Kenya: who is watching you? Kenyan journalist Catherine Gicheru is worried her country knows everything about her

Wana Udobang speaks to a Kenyan journalist who worries about her government’s ability to know every detail about her

“I HATE THE IDEA of somebody watching me everywhere I go. Imagine meeting a news source in a hotel and you don’t know that you have already been marked. How the hell do I get my info?” said journalist Catherine Gicheru.

“Even a simple engagement between me and somebody else – politicians can use that to make you a victim, too.”

Gicheru, country manager at Code for Africa – a technology and data journalism initiative – was talking to Index about concerns relating to the new biometric testing programme being introduced by the Kenyan government using a French company.

The tests are mandatory, and data being gathered includes GPS co-ordinates for home addresses, fingerprints, retina and iris scans and voice samples. Around 21 million Kenyans have reportedly already registered with the system, which was part of a $59 million project led by Idemia, a French multinational company specialising in security and identity management.

However, this company has run into problems and the Kenyan national assembly has now voted to suspend it from government contracts for 10 years after an alleged violation of the Companies Act.

Whatever the reason a government gives for collecting data on its citizens, people will always be wary about how it is collected, how it is stored, and its possible uses, Gicheru told Index.

“We live in a country where the more information the government has about us, the more power they have to use against [us],” she said.

CREDIT: Gary Bates/Ikon

“For me, as a journalist, it should not happen… until we put in place the securities and the laws to ensure that my information is secure and protected.”

The biggest concern of many media workers is the possible surveillance of journalists investigating institutional corruption and abuse of power. How do journalists protect sources, whistleblowers and themselves?

She believes it is too much power to give to a government which has not previously acted in the interest of its citizens. The security of other forms of personal information had already proved to be a problem, so she is concerned about what could happen with the biometric data and what kind of security has been put in place to keep it safe.

“We shouldn’t cede to government at all – especially without any kind of protection,” she said. Gicheru is insistent on the need for a public conversation around the use and ownership of private citizens’ information and thinks the Kenyan government needs to be willing to bring in proper data protection measures.

“Technology needs to serve the people, not the people [serve] the technology.”