This community should invest in trampolines because it enjoys jumping so much - especially to conclusions. All of the accusations about the board, its reactions and its alleged coverups are based entirely on hearsay. The victim of the allegations has not come forward publicly to say any of these things about the case or the board. Instead, she went to the board to follow due process and bring justice to her and other women who may have gone through the same. If she entrusted the board, rather than the tabloids or even the police, why don’t we do give them the same chance?
Does no-one understand that the board is in the tricky position of also having to fight of rumours while simultaneously protecting her identity, her case? And why don’t we realise that a man’s life, family and career is at stake. The allegations need to be taken seriously and investigated seriously. If it was an open-and-close case, they probably would have already fired him on the grounds of sexual harassment. But maybe, just maaaaaybe, there are nuances and subtleties to the case that “tech-moron” and we are not privy to! Sorry that you might have to exercise some patience if a man’s life indeed deserves to be crumbled!
There is so much misdirected bullshit being thrown around. As a woman who has gone through the painful process of accusing a man of sexual harassment, I heard about this incident and thought, poor lady, whoever she is. Her case being spoken about like this, speculations being made about her allegations. Can we, if not for the sake of due process and fairness, at least hold our wagging tongues for her sake?
Assuming her allegations are true, if we are sincere in supporting her and women like her, then the real enemy here is sexual harassment in the workplace; the real enemy is the predator at Ushahidi who did this. Our allies in this case are the board who can hold him responsible, make an example of him. The board of Ushahidi is who we should be showing support to as they navigate this delicate process and investigate these serious accusations. Again, remember that the victim in this case entrusted them, so we should too. Until she comes forward and says they are victim blaming, victim shaming, covering up or doing anything untowards the process, again - hold your wagging tongues.
To start from the position of holding them as the enemy and assuming their evil intentions is a reflection of some personal vendettas in this tech-startup-Ke-entrepreneur community, not a reflection of what any of the Ushahidi board members have stood for - do you know any of them personally? The 3 that I know: Erik and Kobia have daughters and not once have I even heard a vulgar word come out of their mouths towards, let alone towards women, neither could I imagine it; Juliana Rotich has been such an exemplary ambassador of African women in the tech space. These are people of integrity who have worked hard to build this community and are probably losing sleep over the thought of something so horrible happening under their noses. Stop and remind yourself that this case is about the victim(s) and perpetrator(s) of sexual harassment, not about Phares, Angani, Ory or Erik.