Kenyans who will not have registered their SIM cards by April 15 will be forced to pay 300,000 shillings as a fine or thrown into jail for six months according to CA Director General Ezra Chiloba. Chiloba says there shall be no extension of the deadline.
Ezra Chiloba argued that registration is aimed at combating cybercrime and fraud in the digital space. The authority maintains that the regulations will be implemented and those in possession of unregistered SIM cards would face fines of up to Ksh300,000 or serve a jail term of six months or both.
SIM cards that have been inaccurately registered will also be targeted in the cleanup exercise. This announcement will hit hard on millions of Kenyans given that only a few have taken up the registration call. The majority of those in the rural areas have not registered.
“We want before the end of April all the networks to be cleaned up by deactivating all unregistered and improperly registered SIM cards from the networks,” Chiloba remarked. Chiloba noted it will help join other countries that have proper data systems and promote efforts to avert cases of online crime that have been on the rise.
“It means that criminals and even terrorists can use unregistered SIM cards for anonymity and to avoid detection by the authorities,” he explained.
In the registration exercise, mobile subscribers are expected to present their National Identification details and a photo, which is taken during the exercise that takes less than five minutes.