The National Assembly on Thursday adopted a report endorsing the appointment of Immaculate Kassait as the Data Commissioner. This paves way for the president to confirm her appointment consequently giving Kenya her first data commissioner.
The chairperson of the Committee on Communication, Information, and Innovation William Kisang moved a special motion for the house to approve Kassait’s nomination as data commissioner. The committee had vetted Kassait on Tuesday 3 November following her nomination by the President on October 13.
In the report, Kisang endorsed Kassait on the grounds that she has a Masters degree and a Bachelors in law degree which are the basic requirement for the appointment. Furthermore, the committee was content with Kassait’s experience and achievements as a Director at the IEBC where she oversaw the development of voter registration strategy and the implementation of voter registration plan that increased the number of registered voters from 14.3 million to 19.6 million.
Kassait said that she will strictly enforce existing provisions on conditions for transferring data outside Kenya a move aimed at international players in data management and transfers such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google.
When questioned about the digital economy, Kassait said that she will promote protection of personal data to encourage innovations among the youth and boost confidence for both local and foreign investors. In addition, she pointed out that data protection increases the compliance level of multinational companies.
Kassait is optimistic that data protection will curb cybercrime which she says leads to substantial economic loss.
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