Written By Vanessa Kariuki ||
Kenya and the European Union are working on facilitating cross-border data flows.
Milou Vanmulken, Program Manager Digitalization EU Kenya, and Bruno Gencarelli, Head of Unit International Data Flows, who attended virtually from Brussels, led the EU delegation.
During the meeting, ICT and the Digital Economy Secretary of Administration Mohammed Jabane said that Kenya should take advantage of the opportunities offered by the EU to operationalize its data protection mechanism because the EU has a very strong data protection system.
Mr. Jabane, who was accompanied by other members from the ICT and The Digital Economy, mentioned that the discussions took place at a time when the country was enacting the Data Protection Act 2019 and that bilateral partnerships on data security concerns were therefore necessary.
Ms. Milou, on the other hand, stated that data must be able to freely cross borders while simultaneously guaranteeing data security for citizens; adding that protecting the data of a nation’s citizens necessitates a comprehensive bilateral partnership on human-centred digitalization.
The EU delegation commended Kenya for establishing the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner because of its central role in implementing and safeguarding the country’s data.
