Former IEBC Director Nominated For The Data Commissioner Position

President Uhuru Kenyatta has formally approved the appointment of the former IEBC Director, Immaculate Kassait, to be the country’s first Data Commissioner to assist in ensuring that the principles of data protection are observed in the country.

Kassait is one of the ten potential candidates the state shortlisted for the position of the Data Commissioner, which has been for more than 7 months in waiting after the Data Protection Bill was signed into law in November 2019.

The Data Commissioner’s role is to ensure that those who keep personal data comply with the provisions of the Data Protection Act, and may investigate complaints made by the general public about abuse of personal data.

The Data Commissioner’s office will be responsible to oversee the implementation of and being responsible for enforcement of the Data Protection Act, establish and maintain a register of data controllers and data processors, and exercise oversight on data processing operations.

Kassait’s approval announcement was done by the speaker of the National Assembly in Parliament as a message from the President. It is in accordance with section 6 (4) of the Data Protection Act 2019 as described by the Speaker.

She is the immediate former Director of Voter Education Partnership and Communication at IEBC prior to which she served as the Programme Manager at the Institute for Education in Democracy.  She has also worked as the Programme Officer at FIDA Kenya. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law from Makerere with a Post Graduate Diploma in Law from KSL. She also has an MBA from USIU.

Her nomination will, within the next 21 days,  be considered by members of parliament.