Hi All,

I wrote about this very issue in 2019 on the KICTANET website I guess you can call me a prophet of some sort 'Your tweet my Right" https://www.kictanet.or.ke/your-tweet-my-right-can-a-public-figure-block-you-from-accessing-their-tweets/ . 

The article focused on a case in the USA where the then president Trump was taken to court for blocking someone on twitter. The courts argued that he had no right to block the person as he used his private account to relay important public messages thus by blocking the person denied them access to information. 

I looked at the Kenyan laws as well particularly the Constitution, the Access to Information Act Section 5 (2).  I also analysed situations where public figures have blocked people on twitter or deleted their accounts in Kenya. I also looked at how different political figures use their private accounts and came to the conclusion that they use them to relay public and important messages. Lastly I also analysed how other countries have dealt with this situation particularly the USA.

My conclusions were that we can borrow from the USA where political figures are required to set up public social media accounts for public matters and if they use their private ones going by the court case they are not allowed to block people and I will argue delete it. This may be seen as denying one access to information.

More than happy to hear your thoughts on the article and expound the conversation further.

Kind Regards

Tevin Mwenda Gitonga

On Fri, Sep 16, 2022 at 8:37 AM Neema MASITSA via KICTANet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

It's ok. Noted

On Fri, 16 Sept 2022, 08:16 simiyu mse via KICTANet, <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

Seems I may have been late to the party and started a similar thread.

Please ignore.

Thank you.

On Fri, 16 Sept 2022, 07:05 Ali Hussein via KICTANet, <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

Egline

I beg to differ. It was an official account disguised as a personal account. There was NOTHING personal about what was being posted there. 

I say that the Government needs an OFFICIAL POLICY on these issues. We have so much to rectify. To date, we still have Cabinet Secretaries and Senior Government Officials using Gmail and yahoo email addresses. This is a bigger issue than just social media.

Regards

Ali Hussein

Fintech | Digital Transformation

Tel: +254 713 601113

Twitter: @AliHKassim

LinkedIn: Ali's Profile

Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the organizations that I work with.

On Thu, Sep 15, 2022 at 1:32 PM Egline Jeptoo via KICTANet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

Hi Barrack,

Interesting conversation. In this context the deleted account was a personal account and not the ministry's account. As much as in they were posting day to day activities, it was a personal account and the Ministry account with previous activities and information is till active. 

Next question arising from the comments on the Tweet would then be, with the Twitter accounts that are public property is it right to block citizens?

On Thu, 15 Sep 2022, 13:23 Watoto Watch Network via KICTANet, <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

Hi Barrack,

I feel we might be a bit petty because...Is it a requirement in the first place to have a personal social media account if you are holding a particular position in Govt?

Lillian

On Thu, 15 Sep 2022, 12:55 Barrack Otieno via KICTANet, <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

Listers,

An interesting conversation is going on on Social Media following the decision by a Cabinet Secretariat to delete his Social Media Account. In fact a Senior Counsel has already weighed in on the issue. Is there merit in the concerns being raised or are we being petty?

Thank you

Best Regards

--

Barrack Otieno

Trustee

Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTAnet)

Skype:barrack.otieno

+254721325277

https://www.linkedin.com/in/barrack-otieno-2101262b/

www.kictanet.or.ke

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