What is in the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime (Amendment) Bill, 2024

They included the National Police Service Commission (Amendment) Bill 2024, the Wildlife Conservation and Management (Amendment) Bill 2023, the Land (Amendment) Bill 2022, the National Land Commission (Amendment) Bill 2023 and the Air Passenger Service Charge (Amendment) Bill 2025.

The other two were the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes (Amendment) Bill 2024 and the Privatisation Bill 2025.

Some of the contention surrounds the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes (Amendment) Bill 2024, sponsored by Wajir East Member of Parliament (MP) Aden Mohamed.

It seeks to provide a regulatory framework to combat unlawful activities, inappropriate sexual content of minors, terrorism or religious extremism and other forms of cybercrimes.

It seeks to amend the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act Cap 79C by proposing to give the National Computer and Cybercrimes Co-ordination Committee (NC4) an additional function of issuing directives on websites and applications that may be rendered inaccessible within the country where the "website or application promotes illegal activities, child pornography, terrorism and extreme religious and cultic practices."

The Bill also seeks to amend section 27 of the Act to expand the scope of the offence of cyber harassment.

Likewise, any person who communicates to an individual, or anyone connected to them, whose conduct is likely to cause violence against them, damage to property, or detrimentally affects them, will be liable to a fine not exceeding Ksh. 20 million or imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, or both.

The same penalty will be given if the person is part of an "indecent or grossly offensive nature that will affect other persons.

The Bill also wants to amend section 30 of the Act to expand the scope of the offence of phishing, which will include action against identity theft committed through email or phone calls.

This offence will attract a fine not exceeding Ksh. 300,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or both if they create or operate a website, or send a message through a computer system, "with the intention to induce the user of a website or the recipi ent of the message to disclose personal information for an unlawful purpose."

The Bill also wants to insert a new seeks to introduce a new section 42A in the Act the offence of unauthorised SIM-swap.

"A person who willfully causes unauthorized alteration and unlawfully takes ownership of another person's SIM-card with intent to commit an offence, is liable on conviction, to a fine not exceeding Kenya Shilling two hundred thousand or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or both," reads the section.