Ndung'u Wainaina, the executive director of the International Center for Policy and Conflict (ICPC) and renowned security pundit, on Wednesday, October 23, weighed in on the controversial Data Protection Bill, 2019 that is before Parliament.
The DPP Noordin Haji had on Tuesday, October 22, warned MPs against making amendments to the bill that, if passed, would block the agencies from accessing private data on citizens.
In a statement to newsrooms on Wednesday, October 23, the human security expert advised MPs on a number of best practices they needed to incorporate un the bill to prevent security agencies from needlessly spying on Kenyans.
"The data protection law's purpose is to give full effect to the constitutional right to privacy by safeguarding personal information when it is processed by another party, and to regulate the manner in which personal information may be processed by establishing a threshold of minimum conditions," he stated.
Ndung'u opined that the country's security organs could not be allowed to re-use or disclose personal information for purposes other than what was originally intended when the information was sought.
"Agencies are required to be transparent with individuals about how their data will be used, under a lawful basis,"
The ICPC Director maintained that liability should be upon the entities to take steps to ensure that personal information is kept secure and backed up through organisational and technical security measures.
He further called for restriction of the collection and storage of personal information adding the only data collected should be relevant for the intended purpose and must only be kept for as long as it is needed.
"Personal data will need to be accurate. In cases where it is not, corrections must be made. Individuals will have the right to update any of their personal information that is incorrect," Wainaina added.
A parliamentary committee proposed a number of amendments to the bill clipping the reach of state agencies when it came to accessing private information including having to secure court orders first before retrieving data on individuals under investigations.
The committee chaired by Marakwet West MP William Kisang, however, noted that the requirement for a court order should be on a case-by-case basis.
Opposing some amendments, DPP Haji affirmed that without the ability to spy on persons of interest, national intelligence services would be crippled.
"To say there would be no spying in the country is to imply that we should not have national intelligence," Haji asserted.
A 2017 report by a UK-based firm, Privacy International (PI) revealed that Kenyan security agencies intimidate mobile service providers to spy on citizens' private phone conversations.
“The National Intelligence Service (NIS) intercepts both communication content and acquires call data records without warrants to gather intelligence and prevent crime," the report disclosed.
