Experts: NIS Bill will boost growth

By FREDRICK OBURA

The coming into play of the National Intelligence Service Bill 2011 could spur the growth of ICT sector.

Experts say the new Bill, if passed into law, would promote security, thereby boosting prospects of economic growth.

"For the developing world to move forward, the basic condition is that there is enough security. Such a peaceful country can be in place when we have strong laws such as the proposed NIS Bill 2011 guiding the operations of security agencies," said James Wanyonyi, an information technology expert.

Under the NIS Bill 2011, the security agency can obtain any information, material, record, document or thing and for that purpose enter any place, search for or remove or return, examine, take extracts from, make copies of or record in any other manner the information, material, record, document or thing without a warrant issued by a court of law.

It states that this can happen during extreme emergency or existence of exceptional circumstances. Once implemented, the chairperson of the services would be a judge of the High Court.

"Such milestone developments would hasten the expansion of ICT firms. Ultimately, it would attract foreign direct investments," said Dr Wanyonyi . Analysts argue that the new legislation would be good for the development of the country, since national security is paramount in any economy. "Developed countries are where they are because of robust secure systems," he said.