Freedom Of Expression Comes With Burden That We Must All Respect As Christine Njeri Found Out on Family Bank

Social media is one of the most booming mode of information dissemination in Kenya, having overtaken the mainstream media some years back. The mainstream media is finding it hard to cope with the changing world in terms of information dissemination as well as consumption.

Twitter, in Kenya has become a very powerful tool. Common people and political leaders alike have taken on Twitter to spread their policies and make their voices hard. Few are using the tool rightly, that is, using it to socialize, inform, educate and entertain, but a few, have taken it as a channel to spread innuendos and unfounded truths.

On Friday, a woman was arrested and detained for allegedly setting in motion the flow of malicious statement that Family Bank was under receivership, something that triggered panic among those who bank with the institution.

Christine Njeri, who used twitter to spread her information was arrested by Banking Fraud Investigation Unit and detained at Kileleshwa Police Station, days after concerns arose online that the bank was going the Imperial Bank way. The bank has since assured their customers that it is still strong and on the course of making sure that those who bank with it are well served and that their finances were safe and secure.

This is not the first time for financial institutions to come under attack from social media users through the spread of messages that aren’t verified. Chase Bank of Kenya was the first such casualty when messages flew on the social media that the lender was no more. This caused panic among those who bank with the institution leading to them withdrawing volumes of money forcing the bank to go under receivership. The bank went under receivership for three weeks before it recovered and now it is doing well.

For the past few days too, Kenyans on the social media have been pushing various hashtags aimed at intimidating the Governor of the Central Bank of Kenya Dr. Patrick Njoroge. The messages are still flowing around and it looks like they are well orchestrated towards the banking sector.

The questions that Kenyans of goodwill are asking themselves are:

Why are Kenyans social media enthusiasts so concerned about bringing down some financial institutions?

Is there someone who is busy funding for the innuendos flying around?

Are Kenyan bloggers becoming so useless that they want to talk about anything and everything without having sufficient evidence to support the same?

The move to arrested Christine Njeri is a move that should serve as an example to those who had such intents. It is high time that people become responsible and stopped making themselves busy in wanting to bring some business down. How can one just wake up, imagine of something malicious that he/she knows that is going to negatively impact on something that someone has worked so hard to set up and the person just goes ahead to post it online?

Banks are very important institutions in any given economy. The more they go down, the more the economy suffer. A country that has a history of financial institutions sinking and being placed under receivership hardly receives any investors and often loses the trust of both local and international communities. It is high time Kenyans realized that businesses are not jokes. It takes tremendous efforts for one to set up a business such like a bank and for one to just want bring such businesses down for no reason at all is bad.

The problem with most Kenyans is that they think that by having a twitter account with some few confused followers qualifies them to post everything and anything about anything including nothing. They often hide behind the freedom of expression whenever they are targeted but there is nowhere where it is stated that your freedom of expression should be used to hurt other people and their businesses. In fact, the law is very clear that your freedom should not interfere with the other person’s freedom and rights.

Be responsible. Before you post anything, verify. Check for facts lest you want to brush the law on the wrong side.