Interior Cabinet Secretary Prof Kithure Kindiki and his ICT counterpart Dr Eliud Owalo have been given one week ultimatum to come up with substantive answers on the world coin crypto currency mining saga.
National assembly speaker Moses Wetangula gave the two cabinet secretaries seven days to bring to light how the company was registered in the country, whether data mined from citizens constituted to a security breach and what measures have the respective government agencies put in place to ensure data safety of citizens who join the world coin platform.
Wetangula went ahead to also give exemption to the office of the data protection commissioner from the multi agency probe citing that it could be compromised.
The two cabinet secretaries received these orders when they appeared before the floor of the house to shed some light on the world coin debacle amidst talks of a security gap which allowed the world coin company set up shop in the country.
“I will give you another week and so you can come back with more detailed and satisfactory answers. please when responding you should give details of who licensed these people to operate in the country and more so from KICC which is a public facility,” said Wetangula.
The legislatures gave the two cabinet secretaries no rest as they demanded to know whether the country was safe and why the government took so long to address the issue.
Kindiki stated that as of how investigations were proceeding, indications pointed to crimes were committed during world coin operations and assured that measures would be taken to bring to book those responsible.
“Crimes were committed; Crimes against the data protection act, crimes against the privacy of Kenyans and the crimes against the penal code have been committed and we will get all those involved so they can face justice,” stated Kindiki.
The interior boss assured Kenyans that the government would fast track investigations and would even request other countries for the surrender of those outside Kenyan territory for them to record statements.
“The processors of data must obtain consent from Kenyans in line with our Data proction Act. If any consent was sought, which was doubtful, it was not acknowledged consent from Kenyans,” pointed out Kindiki.
The ministry of interior has already issued a freeze order for movement of those involved in the scandal in and out of the country.
“By the time government is coming in, we must have reasonable information that crimes have been committed. This issue is a serious threat just like terrorism, banditry and the sale of drugs and also just like those who want to intimidate us to use politics to commit crimes,” Kindiki said.
“Kenya is safe. But I urge Kenyans that even as we go forward in the technological world we must be alert to the fact that the risks in the physical space are the same in the digital space,” he added.
CS Owalo assured that the multi-agency team investigating the matter will be keen to establish whether the World coin mining data project was an attack or an act of aggression on the nation.
The issue on the transparency of the operations of Worldcoin had been raised in in France, India, Germany, UK and other countries.