An Engineer with the State Department of Public works has been charged with cyber bullying Mlango Kubwa ward Member of County Assembly (MCA) Susan Makungu in a facebook page known as “Jukwaa la Siasa Mathare”.
Appearing before Makadara Senior Principal Magistrate Eric Mutunga were Engineer Javin Ochieng Othuol alias Kinuthia together with three others James Wanjiku alias Gush Manenos ,Bramwell Wesonga alias Ba Liam and Wallace Ogundo charged for diverse dates between January 1st 2021 and 9th January 2023 being the administrators and members of the Jukwaa la Siasa la Mathare Facebook group.
They have been charged with publication of false information contrary to section 23 of the computer misuse and Cybercrime Act of 2011.
They jointly with others not before Court posted remarks which defamed Makungu on the platform.
According to the charge sheet, the four published the following remarks “Susan Makungu you are raising a disease that you cannot cure,we only had a discussion on cyber bullying where you threatened to sue us. At this point am not hanging up my boots .If your bozs try that am going to expose you.I have your Audio na utalia bana watu wa mlango Kubwa wata kuogopa sana.Lemmy tell you,I didn’t ask for money, job or bursary take note of that.Hii kimbele mbele nitamaliza leo mapema sana. Na kila mtu awe macho, remarks which according to the police were calculated to discredit the MCA’s reputation.
They also face a second count where on the same date they made another post stating”In my own view the hunger for more money and attention she is willing to do anything it will take to get them and she has never been patient enough to work for anything she wants hence she should never try to think or examine Consequences of the actions she is taking and the people around her could not have helped her since pia hai walikuwa na njaa zao and also they never care of what may happen since they had nothing worth loosing unfortunately yakimwagika hayazoleki.”
According to the prosecution in the third count they allegedly claimed she was making human sacrifices and selling drugs.
According to the police report the MCA noticed that the the administrator of the group were posting false allegations that she was involved in human trafficking and drug dealing .
Mlango Kubwa ward MCA Joyce Makungu following proceedings in the Nairobi County Asembly. Photo: Monicah Makungu
The MCA who was elected on a United Democratic Alliance (UDA) contacted Eng. Othuol and requested him to pull down the malicious posts but he reportedly demanded an amount of money for the same.
Makungu then contacted one of the administrators Othuol who promised to pull down the post if she could cough up Kshs 100,000.
On 1 st July 2021 the police say that the MCA went ahead and sent the kshs 10,000 to Othuol via Mpesa.However in September the same year she recorded the complaint where othuol was arrested.
Ms. Makungu had joined the group in 2021 while campaigning for the seat which she eventually won in the August 22 general elections. The group was formed by Mr Othuol in 2018.
The four pleaded not guilty and were freed on a bond of Sh1 million each with a surety of a similar amount. The case will be mentioned on March 28 before hearing starts on June 26 this year.
COMMENTS