Govt To Spy On Phone Calls, Here's Why

The government has announced that it will, through the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA), monitor phone conversations in a bid to crack down on criminals.

Moses Kuria, a Senior Advisor on President William Ruto’s Council of Economic Advisors, revealed on Tuesday, November 5 that the move is meant to trace phone transactions and conversations that will help in reigning in on criminals that include perpetrators of femicide cases.

Kuria further stated that the monitoring will spread to short-stay apartments in Kenya, also known popularly as Airbnb.

"Hon. Kuria said that soon there will be regulations through the Communication Authority of Kenya (CAK) that will be monitoring Air BNBs, Phone transactions and conversations that will help in tracking criminals such as the ones conducting GBV cases more so femicides," Government Deputy Spokesperson Mwanaisha Childzuga stated.

Moses Kuria speaking during a breakfast meeting on November 5, 2024. /MWANAISHA CHIDZUGA

"This regulation will be of great help, we should not be blaming the Air BNBs because they are there for business it is the culprits who are portraying a negative image of Air BNBs but through the regulation that will be put in place they will be nabbed."

Chidzuga had joined the Principal Secretary (PS) of the State Department of Gender & Affirmative Action Anne Wang'ombe among other stakeholders, for a breakfast meeting to brainstorm over the alarming Gender Based Violence (GBV) cases and femicide cases across the country.

Ahead of the commencement of the 16 days of activism against GBV on November 15, she called on Kenyans to work together to curb the rising cases, stating that "Kenyans can not continue to live in fear."

"I called upon Kenyans, especially parents, to monitor their children's use of social media and strangers," she added, further affirming that "All this problem starts with the social media platforms and strangers, we as parents have a role to play in monitoring our children using social media."

Earlier this year, the government listed down five rules that govern Airbnbs. A cabinet dispatch on March 13 indicated that President William Ruto’s administration was prompted to take action as a result of an alarming increase in crimes against persons who frequent the short-stay residences.

Among the notable rules listed by the Cabinet include the short-stays being mandated to maintain Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) Cameras in all common areas.  Additionally, measures should be put in place to ensure that the footage is recorded, stored, and can be retrieved if the need arises. 

This latest move is the government's bid to address the resurging cases of femicide across the country on the back of statistics by the National Police Service (NPS) Deputy Inspector General (IG) of Police Eliud Langat's statement revealing that at least 97 women have been killed in the past three months.

However, this could spark fresh uproar given that the move will likely intrude on Kenyans' privacy, with tension sparked by an earlier notice by the KRA that all mobile device importers will be required to submit detailed import entries for all mobile devices in the customs system, with accurate quantities, proper model descriptions/specifications, and their respective International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers.