Information Cabinet Secretary nominee William Kabogo, on January 14, pledged to engage more actively with Gen Z to address the recent trend of circulating images of leaders in coffins on social media.
During his vetting at the National Assembly Mini Chambers, Kabogo was asked about the measures he would implement to address the misuse of social media by the younger generation.
In his response, he emphasized that engaging the youth on the ethical use of the internet would help reverse the current situation.
“We should be thinking about engaging the younger generations, the Gen Zs, the millennials to have ethical use of the internet space. Today they will be Gen Zs but in a couple of years, they will be parents.The engagement should be such that if you put Kabogo in a coffin as is the case now, at one time they will be fathers like me. How will they feel if their father is put in a coffin? Genuine engagement is needed with the parties involved in doing these things,” Kabogo noted.
According to him, there is a need for stronger enforcement and a thorough review of the legislation to better tackle the problem.
“The laws are there. For example, we have the Computer Misuse and Cyber Crimes Act. But we need to improve the enforcement of that law as well as its regular review,” he stated.
The nominee further noted that it was essential to balance the freedom of expression with regulation to ensure that the rights of other Kenyans would not be infringed upon.
“We should also be cognizant of the fact that there is freedom of expression in Kenya. We have to strike a balance such that the freedom of one does not infringe upon the freedom of another,” Kabogo noted.
