Blogger Abraham Mutai says he’ll keep exposing rot
Blogger Abraham Mutai on Sunday publicly spoke for the first time hours after he was released by police and insisted he remains unfazed in his criticism of county governments.
The Mombasa-based blogger was part of a panel on NTV Weekend Edition where he revealed that his detention was as a result of complaints by the Isiolo county government on an article posted on his blog.
Mr Mutai said any crackdown on bloggers will not make him rethink on his expose articles.
“I want to be very clear on my agenda…I will continue being a critic of our county governments as devolution ought to benefit the common mwananchi,” he said.
Mr Mutai uses his blog to speak out and expose corrupt deals within county governments.
On Thursday last week, he published a report on his blog that linked Isiolo county officials to corruption. Hours later, he was arrested at his Mombasa office and taken to Central Police Station.
He was later on Saturday evening transferred to Nairobi’s Muthaiga police station, before being questioned at the CID headquarters on Sunday.
State House Digital Director Dennis Itumbi, who was also in the NTV panel, admitted that criticism has a space in the constitution, but distanced the President from the recent crackdown on bloggers.
“The President has absolutely no interest in cracking down critics. In fact, there should be more platforms for people to evaluate and critic,” he said.
Mr Itumbi, who was a blogger before joining the Jubilee government team, was once arrested and a campaign dubbed #FreeItumbi started on social media for his release.