Aldai Member of Parliament Marianne Kitany has broken her silence after her bill seeking to compel telecommunication companies and internet service providers (ISPs) operating in Kenya to introduce meter billing systems that assign all subscribers unique identifiers to monitor their usage attracted criticisms.
Speaking to a local TV station on Monday night, May 26, 2025, the MP claimed that the Kenya Information and Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2025, had been widely taken out of context.
One of the controversial parts of the bill is the mandatory metered billing system, which seeks to compel internet service providers to assign each customer a unique, traceable number. This system would monitor customer usage and generate invoices based on actual consumption.
According to the MP, the unique identifier would work like a specific receipt or invoice given to Kenyans while shopping in supermarkets. She went on to elaborate that if a user buys, for instance data bundle for one hour and fails to utilise it, internet service providers can easily track the unique number and be able to carry it forward.
In essence, Kitany insisted that the bill was saving Kenyans from exploitative internet service providers.
“This bill, actually the whole story behind this, is about the use and management of data by users of data. When you buy data, it is like buying any other item, except that you are buying a service. If there are bundles that remain, it should be carried forward; then the ISP should know what reference it is that had data remaining, and I need to carry forward,” she explained.
“I am saving this Kenyan from being exploited by the ISP,” she insisted.
The MP fully defended the bill, which has rattled different industry players, maintaining that at its core was the protection of consumer rights.
“This bill, the only thing that it is doing is to make sure that the ISPs, when they are selling their data bundles, do not come and give a figure and say I am going to sell you my data bundle for this much for this particular period knowing very well that you will not consume that amount of data by that particular period. This bill has come to take care of the consumer rights,” she told the local TV station.
Defends sharing data with CA
At the same time, Kitany was forced to explain why ISPs would be required to submit the billing data to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) annually.
In her submission, she noted that she included that part in her bill to make sure that internet service providers adhere to the regulation. She dismissed claims that it would be used to snoop on people’s internet activities.
“We work in a regulated environment and the internet environment is a regulated environment. These ISPs who are regulated by the Communication Authority, should be able to give internet billing numbers to a customer as an invoice. The regulator is able to confirm that the ISP is meeting the regulation by showing that they have been issuing invoices for data that is being consumed,” she detailed.
Her sentiments come at the backdrop of concerns raised by digital rights advocates, civil society groups and other legal experts who argue that it could erode the constitutional right to privacy and potentially allow the government to track people’s online activities.
She has, however, dismissed the claims, insisting that her bill is only meant to protect consumers.
