Veteran Nakuru journalist Elijah Kinyanjui arrested for misuse of licensed telecommunication system

Veteran Nakuru journalist Elijah Kinyanjui was this morning arrested by Nakuru Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for misuse of licensed telecommunication system.

He is accused to have shared a post on his various social media platforms that depicted Nakuru Governors’ daughter Brenda Mutanu in bad light. The Kenya Daily Post shows her smoking shisha, dressed skimpily in various night clubs and dancing with men, including musician Madtraxx.

It is not clear why Elijah Kinyanjui was arrested this morning since the crime he is alleged to have committed was done on October 15th 2015. The post was made on 14th October 2015.

Elijah Kinyanjui is a veteran journalist who has worked with almost all leading newspapers in the country was quizzed last year for an ‘open letter’ he wrote to President Uhuru Kenyatta and which he published on a Whatsup group page he runs dubbed ‘Nakuru Analysts’.

Nakuru journalist interrogated for social media post

Kinyanjui is not new to controversy and court cases. Last year, the Nakuru Assembly Speaker Susan Kihika and Clerk Joseph Malinda took him to court claiming he had defamed them on social media.

Apart from being an administrator of a Whatsapp group in Nakuru, Kinyanjui runs a Facebook page on which he publishes updates on topical issues in the county.

allegedly the complainant to Kinyanjui the journalist arrest is Nakuru county governor #ReleaseKinyanjui pic.twitter.com/P1NTMOb2FG

— St.Nakuru (@StreetNakuru) January 12, 2016

Elijah Kinyanjui,veteran journalist has been arrested by NAKURU CID in wat appears to be political #ReleaseKinyanjui pic.twitter.com/eSUIgw0Jbn — St.Nakuru (@StreetNakuru) January 12, 2016

It is not clear why he is the target of the arrest on a number of reasons;

1. Daily post could as well be sued instead of him.
2. Several other online platforms like Mpasho, Nakuru Exposed, Mashada, inlive news, and brostalk have all published the same story.
3. Why this charge yet they could have used libel or defamation, since sharing a libelous information also make you libelous.
4. Brenda, the Governor’s daughter is above 18 hence an adult to take Kinyajui to face the law

We are still trying to get the charge sheet and will share it once we get it.

Improper use of licensed telecommunication system is a crime under Section 29 of the Kenya Information and Communication (KICA) Act 2009. It says

29. 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 offence 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.

Currently, his lawyer is trying to secure bail for him to be released.