Three journalists are in custody following photoshopped nudes that were circulating in social media the better part of Wednesday.
The three, Alex Njue, Stafford Ondego, and David Ndolo, who work for top media houses in the country, were reportedly tasked to do so by Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa for a fee of 5000 shillings.
“They were arrested in their homes and the police found the calls and messages the CS sent them including my pictures telling them to photoshop and say that I was the one who was found in the compromising situation,” said Senator Malala.
The Journalists are currently held at the KICC police station from where they are apparently expected to address the media as they apologize to the Senator according to Malala.
CS Echesa and Senator Malala have been trading insults for the past week which saw them expose each other’s private lives but the most current one seems to be a jab below the belt. Their rivalry began when CS Echesa argued that Malala was wrong in insulting DP William Ruto since Ruto had apparently assisted the Senator in constructing his 7.5 million shillings house
They took the senator’s image, cropped the head and placed it on a naked body according to Malala and the police.
Malala added that there was a demeaning photo of CS Echesa in lodging in a compromising position. “When the photo went viral, the official told the journalists to photoshop the image and replace his face with mine,” Malala said.
This comes barely five months after President Uhuru Kenyatta signed the Cybercrimes Bill into law. This means one would pay 5 million shillings if found guilty of spreading false information electronically.
The law criminalizes abuse of persons on social media as the legal lacuna that existed was removed.
The Act spells out stiff punishment to cybercriminals and provides for timely and effective detection, prohibition, prevention, response, investigation, and prosecution of computer and cybercrimes.
The three journalists could be in a lot of trouble if the Senator chose to pursue the case and they have greatly embarrassed the fourth estate fraternity. It is however not expected of a cabinet secretary to stoop so low given that he holds a public office that requires a sense of maturity from him.