We have filed a notice of appeal in the Court of Appeal to challenge the judgement made by the High Court in our case against the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act 2018. Our case challenging the law was filed in May 2018.
Our case challenging the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act 2018 was dismissed by High Court Judge Mr. Justice James A. Makau on 20th February. Justice Makau found that the 26 sections of the Cybercrimes Law that we had contested were constitutional, and therefore dismissed the whole case entirely. This means that the cybercrimes law is now in force and the 26 sections that had been previously suspended, have now been lifted.
In May 2018, Justice Chacha Mwita suspended 22 sections of the law. In October of 2018 Justice Winfrida Okwany dismissed the prayers of the government to have it enforced and said the orders issued by Justice Mwita were justified. The 22 sections included provisions such as fraudulent use of electronic data, cybersquatting, intentional publishing of false or misleading data and a provision on child pornography. They remained suspended until Justice Makau dismissed the case on 20th February 2020.
We, however, disagree with the high court decision as we still have concerns that certain provisions of the law are unconstitutional and infringe on important freedoms such as the freedom of opinion, freedom of expression, freedom of the media and the right to privacy.