President William Ruto signed Kenya’s controversial Cybercrime Bill into law a week ago, and it’s already landed in court.
Gospel musician Reuben Kigame and the Kenya Human Rights Commission have filed a petition at Milimani Law Courts arguing the law violates multiple constitutional rights and should be struck down entirely.
The major contention point is what the petitioners see as dangerously vague language that gives the government too much power to decide what counts as acceptable speech online.
The law criminalizes information deemed false, misleading, or mischievous, terms the petitioners say are so broad they could be weaponized against anyone criticizing the government. They argue this essentially lets the regime determine what truth is and punish those who disagree.
In addition, the law requires every social media user in Kenya to verify their accounts using their government-issued legal names.
The petitioners warn this mandatory verification strips away the anonymity that has historically protected whistleblowers, journalists, and activists in a country where speaking out has sometimes led to abduction, torture, or worse.
They describe it as a tool for state surveillance and intimidation, particularly targeting regime critics.
Another provision under fire criminalizes communication that causes someone to commit suicide. The petitioners call this unworkably vague and speculative, arguing it punishes speech based on hypothetical harm rather than any demonstrable connection between what was said and what happened.
The cybercrime law also weakens Kenya’s Data Protection Act of 2019 and forces digital platforms to quickly remove flagged content, which the petitioners say will create a climate where platforms censor posts preemptively rather than risk penalties.
Beyond the substance of the law itself, the petitioners claim Parliament bungled the process. They argue the bill should have been treated as legislation affecting county governments under Article 110 of the Constitution, which would have required the National Assembly to send it to the Senate for debate.
That never happened, making the entire passage unconstitutional in their view.
Reuben Kigame and the Kenya Human Rights Commission are asking the court to declare the cybercrime law null and void and to permanently block its implementation while the case proceeds.
