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{
    "id": 784341,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/784341/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 165,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Maanzo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2197,
        "legal_name": "Daniel Kitonga Maanzo",
        "slug": "daniel-kitonga-maanzo"
    },
    "content": "going to affect several other laws. We have the Penal Code which is very old and by the time it was made, there was no technology as such. Therefore, there are other Acts which are going to be affected such as the Evidence Act. The most important part of an issue, whether it is cyber bullying or any of the cybercrimes, is how you are going to prove it in a court of law and whether we are going to have special courts like the anti-corruption or environment courts. Technology grows on a daily basis. We have to make laws such that even when it advances, we are able to catch up with the situation. In fact, when ICT started developing in the country, a study was carried out at the University of Nairobi. One of the courses facilitated was on ICT which is done by Prof. Ben Sihanya who is an expert from Stanford University where he got his PhD. America was the first to advance on these matters, but law gets overtaken by events. We are saying that at the Third Reading, we have to be futuristic and look at all crimes related to this. When it comes to crime, punishment and bailing or bond, it is going to affect all of us including our children, very soon. A former Member’s child was sentenced to 25 years for a certain crime by a court. Although there were methods of appeal, the law and the sentence remained. Unless you are forgiven by the Kamiti Maximum Prison through the power of mercy, things become very complicated. So, when you say for a small crime or an offence under this, you fine someone Kshs25 million or 25 years in prison or both then we really have to clearly what exactly we are doing. The other issue is constitutionality. Any law which does not conform to our current Constitution immediately becomes null and void. It could be certain sections of that particular law or the whole law. So, we have to be careful so that when we enact some of the provisions in this law, they should not go beyond our Constitution or contravene it. We should make laws that are within our Constitution. We may make it with emotions and make laws that are not within our Constitution. We cannot just copy other countries blindly. We cannot copy the United States of America (USA). The other day, we heard Hon. Dalmas Otieno say that when we copied the American system of pure presidential system, we did not copy the Electoral College. Therefore, that makes the difference between us and other jurisdictions. So, we have to make a law tailored to our situation although the world has become a village when it comes to ICT or cybercrimes. There are many issues such as that of google. There are certain companies which have already been already licensed. There is something called ‘google earth’. A few years ago, you could google this Parliament and you could see the movement of people and even the cars parked. Of course, security issues were raised and the laws were amended globally such that the pictures of google earth appear two or three days after they are taken. You could see what was happening in the Israel Temple direct from google earth, and this is part of what is happening. So, to what extent does security intermarry with cyber? You have heard of the technology of drones. A drone is something which looks like a flying bird but it is actually a drone, which is a weapon of war. It is insecurity in itself. It is directed by a computer. It can be used to assassinate someone. So, there are so many issues we need to look into in totally. There are science laboratories where this technology is being developed. We have many years to get there as a country. I believe the technology will soon be sold to the world through the cyber forums. It is big business. When there is a popular thing happening, anybody who accesses it makes money. There is the issue of taxation. When you are dealing globally, how is Kenya going to benefit with the taxes? When we operate from here, as a county, we also lose a lot of taxes in this matter. There are many other issues we need to look into. The issue of fake news is a big The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}