President Uhuru Kenyatta has picked former IEBC Director of Voter Education Immaculate Kassait to be Kenya's first Data Commissioner.
The role was created by the enactment of the Data Protection Act, 2019.
Her name was forwarded to the National Assembly on Tuesday October 13, which is supposed to vet her for the position within 21 days.
If approved, she will be in charge of overseeing the implementation and the enforcement of the data protection rights, establishing and maintaining a register of data controllers and data processors.
She will also exercise oversight on data processing operations and verifying whether the processing of data is done in accordance with the regulations.
She will hold the office for six years and the Salaries and Remuneration Commission shall advise on the remuneration.
The digital revolution has led to the collection of a lot of Kenyans' data by different organisations and institutions such as schools, telecommunication companies and mobile phone apps.
The Data Protection Act, 2019 created a framework for the safe custody of Kenyans' data to deter unlawful use of exploitation of the information.
The data commissioner will have powers to investigate any complaint by any person regarding the infringements of their data rights.
The act categorised the sensitive personal data as a person's race, health status, ethnic social origin, conscience, belief, genetic data, biometric data, property details, marital status, family details including names of the person's children, parents, spouse or spouses, sex or the sexual orientation.
Kenyans have the right to be informed about the use of their personal data and to withdraw consent at any time.
"A data subject has a right to object to the processing of their personal data, unless the data controller or data processor demonstrates compelling legitimate interest for the processing which overrides the data subject's interests, or for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal claim," the Data Protection Act 2019 states.
