Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) – Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday signed the new Security Act 2014 into law, shortly after its passing.
President Kenyatta defended the law, which now bars journalists from reporting on matters of terrorism investigations and bans the public from seeking information about ongoing terrorism investigations.
“The law also deals with emerging crimes that reinforce terrorism, including the phenomena of foreign fighters, radicalization and transnational and cross-border crimes such as poaching and trafficking. Increasingly, these crimes are assuming a degree of sophistication that calls for a radical approach,” Kenyatta said.
In a televised address after signing the new law, President Kenyatta said the new law also improves the capacity to detect, deter and disrupt any threats to national security.
“For the first time, we now have a law that focuses on prevention and disruption of threats,” Kenyatta said.
The new law will now require the Minister of Interior to prepare new regulations on how to tap private telephone conversations but only for the purposes of gathering intelligence on potential terrorism threats.
The law bars the publishing, broadcasts or distribution through print, digital or electronic means, insulting, threatening, or inciting material or images of dead or injured persons which are likely to cause fear and alarm to the general public or disturb public.
