Digital Dictatorship in Disguise: Kenya’s Quiet March Toward Mass Surveillance

Beneath the polished red-green procurement notice lies a chilling truth: the Kenyan government is acquiring cyber surveillance infrastructure, not just to defend state systems from external attacks, but potentially to monitor, muzzle, and manipulate its citizens. This is not mere speculation—it’s a matter of interpretation, timing, and intent.

The notice, published in MyGov, outlines the procurement of “Enterprise Cyber Security Tools” under the Kenya Digital Economy Acceleration Project (KDEAP). The language is clinical: “High Performance Internet Gateway Perimeter Firewalls,” “High Performance Internal (DMZ) Firewalls,” and “Centralized Firewall Management and Orchestration.” But behind the jargon lies the capability to surveil, intercept, and control digital communications across networks, both private and public.

The government claims this investment is for digital resilience. In theory, this infrastructure could defend Kenya from cyberattacks targeting national infrastructure, banking systems, and electoral systems. That’s a noble aim. But the devil, as always, is in the details.

This same infrastructure can be reconfigured to surveil WhatsApp chats, throttle traffic to dissenting websites, or outright block platforms like TikTok, Facebook, or X during times of political tension. We’ve seen it before—in Uganda during elections, in Sudan during protests, and in Ethiopia during war. The fear now is that Kenya is quietly building the same capacity.

This procurement could not come at a more suspicious time. The country is reeling from public outrage over the controversial 2024/2025 Finance Bill, which has triggered mass protests, online campaigns, and youth-driven digital dissent. Kenyans have taken to X Spaces, TikTok Lives, and hashtags like #RejectFinanceBill2025 to call out economic injustice and political impunity.

Read Also: Tech Giants Partner To Advance Sleep Apnea Detection And Beyond

Instead of engaging with citizens or withdrawing punitive clauses in the bill, the state appears to be entrenching itself digitally, arming itself to preempt future digital revolts. These tools, if turned inward, will allow the government to cut off online organizing at the knees.

This is a direct assault on Article 33 and Article 35 of the Kenyan Constitution, which guarantee freedom of expression and access to information. More importantly, it threatens the internet’s role as the last space where the Kenyan public can organize freely, protest safely, and express their political opinions without physical reprisal.

While it is true that national governments must protect their cyberspace, this procurement is being executed with no public debate, no parliamentary oversight (at least publicly known), and no explicit legal framework defining the bounds of surveillance and data protection.

The Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act (2018), though already controversial for its vague language on “false publications,” does not give the state unlimited authority to spy on citizens without court orders. Yet, with this kind of infrastructure, surveillance can occur at scale, without consent or transparency.

What compounds the concern is the government’s history. From blocking live TV coverage of Raila Odinga’s “swearing-in” in 2018 to deploying tear gas on peaceful protesters, there’s a pattern of suppressing dissent. Adding surveillance to that toolkit is a dangerous escalation.

This is why citizens are angry. While taxes rise, public services crumble, and unemployment skyrockets, the state chooses to spend millions of shillings on tools to monitor its people rather than uplift them. Why invest in firewalls when Kenyans can’t afford food, fuel, or fees?

Youth especially feel betrayed. They believed digital freedom was non-negotiable. They built careers on YouTube, TikTok, and online freelancing. They coordinated climate campaigns, fundraisers, and protests digitally. And now, the same tools that empowered them may soon be used to silence them.

This must be challenged—not just through protests, but through courts, legislation, and digital literacy. Civil society must demand oversight over how these tools are acquired, configured, and used. Any deployment against citizens without clear judicial authorization is unconstitutional.

Kenya needs cybersecurity, not cyber oppression. We need firewalls that protect national assets, not digital barricades that choke free speech. And we need a government that secures our data while respecting our rights, not one that weaponizes our metadata against us.

The ICT Authority must publicly commit to the ethical use of these tools. There must be a Digital Freedom Charter guiding how surveillance infrastructure can be used in Kenya, with independent audits, civil oversight, and legal safeguards.

The road to authoritarianism is paved with secrecy and firewalls. If Kenyans do not rise to question and resist digital repression today, tomorrow’s elections may be manipulated not by ballot stuffing, but by bandwidth throttling and content filtering.

This is not just about firewalls. It’s about firewalls between tyranny and democracy. Between a secure nation and a silenced one. And in that choice, the people must have the final word, not the machines.

Let Kenya lead the continent not in surveillance, but in digital freedom. Because liberty—online or offline—cannot exist under invisible chains.

Read Also: Safaricom Partners with KARA to Launch Estate Surveillance Initiative