The insatiable appetite for internet connectivity of some young men whose frequent appearances raised eyebrows at the Kiambu law courts has resulted to the institution’s authority closing down the WI-FI access to innocent court users.
The men who are in their 30’s had formed a habit of appearing at the court precincts before the courts were opened and were armed with their laptops, ready to work.
Hawk eyed Court clerk, Abdi Hussein spotted them and pointed out to the authorities who confronted the tech-savvy men wanting to know their intentions at the institution.
According to Abdi, they would enter the court and choose strategic locations from which they would be glued onto their laptops surfing the internet and chatting heartily and loudly as court cases progressed.
Even when the court took a break, they would remain intact and continue using their laptops, a situation that irked the authorities following the installation of institutional computers which are now being used by judicial officers.
The officer in charge of ICT at the Kiambu law courts, Joel Njoroge while talking to KNA from his office confessed that they were compelled to close it for security reasons. He implied that the closure had come at the right time as only people with cases or those of their relatives had reason to come to court, including lawyers and Judicial workers.
Scores of advocates and other court users who had always been beneficiaries of the service recently realized that it had been switched off as it asked for a new password.
“We now only give the password to the users who have official business at the courts and since they are here briefly, they do not congest the system the way it was previously” he explained to KNA.
John Njogu, a student at the Kiambu institute of science and technology pursuing statistical mathematics told KNA that he was one of the affected users who had been locked out of the premises. ”I do not know why the Judiciary administration took such a step since we were innocently coming here so that we could access internet to do our research and pursue our academics.
The plight of these young men is a revelation that more people are seeking a conducive environment from where they can do their work using internet.
In 2015, the then governor of Kiambu, William Kabogo directed the installation of free internet at the Kiambu level 5 hospital, a directive that saw scores of young people with their laptops and phones seated on the benches in the health institution. It however did not take long before it was switched off without explanation and it has been difficult for users who are not affiliated to any institution.
By Lydia Shiloya
