Kenya to register SIM cards to fight crime

After several months of battling criminals who have been using untraceable mobile-phone numbers, the Kenyan government has given a six-month ultimatum to mobile service operators to streamline registration of SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards.

The challenge of criminals using unregistered numbers became apparent last year during post-election problems when people used SMS (Short Message Service) messages to instigate violence. The police had no way of identifying the culprits because there was no registration information linked to the phones used.

Later, the government also admitted defeat in an SMS scam believed to be perpetrated by death-row inmates. The scheme tricked unsuspecting subscribers into thinking they had won prizes and were required to send money through the mobile M-Pesa service in order to collect the winnings. The police recovered phones believed to be used in the scam in a maximum-security prison, but could not pin down who the owners were due to a lack of registration information.

"To guard against these tendencies, I am directing the Ministry of Information and Communication to put in place an elaborate databank that will ensure all mobile telephone subscribers are registered," said Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka.

Mobile service providers Zain and Safaricom embraced the idea but noted that registration is not a panacea to fighting crime.

"The issue of subscriber registration has been oversimplified by the political class and, in itself, it is not a panacea for addressing rising incidents of crime," said Michael Joseph, Safaricom CEO.

But one lawyer has taken issue with the directive, arguing that the government's approach is wrong because registration of subscribers is all about capturing personal information, which is one of the most vexing legal issues in the information technology sector.

"What we need is very clear law governing the collection and use of personal information. We failed to include such a law in the Kenya Communications Amendment Act, and now we want to patch it up with a presidential directive," said Michael Murungi, a Nairobi lawyer.

Murungi says there is need to identify the subscribers of mobile phones in order to deter phone-aided crime, but there is an even more compelling need for a clear legal framework for the collection, use of and management of personal information.