Makueni teacher Jeremiah Mwavuganga arrested over untrue death report on TSC boss

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has arrested Jeremiah Mwavuganga, a teacher at Musiini Primary School in Makueni County after he made a Facebook post saying teachers service commission chief executive Nancy Macharia was dead.

In the post written in broken grammar, Mwavuganga said “Breaking news Nancy Macharia is dead. Her body has been found in oyuu’s bed. It is alleged that oyuu madad her after he failed to kiss his ass R.I.P macharia…. oooh it was just a dream. May it be so.”

The viral post would be the last Mwavuganga made before he was arrested at the Makutano Shopping Centre in Nzaui area.

The arrest came after an operation by the DCI Emali team as well as the crime research bureau detectives. The gadget used to make the post was recovered and the account used to make the post was also confirmed to have belonged to Mwavuganga.

Cyber crimes

Social media users have previously made posts that put them in trouble with the law.

In March 2020, just as the coronavirus pandemic creeped in, Elijah Muthui Kitonyo a Twitter user, found himself on the wrong side of the law after publishing information which the DCI regarded as misleading and alarming.

Elijah discredited the information given by the government on the status of the pandemic in the country saying that he had worked at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and knew the person that allegedly brought in the virus.

Jeremiah Mwavuganga, just like Kitonyo, will be charged under Section 23 of the Computer Misuse and Cyber Crimes Act of 2018.

The section states that a person who knowingly publishes false information in print, data or over a computer system that is calculated or results in chaos or panic or violence among citizens of the public or which is likely to discredit the reputation of a person commits an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding five million shillings or to imprisonment for a term or exceeding ten years or to both.

The DCI further cautioned the public against publishing messages aimed at humiliation, blackmail or fraud.