Activist Morara arraigned, bonded over lesser cyber harassment crime

By , October 2, 2024

A self-proclaimed accountability campaigner, Morara Kebaso was yesterday arraigned before a Nairobi court on claims of cyber harassment.

He did not plead to the charges following a successful application by his lawyers stating that the charges were defective. He was released on a Sh50,000 cash bail pending a ruling on whether he will be charged or not.

Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina granted the cash bail after Morara’s lawyers, led by senior counsel Martha Karua, contended that the charge sheet was flawed and requested the magistrate to dismiss it.

Morara is facing allegations of cyber harassment under Section 27 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act of 2018. He is accused of willfully spreading false information about two people.

In the post on his X account, Morara says one of the two individuals approached the other for more money to fund his campaign and the other individual used his properties as security to take loans to help him.

“Right now (the individual who took loans) is being auctioned by banks and the person who is buying the properties (is the person who sought financial help). To make the matters worse (the person who requested for the financial support) has used his power to undervalue the properties to buy them at a cheaper price. That is the kind of person we are dealing with. He has no friend,” post allegedly states.

ODPP says Morara posted content he knew was false and calculated to tarnish and discredit the reputation of someone (name withheld).

Morara’s lawyers argued that it is not clear from the charge sheet who among the two is the complainant and urged the court to dismiss it.

Lawyer Willis Otieno said the charge sheet discloses an issue of defamation which is not criminal and any of the two individuals who feels their reputation has been ruined by the activist’s post, should seek redress in the appropriate court.

Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina will make the ruling on October 4.

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