So Smitta or Tony Mochama is supposed to be the darling of writers in Kenya. Now fame has caught up to him and he’s now accused of having sexually assualted a lady at a party…..in plain view of visitors to the party.
In what was to be the start of a torrid number of accusations and counter accusations, we can say that Smitta’s world changed a bit the moment this tweet went live.
@StandardKenya.Question: Are there measures or protocols in place in the event that one of your male journalists sexually assaults a woman?
— Wambui Mwangi (@wambui_mwangi) September 22, 2014
Then it was followed by a quick set of tweets to organisations that are said to hire the accussed fellow
Question: @pen_int Do you have a policy on what to do about sexual harassment by your regional officers? Kenyan women need to know.
— Wambui Mwangi (@wambui_mwangi) September 22, 2014
Now, if you thought the days of silence are with us, then you haven’t seen Kenyan social media. After Jackson Njeru and his dead beat women, it seems now social media is the weapon of choice for most of those who can’t see justice in the so called “corridors of justice.”
And the person who’s accused of sexual harrasment on social media is
I accuse Tony Mochama, poet, author and columnist, of sexually harassment
— Gone vegan' (@KenneMwikya) September 22, 2014
I should add. I was there. It happened. Tony Mochama sexually assaulted a woman.
— Michael Onsando (@Woozie_M) September 22, 2014
Get this, Tony Mochama assaulted a woman. There were witnesses. Even if there weren't, he still did. What more do you need to know?
— Ibn Khaldun (@brendawambui) September 22, 2014
Tony Mochama Still has Support of Course – This is Kenya You Know
Making such allegations on social media is not something to be laughed off. Someone’s career is going down the drain. Either the accuser’s or the accused are going to have a very rough few weeks in their lives.
So of course Smitta had to defend himself. I’m just glad it wasn’t in that language he writes with as I usually don’t understand it.
Dear Ghafla,
Sorry I lost my phone at storymoja hay fest over the weekend. I was at said Wambui’s house with lots of other (local and international) poets on Sato aftey but at NO point did I assault anybody. Wambui Mwangi herself was conspicuously absent, ‘coincidentally’ latergiving a talk on ‘MEDIA and MISOGYNY’. Wambui has hated on me for years, specifically for my ‘Men Only’ column which she calls chauvinistic (its a Sato humour piece) – and I think she invited me to her place as a set up to create this hullabaloo to gain ‘feminist’ relevance ( she is a bitter, childless, fifty something who is always ranting at me on CKW. I do not know when I ate her goat). Regardless, I am suing her for slander and defamation to my reputation. Never in my life have I sexually assaulted anybody, or needed to, and its not on Saturday in front of everyone that I would begin. Wamboi all day has been tweeting to my employers and creative sponsors. Clearly, she is on a career-wrecking mission, but I am suing her for a million, and she will not succeed in her wicked scemes. Quite frankly, I also think she is a little clinically insane, to invent this wicked fiction about me. I am sad, angry, vexed and perplexed, but atalipa kotini. Thanks. Tony.
Very tough words from him, but his accusers have not relented.
Since Saturday, Tony Mochama hasn't spoken to the person he sexually harassed, he hasn't apologised, what he's done doesn't register
— Gone vegan' (@KenneMwikya) September 22, 2014
On Saturday, September 20, Mr. Tony Mochama, a columnist with Kenya’s Standard Group, Secretary of PEN Kenya, and holder of a Morland Writing Scholarship, sexually assaulted a woman during a gathering of Kenyan and international poets.
Source
Kahawa Tungu in their usual style had to go the whole hog and publish the “alleged victims” name and picture. Of course in their mind, this is all about feminists and sexists and men being abused. lol Only Kahawa Tungu can come up with such a story.
And btw senior women in the media are saying Tony Mochama does this kind of thing often
— Michael Onsando (@Woozie_M) September 22, 2014
The story according to us is that someone has made very serious allegations on social media. If such a thing happened then we support that the law takes its full course on such issues. We don’t like it on msemakweli when women are disrespected.
On the other hand, we are also not for using social media to settle scores. Take the case to court and let the accused and the accusers make their statements.
Smitta Promises to Sue Anyone and Everyone
tony mochama
September 22, 2014 at 6:52 pm
Except that this ‘assault’ is the figment of Wambui Mwangi’s feminist agenda (she wasn’t even there) and if it is feminist credentials she was seeking through her defamatory tweets, well, we will sue her and see her in court. Very vexing rubbish, this.
Well, there you have it. Tony Mochama aka Smitta Smitten is being accused by feminists of sexual molestation. We can only pray for the victims, whomever they will turn out to be in this warped story.
Update
Shaijla Patel All But Confesses She Was the Victim
Kahawa Tungu may have called out her name but we know better than quote any of Robert Alai’s blogs. But it seems Shajila Patel has confirmed that she was the victim.
I came home. I was on hiatus. Resting. Being with loved ones. This happened. To me. http://t.co/OCbUSa7Xla #StopTonyMochama
— Shailja Patel (@shailjapatel) September 23, 2014