After A Kenyan Student Was Jailed For Insulting Uhuru Kenyatta, Yet another Student Is In Trouble after Making ‘Pubic Hair’ Remarks

In Thailand last year, a Thai court sentenced a 24 year old university student to 2 and a half years in prison for posting a message that offended the country’s king.

Apparently, the 24-year-old named Akkaradet Eiamsuwan violated Thailand’s strict Lèse Majesté  law which criminalizes threats, defamation or insults against the royal family

Towards the end of last year a Kenyan student was sent to jail for insulting President Uhuru Kenyatta on social media. The man Alan Wadi Okengo, 25, alias lieutenant Wadi will be doing time for 1 year.

Hot on the heels of Wadi is Nancy Mbindala of Mount Kenya University who was charged with making ‘malicious comments’ against Embu Governor Martin Wambora.

According to The Star,  on February 14 2014 she wrote: “Wambora is just a full stop compared 2 me. my doing with 1 mth will be lyk what Wambora was 2 cover 45 years.”

Her other ‘crime’ was writing this on Feb 7 of the same year , “Kama huwezi mpea mtu mafuuthi kwa hii gova ya embu (If you can’t give someone pubic hair in the Embu government) don’t ask about job/tender … even the gavana ni mtu n deals win-win scenarios wifes always labelled youth.”

Nancy will be arraigned in court on March 13.

This begs the question, aren’t we allowed to have freedom of opinion? Should we be charged for airing our opinions against other people and will we soon be seeing a type of Lèse Majesté  Law  implemented in the country soon? And more importantly should we be worried that they are people scouring through our timelines and Twitter pages to find something politically offensive?

For me this feels like a witch-hunt, why is she being prosecuted for a supposed crime she committed about a year ago. Isn’t this case a little petty?