested after the governor recorded a statement with the police, prompting them to launch investigations.
“We are investigating an incident in which a blogger has been posting defamatory statements against the governor. After preliminary investigations, we picked him up, and he is currently helping us with investigations, “said Korir.
However, police did not disclose what the suspect, who is being held at Kerugoya Police Station, had posted.
The blogger, however, claimed that his account was hacked by unknown people.
Criminal defamation was declared unconstitutional in Kenya in 2017. Critics, however, say the State snuck it back through the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act.
The move comes at a time when Waiguru is facing an impeachment motion recently tabled at the County Assembly over alleged misappropriation of funds.
The suspect faces charges of publication of false information in violation of Section 23 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act.
Section 22 (1) of the law states: “A person who intentionally publishes false, misleading or fictitious data or misinforms with the intent that the data shall be considered or acted upon as authentic, with or without any financial gain, commits an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding five million shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both.”
