[CAVIE-ACCI] Kenyans face a fine of Sh1 million for refusing to disclose SMSs, emails and WhatsApp messages that the government believes breach national security if Parliament adopts a proposed law.

The Bill seeks to amend the Official Secrets Act of 1968 to make it compulsory for anyone who owns a mobile phone or communication gadget to provide information on persons and data that the State is pursuing for national security breaches.

This will also include gadgets belonging to Kenyans that have been used in foreign countries to send information through channels like SMSs, emails and WhatsApp to the country.

Those who fail to provide the records or persons of interest to the security agencies risk a fine of Sh1 million or a jail term of up to one year, underlining the State’s latest push to fight crimes such as money laundering, terrorism and cybercrime.

“Any person who owns or controls any telecommunications apparatus used for the sending or receipt of any data to or from any place outside Kenya, to produce to the Cabinet Secretary or any person named in the order, the original or transcripts of all such data,” says the Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2020.

“Any person who fails to comply with a request made under sub-section shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding one million shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both.”

John Mutua