Kenya's Data Protection Act Of 2019

guest · Nov 14, 2021

Kenya's Data Protection Act Of 2019
Data Protection in Kenya: how is this right protected?

Our new paper turns to Kenya’s Data Protection Act to lay the groundwork for a truly rights-centric approach to data protection in Kenya
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Paper: "Data Protection in Kenya: how is this right protected?" (October 2021)
(PDF): https://www.accessnow.org/data-protection-in-kenya-paper

Kenya enacted a comprehensive data protection legislation in 2019 that has been been touted as mirroring the EU General Data Protection Regulation. It has been just a few months shy of two years since the Data Protection Act in Kenya came into effect. In that time, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) has been established as provided for in the Act; and with that has also come a number of operationalising provisions developed by the ODPC in consultation with the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology.

While remaining cognizant of the reality that data protection act is progressive and contains provisions essential to the realisation of the right to privacy and general data protection, there remains room for improvements to its implementation.
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In the time the act has been operational, there have been separate occurrences; both new and existing that have called into question the effectiveness and efficiency of the act as it operates right now. We examine some of these occurrences in this paper.
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While this paper is not exhaustive in its analysis, we seek to provide insights on some of the key elements of the data protection law and how it could be further developed to make for a stronger, more effective law for the protection of people’s rights. To that end, we provide two sets of recommendations, one directed to the Kenyan Government and one to the ODPC.
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V. CONCLUSION
It is clear that Kenya has a progressive law and administrative body in the form of the ODPC in place. There are, however, improvements to be made to ensure the proper functioning of the Act and the office that comes with it. This starts with establishing and ensuring the independence of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner and the establishment of meaningful public participation. We will continue to do our part to engage with the ODPC and other stakeholders.
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Kenya's Data Protection Act Of 2019

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