What started off as a solidarity social group on Facebook has taken an ugly turn after the co-founders of Kilimani Mums fell out, pushing one partner to move to court.
Magdaline Nzisa, a lawyer who founded the group, has sued co-admins Purity Nduta and Irene Mwende in what could turn out to be a vicious battle over commercial interests generated by the group.
Ms Nzisa served Nduta and Mwende with a suit notice on Tuesday through an advertisement in the media for the hearing of the case on Friday. Ms Nduta has since been stripped off as the co-admin of the group, which has over 130,000 members, mainly the upward mobile Nairobi women who share personal experiences and advice on social issues.
“Take note that a Plaint and Notice of Motion Application have been filled in the Chief Magistrate Court at Nairobi, Milimani Commercial Courts in civil suit no. 148 of 2017 in which you are named as the defendants. Service of the summons on you has been ordered by means of this advertisement,” reads the summon.
The finer details of the fallout will be known tomorrow Friday March 10, when the case comes up for hearing, but it is speculated that the source of wrangles is sharing of revenue earned from the group through advertising and promotional content. Admins of popular Facebook groups usually charge members to post ads and commercial content.
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This will be a precedent-setting case, where group admins go for each other’s necks to seize ownership of followers.
Even as the fallout clicked on into the corridors of justice, Ms Nzisa released a promotional video for the planned launch of a Kilimani Mums television show. The promo says the show will give a chance to women to freely share their stories, empower, challenge and inspire one another as per the caption of the trailer.
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“Many women in Kenya are afraid of telling their stories simply because they fear being ostracized, judged or even termed as not good enough. We are giving these women a chance to freely share their stories, empower, challenge and inspire one another,” reads the caption of the promo.
The group, which has long been an online platform for women to share extremely personal problems is now facing uncertain future. Women on the group advise one another on issues like conniving husbands, troublesome in-laws, love triangles or even seeking cure for venereal diseases contracted from illicit love affairs. Members may quit the group after realizing that they are being used as baits in the growing social media influencers’ world.
This came in a week that the world celebrated International Women’s Day with a rallying call for women to be bold.
