Politics has been known to have no boundaries by the players including death threats and even assassinations. Lately in Kenya the battle has seen the employment of photoshop in tainting ones image by placing them in controversial positions like was done to Senator Cleophas Malala.
The other day as a result of supremacy battle in Kakamega, in some social media network there was demeaning photos of the CS in an unknown lodging with a woman in compromising situations.
“Because I have acumen on intelligence I was able to round up those journalists with the help of police,” Malala told reporters in Parliament yesterday.
Today report reveals that rival CS for sports Echesa Rashid has been linked to the injustice done to senator Malala on social media after three journalists were arrested yesterday for having aided the crime. Malala said the images were to be used by Rashid to carry out a character assassination campaign.
“Kuna malumbano tuko nayo na CS Rashid. Juzi alikua radio mmoja kule nyumbani akasema mambo mengi sana ambayo sitaki kuyataja hapa juu alikuwa anataka kuniharibia jina. (We have our squabble with the CS. Recently he was on a radio talk show back at home and said a lot of things to defame me),” Malala said.
In the interview with a local radio station that has been trending, Rashid says he introduced Malala, then an MCA in Kakamega, to Ruto who funded him up to Sh 7 million to build a house.
“Today, he is not ashamed calling a man who gave him money to build a house where he is bringing up his children as a thief.He is telling churches, don’t accept money from the Deputy President. I am challenging him to knock down that house if its from stolen money,” Rashid said during the interview.
Malala, also the Senate Deputy Minority Leader, backed up his claims with mobile text messages and WhatsApp communication between the three photojournalists and a number believed to belong to Rashid.
According to the text messages, the CS sent the journalists Sh 5,000 through his personal driver and according to Malala, the CS forwarded the demeaning photos directly to his cellphone.
“Seconds after Ndolo (one of the journalists) sent the Photoshopped images to the CS, he forwarded to me the same. So I am a witness too in this case. We confiscated their phones and laptops,” Malala said, adding that he had instructed Siaya Senator James Orengo as his lawyer and engaged an expert to help with evidence gathering that would eventually be used during prosecution.
The three journalists David Ndolo, Stafford Ondego and Alex Njue alleged to be Achesa’s hatchet men, were arrested on Tuesday evening and locked up at KICC police station.According to police, the three are accused of taking Senator Malala’s photo image, cropping off the head, placing an unrelated naked body and juxtaposing it next to a nude woman.
Rashid is a self-professed ally of Deputy President William Ruto while the vocal Malala is a close ally of Opposition chief Raila Odinga. Malala has been chiding Rashid, a former ODM national youth leader, as a Standard 7 drop-out who does not understand his work as CS.
On Wednesday, Secretary, Communication and State House Spokesperson Manoah Esipisu tweeted that President Uhuru has signed into law the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Bill, 2018. Under the new law, a person who intentionally publishes false, misleading or fictitious data or misinforms with intent that the data shall be considered or acted upon as authentic, with or without any financial gain, commits an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding Sh5million or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both.
Do you think there should be a rule guiding politicians on boundaries of the political battles?