A Kenyan national is currently serving a three-year jail term abroad after using an online activism tactic associated with Kenya’s 2024 Gen Z protests to target a member of a powerful foreign family.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi on Wednesday, September 16, revealed that the Kenyan obtained the phone number of a member of the governing family in the unnamed country and used the same tactic employed by Kenyan youths during the 2024 protests.

Mudavadi explained that the incident was linked to the "Toa number yake asalimiwe" campaign, where phone numbers of targeted individuals were circulated publicly, prompting large numbers of calls and text messages.

“You remember when there was a Gen Z protest about taxes in 2024. Some of you were in public spaces. I am sure you must have come across what was ‘Toa number yake asalimiwe’,” Mudavadi stated.

📌 What You Need to Know

He said that once a person's phone number was shared publicly, members of the public could quickly obtain it and flood the individual’s phone with messages and calls.

According to Mudavadi, the Kenyan living in a country with a substantial population of Kenyans working abroad adopted the same approach after obtaining the number of a member of the country’s governing family.

The Kenyan reportedly used technology to trace the individual’s number before subjecting it to the same form of online mobilisation witnessed during the Kenyan protests.

However, the move quickly attracted the attention of authorities in the foreign country, prompting investigations.

Mudavadi said technology was subsequently used to trace the Kenyan , who was arrested, arraigned in court and sentenced to three years in prison.

The CS did not disclose the identity of the Kenyan, the country where the incident occurred or the member of the governing family who was targeted.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke