The High Court sitting in Nairobi has declared that section 84D of Kenya Information and Communication Act (KICA) as unconstitutional. The section of the law criminalized sharing vulgar information in electronic form.
The ruling was delivered by Justice Wilfrida Okwany and she said that the section is vague and limits freedom of expression.
Justice Okwany made the ruling in a case (Petition No. 214 of 2018) filed by blogger Cyprian Nyakundi through his lawyer Dudley Ochiel.
Cyprian filed the constitutional case after he was charged on April 16th 2018 for publishing, through his Twitter account, various updates mentioning Kirinyaga County Governor Ann Waiguru. The specific one he is being accused on called the Kirinyaga Governor a commercial sex worker. He was charged for various other criminal offenses.
After the court case, Cyprian and any other Kenyan cannot be charged in a court of law for content they publish on electronic platforms under the specific section of the KICA Act.
Section 84D of KICA Act made publishing of obscene information in electronic form an offence . It reads;
Any person who publishes or transmits or causes to be published in electronic form, any material which is lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest and its effect is such as to tend to deprave and corrupt persons who are likely, having regard to all relevant circumstances, to read, see or hear the matter contained or embodied therein, shall on conviction be liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred thousand shillings or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or both.