The Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE) has said it will appeal the judgment made by the High Court in favour of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act 2018.
This is after the petition by BAKE challenging the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act 2018 was dismissed by High Court Judge Mr Justice James A. Makau.
The cybercrimes law is now in force, and the 26 sections that had been previously suspended, have now been lifted.
BAKE, however, disagrees with the high court’s decision and still has concerns that several provisions of the new law are unconstitutional and infringe on fundamental freedoms such as freedom of opinion, freedom of expression, freedom of the media and right to privacy.
“It is important to BAKE that the country has laws that respect the freedom of the media and freedom of expression, which is in line with our great constitution.
We will do all we can to ensure that our members and the media fraternity have a safe space to express their views freely,” said BAKE Chairman Mr Kennedy Kachwanya.
BAKE decided to go to court after President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the bill into law in May 2018. The law proposed to address crimes done through electronic devices and online platforms.
Civil society organizations cited loopholes and irregularities.
In May 2018, Justice Chacha Mwita suspended 22 sections of the law. On 1st October 2018, Justice Winfrida Okwany dismissed the government’s prayers to have the law enforced and said the orders issued by Justice Mwita were justified.
The 22 sections included provisions such as fraudulent use of electronic data, cybersquatting, intentional publishing of false or misleading data, interception of content data and a provision on child pornography, among others. They remained suspended until Justice Makau dismissed the case on 20th February 2020.
BAKE commenced the appeal process by filing a Notice of Appeal, which it did on 21st February 2020.
In this case, the Kenya Union of Journalists and Article 19 were listed as interested parties.
