Day 2 of Talk to the Senate (2017-2022 Priorities)

Good morning moderator,

As much as Senate only looks at the laws that affect the counties, there are some fundamental legislation whose effect will be felt right down to the counties’ operation nerves and I think this Senate ICT Committee can facilitate their enactment.

1) Data Protection and Privacy Law
Privacy is a valuable aspect of any human personal life and data or information protection safeguards the rights of a person to privacy. Data protection accords legal protection to a person in cases where his or her personal information is to be collected, stored, used or communicated by a third party. I think what we have witnessed in Kenya especially during the run-up to the 2013 election where so many people found themselves belonging to various political parties without their knowledge and consent is a deep concern. We also witnessed a lot of unnecessary texts to our cell phones from politicians during the recent campaigns running to the 2017 elections. This means that the ‘data controllers’ can easily give out your information without any fear of reprisals. As at now all Kenyans are exposed to privacy and personal data violations as most of the data is either collected without the subject’s knowledge or being used for purposes contrary to the reasons for its collection. Article 31 of the 2010 Constitution guarantees every citizen rights to privacy but this constitutional provision of privacy provides limited data protection in the absence of robust legislation but I can say it has a considerable potential and influence in developing principles of data protection law. There are already legal frameworks such as AU Convention on Cyber Security and Data Protection and the EAC Framework on Cyberlaws that can easily be transposed into our proposed data protection legislation. With the technological advancements and rapid proliferation of cross-border trade, it is imperative that Kenya should be in compliance with international privacy and data protection legislations and standards since failure to do that could hinder business operations and become huge barrier to international trade. The internet and e-commerce has led to huge free flow of information across international borders and therefore it is imperative that personal protection data and privacy law be put in place to make sure that Kenyans enjoy their fundamental rights and freedoms.

2) Computer and Cybercrime Bill
The enactment of this Bill into law is long overdue but there certain clauses that need to be revised. I think KICTANet is on top of this and has submitted the proposed revisions

3) The Information Communication Technology Practitioners Bill 2016
This bill should be thrown out of the window and should never see the light of the day. It will surely stifle innovation. The best computer wizards never studied computer science.

Regards
Lawrence Dinga, MSc. (InfoSec & Forensics), CISSP
Managecom Systems Ltd
+254 721226324/ 0733973999

From: kanini mutemi via kictanet
Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2018 7:16 AM
To: ldinga@managecom.co.ke
Cc: kanini mutemi
Subject: [kictanet] Day 2 of Talk to the Senate (2017-2022 Priorities)

Good morning Listers!

If you are just joining us, this is a series where we tell the Senate ICT Committee what we think should be in their agenda 2017-2022. Today our goal is to give very specific proposals on legislative and oversight interventions informed by the issues we highlighted yesterday. Those of us who gave proposals in their submissions yesterday, please do not tire, you may bring them up again today. By the way, the Day 1 discussion is not closed, please keep adding your contributions.

We will dedicate the earlier part of the day to the legislative role of the Senate. I will come back later on and pose more questions on oversight, budget and sharing of revenue.

I ask–
(a) What ICT laws ought to be passed between now and 2022?
Here you may comment on the Bills currently in circulation or make legislative proposals that the Committee can pick up and commission into the drafting of a Bill. Comments on Bills that would stifle ICT are also welcome.

(b) What laws need to be amended?

Keep in mind that the legislative role of the Senate as stated in Article 96 is limited to Bills concerning counties. Therefore, in your proposals, make a case on how that issue is one that concerns counties. (PS; the definition of that proviso is very controversial).

Let us participate!

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