National Assembly majority leader Kimani Ichung’wah has complained about harassment by a section of Kenyans.
Ichung’wah decried that their phone numbers have been shared on social media forcing them to block their phones.
While addressing the House on Wednesday, Ichung’wah said MPs resorted to blocking some of their social media platforms.
"I know many of these members including myself have suffered a lot of harassment. I asked the minority leader whether he has suffered the same and he told me his phone is worse," Ichung’wah said.
"Many of these Members of Parliament, you cannot reach them on their phones because they have blocked their phones including WhatsApp."
Ichung’wah, however, said Kenyans were able to express themselves and raise their opinion on the proposed Finance Bill 2024.
He said that as a result, the Finance Bill has been subjected to amendments.
This comes in the wake of the debate on the Finance Bill 2024 which has been marred with protests.
Kenyans have come out to express their dissatisfaction with the high taxes imposed on them in the Finance Bill 2024.
Protesters took to social media and shared the phone numbers of leaders days before the tabling of the Finance Bill.
The move is meant to influence and pressurise MPs to vote against the Bill and its proposed taxes which have been perceived as ‘punitive’.
Molo MP Kimani Kuria revealed that he received Sh168,000 from Kenyans who wanted to confirm his number.
The legislator who is also the National Assembly Finance Committee Chair said he had written to the Clerk to seek guidance on what to do with the money.
Kuria said receiving gifts from the public is against the laws of the country.
He said even though sharing the numbers of MPs by the public goes against the Data Protection Act, Kenyans were able to communicate through SMS and calls and had their views on the Finance Bill heard.
“In a very special way, although these people bridged the Data Protection Act by sharing our numbers with Kenyans, I also thank the Kenyans who wrote to us through SMS, called us and some of them were generous enough to send us Sh1 and Sh2 and Sh10 to confirm whether our numbers were authentic,” Kuria said.
On Wednesday, the office of the Data Protection Commissioner warned Kenyans against sharing other people's personal information publicly.
The Data Commissioner said the move contravenes Article 31 of the Constitution.
"This practice has been happening without the affected citizens' consent contrary to the provisions of Article 31 of the Constitution of Kenya, the Data Protection Act, 2019 and its attendant regulations," the office said.
"In view of the foregoing, the office wishes to advise members of the public to refrain from further sharing of personal information which infringes on individuals' rights to privacy."
According to them some of the information that has been distributed without consent includes names, telephone numbers, locations and details of their family members.
