At it again! State to monitor private chats to curb hate speech ahead of General Elections

Despite assurances to the contrary just two months ago, Interior CS Joseph Nkaissery said this week that the government has purchased equipment it will use to monitor private communications and ensure that citizens do not violate hate-speech laws, according to published reports.

“Private chats” will be “monitored to the letter and our officers will come for you,” Nkaissery was quoted as saying by Nairobi media outlets.

The CS reportedly made the comments on Saturday during a rally at Birrika shopping centre, Kajiado West.

A Communications Authority official declined to comment on the matter.

Nkaissery did not explain how the state will tap into private conversations, though he said security agencies have been supplied with devices that can do so, according to published reports.

This announcement relates to Kenyans’ anger earlier this year over fears the Communications Authority was spying on them. The CA insisted, though, that its device management system would only detect counterfeit devices in the country and stop SIM-box technology, which is illegal in Kenya.

The Consumers Federation of Kenya (COFEK) announced its opposition to the plan, calling it an attempt to monitor citizens’ calls and text messages with the help of a system set to be imposed on mobile network operators.

COFEK announced on its site: “We are shocked to learn that the Communications Authority has imposed on mobile network operators a device management system – a mechanism that will effectively compromise consumer privacy, indiscriminately monitor calls and text messages while exposing consumers to higher billing and occasion poor quality services.”

Director General CA Francis Wangusi said in response in a statement that the acquisition of a device management system is the second phase of an initiative that saw mobile network operators switch off counterfeit mobile devices in Kenya in 2010.

“The DMS is being deployed in close consultation with the local mobile network operators. Contrary to the claims raised through COFEK, the implementation of the system is being coordinated by a team that has the involvement of the mobile network operators, CA and other relevant government agencies,” a CA statement said.

Though the Communications Authority and Wangusi were forthcoming in giving information then, that was not the case this week.