Kenya's Finance Bill: AU rights commission warns of privacy infringement

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), an organ of the African Union (AU), has expressed concern over the proposed amendment to the Data Protection Act under the Finance Bill 2024 proposed in Kenya.

The proposed law wants to amend the Data Protection Act by exempting the processing of personal data by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) from the requirements under the Act.

This makes KRA able to access taxpayers’ personal information from data processors and controllers without a court warrant.

In a statement on Wednesday, ACHPR’s Rapporteur on Human Rights in Kenya, Solomon Ayele Dersso said such measures “set a dangerous precedent for government overreach and undermine the fundamental principles of privacy and civil liberties.”

Dersso said the proposal contravenes the protection of civil, political and socio-economic rights under the African Charter.

The commission urged the Kenyan government to reconsider and amend the provision.

“Upholding the right to privacy is essential to maintaining public trust and adhering to the principles of human and people’s rights under the African Charter,” added Dersso.

Per the Finance Bill proposal, KRA’s freedom to access personal information would be used in cases where the disclosure is “necessary for the assessment, enforcement, or collection of any tax or duty under a written tax law.”

The proposal has however been criticised for not just infringement on taxpayers' rights to privacy but also posing the risk of data misuse.

Parliament is on Thursday debating the Finance Bill for the second day after public participation closed on June 10.

This is against the backdrop of heated protests in Nairobi as Kenyans push MPs to shoot down the proposed law in its entirety.

In its report after considering Kenyans’ views, the National Assembly Finance and Planning Committee acknowledges that the proposal to allow the KRA access to personal data as proposed, may not be in line with the right to privacy granted in the constitution.

It observed that the Data Protection Act outlines the circumstances under which exemptions might apply.

The committee also notes that the Tax Procedures Act empowers KRA or an authorised officer with a warrant to have full access to any data to administer a tax law.

On Tuesday next week, MPs are set to move amendments approved by the speaker at the committee of the whole, also known as the bill's Third Reading.

Legislators will then take a final vote to determine the Finance Bill’s fate before June 30, before the 2024/25 financial year begins on July 1.