State defends plan to snoop on Kenyans

Information CS Joe Mucheru

The Government will not suspend the controversial system that mobile firms fear could be used to snoop on private communication. The Communications Authority (CA) Friday said it would not stop the planned process to plant the gadgets on all the mobile networks in the country.

But the Kenya Human Rights Commission hit out at the authority, terming the move contrary to the Constitution. “Every person has the right to privacy, which includes the right not to have the privacy of their communications infringed. It has now emerged that the sanctity of this constitutional provision is under threat by the government through the CA,” the human rights commission said.