The International laws and The Kenyan Bill of Rights does not recognize the phone as a right hence any judge or a person with legal authority to amend a law can ban the use of phones to an individual or to the whole nation.
A judge in Michigan decided he could do something to reduce risky phone obsessions. In the Lansing State Journal Reports , a 23-year-old Mitzi Nelson struck and killed a cyclist while she was driving. Police revealed that she was busy looking at her phone and unable to see where she was going. Judge Stewart McDonald on Wednesday gave her two years of probation and six months in jail, the judge also gave her community service and other fines.
The judge finally gave his personal punishment where Nelson is not allowed to own or use a cell phone or other portable communication device for two years. The judge declared that she doesn’t have a right to have a cell phone; implying that owning a phone is not a right but a privilege. The cell phone part of the sentence was not the judge’s idea but it was proposed by Jordan Byelich whose wife Jill was killed by Nelson.
The US has recorded the highest percentage of death caused by motorists who drive while texting, eating or adjusting the radio. Nelson’s lawyer told the State Journal that his client is likely to appeal raising the question on the meaningfulness of the cell phone punishment. “I think the punishment is quit difficult to follow up if she will indeed not use a cell phone since a relative can just buy her another phone unless the Judge puts in place a tracking order.”
A related case that ordered a ban on the services provided by cell phones was the recent case in Uganda where a commercial court declared Mobile Money as illegal. MTN, Warid, Uganda Telecom, Airtel and Africell were declared illegal businesses following a field petition to have Mobile Money regulated under the Financial Institutions Act.
In Kenya it’s believed that most accidents are caused by texting or talking on phone while driving amounting to 85% of accidents caused by human factors. Dr. Charles Pless and Barry Pless wrote an editorial on the need to legally implement technologies that will deter drivers from texting while driving.
