There should be no discrimination in dealing with social media terrorists
What you need to know:
- The Kibaki presidency that rescued us from the dictatorial Kanu kleptocracy was a freewheeling and often chaotic regime where political disorder was the order of the day and insults flowed fast and furious.
- The speed with which Wadi was arrested and jailed itself demonstrates that this was treated as a special case because the Kenya Police Service, the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the Judiciary are not known for swift action on anything.
- For every lot of Alan Wadi, Dikembe Disembe, and Robert Alai on the Cord side, there are Jubilee counterparts in the likes of Mugo wa Wairimu, Moses Kuria, and Jack Muraguri.
Even with all my social media interactions and infractions, I had never heard of one Alan Wadi, aka Lieutenant (sic) Wadi, until this very new year.
The Moi University student has leapt from anonymity to instant notoriety with a two-year jail sentence for unpalatable Facebook posts on President Uhuru Kenyatta.
From what I have seen of his social media rantings since, Wadi is a fellow I would not want too close an association with. What he emits is poisonous and betrays the mindset that hurls vile insults at anybody who does not kowtow to their ethnic political warlords.
We have too many so-called bloggers and social media activists who do not think beyond their narrow blinkers.
They will condemn entire populations and will not hesitate to call for the mass murder, forced deportation, jailing, and torture of entire ethnic groups.
However, as Mwai Kibaki reminded us many years ago, every market has its madman. It was a lesson he took to State House, where he would not be bothered by the sterile noises from a few misguided fellows.
The Kibaki presidency that rescued us from the dictatorial Kanu kleptocracy was a freewheeling and often chaotic regime where political disorder was the order of the day and insults flowed fast and furious.
TAUGHT A LESSON
But the president was too big to employ the coercive powers of the state security machinery merely to teach lessons to some inconsequential irritants.
And that, as Luitenant Wadi has learnt, is the difference between President Kibaki and President Kenyatta II.
The arrest, prosecution, and jailing of the fellow just because of foolish Facebook posts acts as proof of the intolerant and dictatorial regime we are drifting into.
The speed with which Wadi was arrested and jailed itself demonstrates that this was treated as a special case because the Kenya Police Service, the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the Judiciary are not known for swift action on anything.
Now, do not get me wrong. I am not for anarchy on Facebook and Twitter, or even in the mainstream media. I have argued previously that those who misuse such platforms for ethnic hate and incitement should be punished in accordance with the law.
However, the law must be applied equally and the punishment must fit the crime. They say that justice is blind, so the fact that President Kenyatta may have been aggrieved by Wadi’s slurs, or that the fellow uttered hate speech aimed at the entire Kikuyu community, is no reason for extra-swift action and stern action.
BLOGGERS ON STATE PAYROLL
There are many other bloggers out there, some on the State’s payroll, who spend all their time and energy hurling similar insults at opposition leader Raila Odinga and suggesting extermination of the entire Luo community.
It is not right that one set of social media terrorists have immunity to spread all sorts of criminal vitriol, while those on the opposing side are made to face the full force of the law.
For every lot of Alan Wadi, Dikembe Disembe, and Robert Alai on the Cord side, there are Jubilee counterparts in the likes of Mugo wa Wairimu, Moses Kuria, and Jack Muraguri.
Some who have supported Wadi’s jailing argue that he called for President Kenyatta’s killing. That is a very serious crime indeed, but one cannot be sentenced for an offence that he has not been charged with.
Another argument is that he pleaded guilty. That reminds me of the Mwakenya trials of the 1980s, where scores of innocents readily pleaded guilty to all manner of manufactured offences rather than face the horror of more nights in the Nyayo torture dungeons.
Wadi’s jailing reminds us all that the intolerance of the Nyayo era, as captured by the contentious security laws, is back.
And this is why colonial-era laws such as “undermining authority of a public officer” and making comments “calculated to bring into contempt the lawful authority of the president of the Republic of Kenya” have been dredged back into use, bringing in the discarded sedition laws through the back door.
Those in public office must have the cojones to take a few insults. If they cannot, they should retreat into private life.
[email protected]. @machariagaitho on Twitter
