DCI to get Sh150 million for new social media spy tech if budget proposal approved
Optimus 3.0 system is designed to track and identify social media users and their devices across platforms, monitor their activities in real time as well as device finger printing and location tracking
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) is poised to enhance its ability to monitor what Kenyans do on social media after the National Assembly Budget and Appropriations Committee approved a Sh150 million request for the acquisition of new surveillance gadgets.
The proposed allocation under the “DCI Forensic Lab Optimus 3.0 Social Media” budget line, if approved, will provide the DCI with Sh50 million for acquisition of the system while Sh100 million will be for recurrent expenditure.
The Optimus 3.0 system is designed to track and identify social media users and their devices across platforms, monitor their activities in real time as well as device finger printing and location tracking. It also has capabilities for content analysis and threat assessment.
While security agencies, including the National Intelligence Service, have expressed concern over the threat posed by misuse social media, the proposed allocation is, however, likely to raise alarm among human rights activists who are opposed to mass surveillance of Kenyans’ activities online.
This is especially following the spate of abductions and extrajudicial killings witnessed since the Gen Z protests last year targeting government critics and especially bloggers.
There is currently a storm over the death in police custody at the weekend of blogger and teacher Albert Omondi Ojwang, who was arrested by DCI officers in Homa Bay over a post that Deputy Inspector General (Kenya Police) Eliud Lagat said tarnished his name.
Omondi was whisked to Nairobi and eventually put in solitary confinement at Central Police Station where he was reportedly found unconscious.
A post-mortem conducted yesterday established he was assaulted as his body bore head injuries, neck compression and several soft tissue injuries.
Several other bloggers have also been charged in court under the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act.
There would thus be need for rigorous oversight and strong safeguards to ensure the police do not turn the internet into a tool of repression as the country heads to what is expected to be a hotly-contested election in 2027.
