Landlords and property owners will be required to keep a registry of tenants under a proposed law that is likely to raise further concerns about surveillance by State security agencies. The tenants’ registry, which can be made available to the State, will contain personal details such as names, postal addresses, phone numbers and e-mails. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) lobbied the National Assembly’s Administration and National Security committee to include the requirement of the registry in the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Amendment Bill. Although the tenants’ registry is fronted as a weapon against drug lords, it will provide the NIS and the police with background details of the nearly five million Kenyans that lease home and office space. Crimes that are considered a threat to national security include smuggling of drugs and weapons like guns that are shipped in from neighbouring countries entangled in civil wars.

Source: Daily Nation January 07, 2021 05:26 UTC