Have some swag.

If you are one of those idiots that threatens others via electronic means - or in front of un-bribeable witnesses - you deserve having the draconian bits of the Penal Code and the Kenya Information and Communications Act hurled at you with vigorous intent. Since Julian Assange stole those State Department files containing unvarnished truths about the high and mighty, it is now almost certain that if you put out there via text messages, tweets, facebook posts, emails, WhatsApp, SnapChat, InstaGram...it will come back to take a chunk out of your ass if it threatens people.

Electronic footprints are no longer the preserve of action movies or TV dramas. They are real, and they are becoming a menace. Many Kenyans - some of them intelligent even - are getting swept up in the ever widening net of criminal prosecution because they simply cut lose and lose their marbles when they are online, believing that they are anonymous. The courts are not being generous at all with the application of the law: convictions are occurring against men and women of all ages, social classes and intellectual capacity.

So if you are one of those idiots who does not read the paper or watch TV or who has absolutely no social life, remember these few rules:

1. Don't threaten anyone in writing.
2. If you do, write the threat in an unfamiliar hand on a piece of paper while wearing gloves. You never know; one day Kenya's capacity to collect and analyse forensic evidence will be quite high.
3. If you must use electronic communications, don't use any equipment registrar in your name. Preferably, find one registered to the object of your animus; he'll have difficulty explaining why he is threatening himself.
4. If you must use one registered in your name, use an anonymous account, that is, one registered using absolutely false biographical information, including your gender.
5. Finally, never, ever, EVER, send text messages. Ever!

And please, have some swag.