KISUMU, Kenya, Sep 12 – The government is keen to operationalize the computer misuse and cybercrime Act of 2018 by putting in place strong regulations.
David Njoga, head of cyber security, policy and strategy at the national computer and cyber-crime coordination committee said the law has remained unused due to lack of regulations.
Njoga who is the secretary of a taskforce formed by the Ministry of Interior mandated to develop regulations for the computer misuse and cybercrime Act noted that cyber security is a concern to the government.
“We have identified cyber security as a major concern that is actually affecting the national economy as well as other cross cutting issues,” he said.
Speaking to the press in Kisumu on Tuesday at the start of a public participation on draft regulations on cyber-crime and computer misuse, Njoga noted that the gaps that had prevented the operationalization of the law are now being fixed.
“However, it has not been fully operationalized because of some of the gaps that needed to be mitigated using regulations, that is why we are conducting such exercises across the country,” he said.
He says the Act provides for various offences and punishments, which he said if properly dealt with in line with proper cyber-crime management framework then such cases will decline.
Njoga says cases like cyber stalking, cyber bullying, interfering with critical information infrastructure amongst others will be dealt with decisively once the regulations are put in place.
He reiterated that the government is committed to develop comprehensive and offensive cyber-capabilities to protect its citizens against threats and attacks associated with cyber-crime and computer misuse.
“The regulations have many aspects, besides hardening of ICT infrastructure and services, we are going to increase international collaboration,” he said.
Nyanza Regional Commissioner (RC) Flora Mworoa, who spoke to the media at the sidelines of the exercise said the regulations will help in monitoring the use of social media.
Mworoa says a number of tribal animosity have been fanned through social media, with culprits going scot free due to lack of enough laws to apprehend and arraign such characters.
“We have witnessed a lot of misuse of social media and in most cases, these have gone without any action, with the regulations we will have a way forward,” she said.
Njoga further announced that they will have a public forum in Nairobi once all the regions are covered to meet different stakeholders to give their input into the regulations.
