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<body class='hmmessage'><div dir='ltr'><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px; line-height: 21.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By rejecting the bid by KRA to freely access its customers’ M-Pesa accounts, Safaricom is just restating the law.</span><div><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px; line-height: 21.6px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br></span></div><div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin-bottom: 20px; line-height: 1.5em;">The right to privacy is a key tenet of Kenya’s legal philosophy.</p></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin-bottom: 20px; line-height: 1.5em;">It is protected in among others the Banking Act, the Advocates Act and the telecommunications laws, which all provide that third parties-- including State agencies—cannot access people’s personal information without a court order.</p></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin-bottom: 20px; line-height: 1.5em;"><br></p><p style="margin-bottom: 20px; line-height: 1.5em;">By purporting to pass a provision in the Finance Bill giving the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) powers to access “third party” information freely, Finance Secretary Henry Rotich is attempting to repeal these Acts in one fell swoop. </p></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin-bottom: 20px; line-height: 1.5em;"><br></p><p style="margin-bottom: 20px; line-height: 1.5em;">He is implying that the KRA can access a taxpayer’s bank account, M-Pesa records or even files held by their advocates without any reference to the courts. Unfortunately the law is not on his side. </p><p style="margin-bottom: 20px; line-height: 1.5em;"><br></p><p style="margin-bottom: 20px; line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Opinion-and-Analysis/KRA-should-not-have-free-access-to-taxpayers-accounts/-/539548/3252954/-/lshtp/-/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Opinion-and-Analysis/KRA-should-not-have-free-access-to-taxpayers-accounts/-/539548/3252954/-/lshtp/-/index.html</a></p></div></div> </div></body>
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