UDA nominated senator Gloria Orwoba has allegedly had a Kenyan journalist, Edgar Wabwire, arrested. The journalist is currently in police custody in Kamukunji Police Station, after being picked from his house in Lucky Summer estate Nairobi.
The senator is said to be seeking to bring charges under the Data Protection Act against Wabwire. Orwoba alleges the journalist shared her personal number on X.
According to reports, the nominated senator was present and “personally threatened to use her resources to ensure Wabwire is severely punished”. Wabwire was arrested early in the morning, a few hours after the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) warned Kenyans not to share personal information of “certain members of the public” on social media.
What is not adding up is the senator has also shared her number on the same platform, X.
Kenyans are protesting against the 2024 Finance Bill, criticized for proposing tax hikes on commodities like bread and sanitary towels. Ironically, Senator Orwoba has positioned herself as a force for good fighting for ease of access to sanitary pads. But when citizens need her most to side with them, she has chosen to side with tax hikes.
Various citizens having been sharing numbers of their Parliamentary reps to pressure them to reject the entire finance bill 2024. The bill has 65 clauses and one of them seeks to charge an eco-levy on imported sanitary towels.
While a national assembly committee recommended that this proposal is deleted, the MPs still have to vote on it. If it stays and passes the house, Kenyan women are faced with a rise in cost of sanitary pads.
Period poverty, an issue that affects women and girls who menstruate when they can’t afford or access menstrual products, is prevalent in Kenya. This is made worse by the rising cost of living in the country.
