Edgar Obare, the famous Instagrammer who built his fanbase on gossip was recently arrested by the DCI due to an exposé on his social accounts.
The only bit that was remaining was to know what he will be charged about after his arrest and now it has been revealed. According to Ebru, Obare’s lawyer, Titus Munene Kinyua revealed that the will be charged with exposure of private data in contravention of Section 72 of the Data Protection Act.
According to Mr Kinyua, he was descended on by 10 police officers who forced him to sign a search warrant and confiscated his gadgets. He said that due process was not followed.
Section 72 of the Data Protection Act is under Part 9 of Miscellaneous Provisions and this is what it says.
72. (1) A data controller who, without lawful excuse,
discloses personal data in any manner that is incompatible
with the purpose for which such data has been collected
commits an offence.
(2) A data processor who, without lawful excuse,
discloses personal data processed by the data processor
without the prior authority of the data controller commits
an offence.
(3) Subject to subsection (4), a person who— (a) obtains access to personal data, or obtains any
information constituting such data, without prior
authority of the data controller or data processor
by whom the data is kept; or
(b) discloses personal data to third party, commit an
offence.
(4) Subsection (3) shall not apply to a person who is
an employee or agent of a data controller or data processor
acting within the scope of such mandate.
(5) A person who offers to sell personal data where
such personal data has been obtained in breach of subsection (1) commits an offence.
(6) For the purposes of subsection (5), an
advertisement indicating that personal data is or may be for
sale constitutes an offer to sell the personal data
According to this law under Subsection 73, any person that commits an offence under this Act for which no specific penalty is provided shall be liable to a fine not exceeding 3 million KES or to an imprisonment term not exceeding 10 years or both.
Edgar Obare will become one of the more famous casualties of the controversial act that was made into law in November 2019. He was accused of sharing confidential travel documents of an influencer.
Obare is set to be arraigned in court on Monday August 3rd, which is today.
