From time to time, KSB receives enquiries about what can and what cannot be published at the blog. To summarize the numerous questions, we wish to state that bloggers (especially if the blog content is more of a media than a personal diary) are under an obligation to follow the rules laid down for other media outlets.
We cannot publish anything simply because it has been mailed to us. Secondly, the fact that another blogger is repeatedly committing acts of libel or defamation does not mean that KSB should follow suite because the blogger could be doing so out of sheer ignorance.
If readers have been allowed to post defamatory or obscene content by a blogger, it doesn’t follow that KSB will automatically follow suite because the blogger might not have read or understood the “terms of service” of say the Institution housing the blog. In the case of wordpress.com owned by Automatic, the rules have been laid out clearly. The rules state in part:
“Your WordPress.com Account and Site: If you create a blog on the Website, you are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and blog, and you are fully responsible for all activities that occur under the account and any other actions taken in connection with the blog”.
“Responsibility of Contributors: If you operate a blog, comment on a blog, post material to the Website, post links on the Website, or otherwise make (or allow any third party to make) material available by means of the Website (any such material, “Content”), You are entirely responsible for the content of, and any harm resulting from, that Content. That is the case regardless of whether the Content in question constitutes text, graphics, an audio file, or computer software.
“By making Content available, you represent and warrant that: the Content is not obscene, libelous or defamatory (more info on what that means), hateful or racially or ethnically objectionable, and does not violate the privacy or publicity rights of any third party;…”
As you might be aware, we do not name names at the blog especially in situations where a person’s integrity might come into question. When we do so, you can be sure that we are in a position to defend such an action in a Court of law and this is why we are never worried about threats of legal action. This is why we are always in a hurry to correct factual errors brought to our attention.
KSB DOES NOT HAVE NAMES OF HIV POSITIVE KENYANS
When you read about a scandal at KSB, it is futile to call the blog asking for the identity of the person being referred to in the story because such revelations are illegal and could land as into legal problems. We have a responsibility for the content of the blog and that’s the way it’s going to be for a long time to come.
Lastly, KSB does not have the names of Kenyans infected with HIV Virus in Sweden and even if the impossible happened and we got access to the names, releasing them in any way could be completely out of the question.
The names of Mr. Antony Odera and Caroline Ayodo were released because they have themselves gone public through the Swedish print and electronic media since they want to utilize their conditions to sensitize others about HIV and Aids.
We have attended functions where Odera has delivered very informative lectures on the issue of being an HIV infected person especially on the question of stigmatization of HIV carriers. Unless other Kenyans affected are ready to go public, you can be sure that we do not know who they are.
The statistics were lifted from the Swedish authorities and it is unfortunate that we have to clarify this simple fact because some Kenyans believed that the next breaking news item is a list of the victims while others think that they can get the list privately – the list does not exist!
In Kenya, HIV is now treated by the public like malaria or any other tropical disease and the fuss about the statistics among Wakenya in Stockholm is unwarranted. The number of 122 could sound huge, given the tiny population of Kenyans in Sweden (about 5.000) but Ukweli wa Mambo is that those are the statistics.
We hope that this clarification will put to rest phone calls and enquiries through emails about the twin issues of “Publication at KSB” and the “HIV story”.
Okoth Osewe
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