Following an incident involving manipulated photos of Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete in compromising positions that were published on a website, Kenya and Tanzania both have embarked to reform laws concerning adult content and protecting children, as well as freedom of expression.
“Kenya is revising Chapter 222 of the laws to protect children from pornography," said Bitange Ndemo, a spokesman for the Ministry of Information and Communication.
The country’s current laws do not address online content.
“On [the] Internet however, the responsibility squarely lies with the parents,” Ndemo said. “We cannot start regulating Internet just because a few parents are not able to control which their content their children have access to."
Nevertheless, the government is setting up network firewalls in schools to protect children from adult content.
Because traditions of Kenya and Tanzania call for initiations, discussions and demonstrations involving sex, regulation regarding the digitalization of such cultural content has been left to be determined by local community standards.
