At Milimani Law Courts, a Safaricom officer admitted yesterday that the telecommunications company released university student David Oaga Mokaya’s subscriber and call data to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) without a court order, raising concerns over procedural violations and data privacy.
The officer, Daniel Khamisi of Safaricom’s security department, testified that on 14 November 2024, the DCI requested call data records for four mobile numbers linked to Mokaya. Safaricom complied and delivered a report covering communications from 15 October to 13 November 2024, which included a specific incoming SMS at 4:24 p.m. and a call lasting 270 seconds on 13 November, traced via IMEI number in the Eldoret Annex area.
Earlier, Chief Inspector Bosco Kisau of the DCI had conceded that a warrant to seize Mokaya’s electronic devices was only obtained after his arrest, suggesting that investigative procedures were not fully observed.
Mokaya, a Moi University fourth-year student, was arrested in November 2024 and charged under the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act with publishing false information after posting a fabricated image on X. The image showed a casket draped in the Kenyan flag, accompanied by a caption implying President William Ruto’s funeral, though the caption did not explicitly state “dead body,” introducing ambiguity.
Earlier forensic analysis by expert Boniface Machibi revealed that the digital evidence, including a screenshot of the disputed post, user profiles, and DVR-timestamped files, could only be linked to Mokaya’s devices, but not to him personally, as there were no biometric or login records to prove individual authorship.
The court continues hearing the case, with the next session scheduled for 21 October 2025
