ICT CS Eluid Owalo fingers Data Protection Office on Worldcoin deal
Mr Eliud Owalo, the Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication, and the Digital Economy, has accused the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) of not following due diligence before registering Worldcoin.
The ICT CS said that the data commissioner ignored serious alerts that were shared with the office showing that Worldcoin had been operating in the country since 2021.
Appearing before the National Assembly Ad-hoc Committee on Worldcoin, Mr Owalo wondered why the ODPC proceeded to register the foreign firm, even after it had recommended its suspension.
“Despite ODPC directing Worldcoin to cease operations in Kenya in June 2022 and citing noncompliance with the Data Protection Act (2019) and being dissatisfied with the Data Protection Impact Assessment that was submitted by Woldcoin, ODPC still proceeded to register Worldcoin as a Data Controller in 2023, even when the cessation order against them had not been lifted,” he said.
This comes just a week after the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) said that it never issued a license to Worldcoin to operate in the country.
In his statement, CBK Governor Kamau Thugge said that the bank did not have details on the amount of money that was transacted in the country from the crypto project.
Mr Thugge said as CBK they are not in a position to monitor foreign exchange transactions that happen in commercial banks.
“We are not aware of this because it takes place within the banking system and not with the CBK,” he said.
Already, Mr Alex Bania who is the co-founder of Worldcoin, appeared before parliament where he spoke about the project which has already been declared illegal in the country.
During the visit, Mr Blania who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Tools for Humanity (TFH) shared explanations on the project that has attracted controversy in Kenya.
“The Worldcoin launch brought rapid global attention to the challenge of proving personhood in a world with advanced AI and an estimated 4 billion people lacking a legal, digitally-verifiable identity,” Worldcoin said in a statement released on Monday, September 4, 2023.
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