Court ruling signals tough times for online gender bullies

Have you been abused, insulted, defamed and slandered on social media, especially in WhatsApp and felt so helpless yet the damage is massive?

With the rise in social media use and affordable internet across the country and emergence of technological tools like Artificial Intelligence (AI), bloggers, and literally anyone with access to a smart phone and data, have assumed roles they are not even qualified to engage in.

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You will find a person with zilch knowledge in law, commenting on legal matters; someone with no media experience lecturing professional journalists; a school dropout schooling a medical practitioner and many more assuming an authority in matters they have no knowledge or experience.

However, this is not exclusive to the bloggers and illiterates in the society; professionals, well learned and respected people have joined the social media gangs lynching their victims without mercy, mostly boasting that there is nothing, absolutely, that their victims can do.

Now, worry no more. The law has you covered and you can get redress in a Court of law and at the end of the day, probably smile all the way to the bank for some sought of compensation to ease the damage caused by these gangs.

The most vulnerable are women in leadership positions, especially in political limelight. Sadder, even young girls are not spared.

Being in these spaces, women in leadership have had to withstand torrential attacks, mostly sexual.

Woe unto her if she is well endowed and wonderfully created, close to power, working in an environment conventionally ‘reserved’ for men by society, successful in her own right and fearless.

A woman leader will be soiled, accused of engaging in sexual activities to ascend to influential and powerful positions with these social media gangs, having little regard to the journey these female role models have walked and endured to reach such levels.

Furthermore, ladies would have their pictures, taken in privacy, leaked and splashed allover social media in what is commonly referred to as ‘uniting the country’ without their consent.

They will then be shamed, ridiculed and insulted on the interwebs including WhatsApp and Telegram groups with the end result being of phenomenal mental anguish, ruined public image, battered career path, broken societal ties, shattered dignity among other negative impact in the eyes of the morally upright society.

Recently, a court in Nairobi set a historic precedent in addressing such social media atrocities directed at women leaders when it fined an advocate of the High Court KSh 1, 500, 000 after finding him guilty of sexually slandering a reputable female leader in a post he made in a WhatsApp group.

The accused, Ignatius Muhatia, had claimed in his WhatsApp post that the Special Advisor on Women Rights in the Executive Office of President William Ruto, Harriet Chiggai, had risen to such influential positions by trading her body.

At the time of making the post, the two were both members of a WhatsApp group bringing together Advocates of the High Court of Kenya, legal and governance experts, jurists and policy makers.

According to court documents, Muhatia made the disparaging remarks on March 22, 2023 following a discussion on how First Lady Rachel Ruto had adopted some 200 acres of Kakamega forest in her bid to contribute to environmental conservation but the discussion went south in supersonic speed.

While commenting on a post in the group, Muhatia, veered off and decided to use the adage old weapon, sexual innuendo, on his fellow leaned friend by saying: “…you cannot fool this son of Mulembe … why are you bitter and reasoning like a 99-year-old Kukhu (grandmother)? That’s ignorance and laziness of the highest order I say. Am not a pushover politician but let me get mileage out my reasoning and not by trading my body for positions you are lucky madam.”

According to Advocate Edgar Busiega, the phrase “trading my body for positions” was a clear attack on Chiggai’s professional growth and a further jab at disregarding her morality.

Busiega explains that such misleading statements that put in question the character, integrity and persona of a person is unacceptable and any aggrieved person, whether female or male, should seek legal redress.

As an advocate, Muhatia should have known better that such statements can land one in legal trouble if not sufficiently supported by evidence.

Ordinarily, a legal practitioner should be at the fore front in enlightening the public on what to do and not do so as not to be found breaking the law.

At the same time, this puts the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) in the eye of the storm whether it takes note of its members who blatantly misbehave and acts against them.

The LSK should be able to document such issues and the errant members so that such people do not bring the legal practice into disrepute as it plays a crucial role in the society.

One cannot also hide under the safety of a keyboard, pseudo name or AI to launch unwarranted attacks at another person or share details about the other person without consent.

A couple of weeks ago, self-proclaimed president of the Atheists Society of Kenya Harrison Mumia was arrested and arraigned on January 5, for publishing and sharing AI generated multimedia depicting the Head of State in a bad situation.

Also, he had used a pseudo name thinking it was enough to put a cover on his activities but he was smoked out.

Upon his arrest, he was charged contrary to section 22(1) of the Computer Misuse and Cyber Crime Act No 5 of 2018.

Knowingly spreading information that is false and fake, whether one is a blogger, professional or otherwise, will attract a fine of Khs 5 million on conviction or be thrown behind bars.

The law says that anybody who deliberately publishes fake, false or misleading information with an intention of that said information being considered or acted upon as factual, authentic, has committed a crime.

In November 2025, political bloggers in Western Kenya were hauled to court by Lugari MP for linking him to the mysterious death of Munyuki Secondary School teacher Simon Isiaho.

The MP demanded KSh 60 million from the trio for defaming him.

Have you fallen victim of these online gangs? Head to court with evidence and help the country wipe out this vice and make the digital space a safe space to be as well as find justice.

_{Photo credit: AFP}

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