Cybercrimes Law in Limbo as Court Declares Several Laws Unconstitutional

The High Court has voided a number of bills that were passed by the National Assembly that did not involve the Senate and it affects the contentious Cybercrimes law and the law that establishes Huduma Namba.

According to the Star, a three judge bench on Thursday ruled that the Speaker of the National Assembly must involve his Senate counterpart.

The Senate had moved to court to challenge the decision by the National Assembly to pass bills without their input. The 24 bills that were nullified include:

1. The Public Trustee (Amendment) Act, No. 6 of 2018
2. The Building Surveyors Act, 2018, No. 19 of 2018
3. Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes, Act, No. 5 of 2018
4. The Statute Law (miscellaneous Amendments), No. 4 of 2018
5. The Kenya Coast Guard Service Act, no 11 of 2018
6. The Tax Laws (Amendment) Act, No. 9 of 2018
7. The Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, No 18 of 2018
8. The Supplementary Appropriation Act, No 2 of 2018
9. The Equalization Fund Appropriation Act, No 3 of 2018
10. The Sacco Societies (Amendment), 2018, No. 16 of 2018
11. The Finance Act, No. 10 of 2018
12. The Appropriations Act, no 7 of 2018
13. The Capital Markets (Amendment) Act, No. 5 of 2019
14. The National Youth Service Act, No 17 of 2018
15. The Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 5 of 2019
16. The Health Laws (Amendment) Act, No 5 of 2019
17. The Sports (Amendment), Act, No. 7 of 2019
18. National Government Constituency Development Fund, 2015
19. The National Cohesion and Integration (Amendment) Act, 2019
20. The Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2019
21. The Supplementary Appropriation Act, No. 9 of 2019
22. The Appropriation Act, 2019
23. The Insurance (Amendment) Act, 2019
24. The National Government Constituency Development Fund Act 2015

The National Assembly had argued that nullifying the acts they passed would be a huge loss for the State considering the costs involved.

This is a very interesting development by the High Court and in particular, it involves the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act of 2018. This act was declared ‘constitutional’ on February this year after being in court for over a year thanks to BAKE and the LSK. We will now wait to see the development of this decision by the High Court on acts like the Cybercrimes law and its implementation in Kenya.

Additionally, the decision affects Huduma Namba which was introduced as an amendment in The Statute Law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, No 18 of 2018. This act establishes a National Integrated Identity Management System that led to Kenyans being registered as as to create a national population register.