The Constitution of Kenya, 2010 provides for the protection of the freedom of expression, freedom of the media, freedom of information, freedom of belief and opinion, the right to a fair hearing, access to justice and fair administrative action. While these rights are not absolute, they may only be limited within reasonable parameters as would apply in a free and democratic society. In the recent past there have been limitations of constitutional rights by the State in relation to the use of the internet by bloggers and social media users. Further, there are laws that have been selectively applied to social media users.
Over the last year, Kenya has witnessed State harassment, arrests and conviction of Kenyan social media users. Valid and invalid allegations have been made against social media users including defamation, hate speech, undermining a public official, abuse of a licensed telecommunication device, postings on social media that cause anxiety among others. Interaction between the law, social media and the state has been unclear and ambiguous.
It is for this reason that BAKE in collaboration with Mugambi Liabuta – an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya will carry out seminars on social media and the law. The seminars target bloggers and social media content generators to sensitize them on how their interaction online are regulated by the law and steps to undertake when challenged on the content they have generated. This hopefully, will equip online content generators with enough legal knowledge to objectively navigate the blogosphere. The topics for discussion in the seminars will include but not be limited to:-
- Legal system
- Defamation
- Criminal Law Process
- Communication Laws
- Privacy
- Confidentiality
- Intellectual Property
- Consumer Law and
- Social Media Policies
The seminars will be precluded by a one week online discussion of the proposed topics. The Advocate will initiate debate with a 500 word brief on what each topic is about and how it affects online content creators. The seminars will also be held in Kisumu, Mombasa, Nakuru and Nyeri.
The Nairobi training will be held on 7th March, 2015 from 8.30am to 2.00pm. The venue is The Nailab, 4th Floor Bishop Magua Centre, Ngong Road opposite Uchumi Hyper.
The training is free for BAKE members but non members will be charged Kshs.500/-
About the Trainer
Mugambi Laibuta is the team leader at Mugambi Laibuta & Associates. He is Advocate of the High Court of Kenya with experience in legal research and project management. He has academic and practical expertise in constitutional review, design and implementation plus legislative drafting. Currently he is a lecturer at the Kenya School of Law and a former Research Fellow at the African Centre for Business and Human Rights at Strathmore University. He is also a Trained Mediator and a Monitoring,  Evaluation Professional and advisor on business innovation and sustainability.