Reawakening a sleeping monster: Digital clampdown, cyber laws and their impact on freedom of expression in Kenya
by admin on | 2025-04-03 07:51:34
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Kenya has seen a deterioration in the protection of the right to freedom of expression (FOE) in the recent past. This has been seen through several measures the government and its agencies took to restrict FOE. The fights against the right to FOE have been seen both online and offline in equal measure, mostly through digital clampdown, unchecked government surveillance, tramped up charges against government critics, enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killings. This was mainly seen during the protests against the 2024 Finance Bill in June 2024, where the government among others shut down the internet, restricted FOE digitally, disappeared the participants of the protests and prosecuted those who encouraged the protests whether online or physically. These repressive acts, which are still going on to date are an affront to the right to FOE under the 2010 Constitution of Kenya (Constitution), regional and international legal instruments. These acts only lead to the reawakening of a sleeping monster, a monster that devoured the citizens’ freedom to question the authority and call the government to account. This monster slept during the end of President Moi’s tenure and was buried when Kenyans conferred the 2010 Constitution on themselves, ushering in among others essential values of human rights, equality, freedom, democracy, social justice and the rule of law... Read more
