Key infrastructure to be protected by the law

The Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology has unveiled proposed laws seeking to protect the country’s special infrastructure.

The Draft Critical Infrastructure Bill provides ways to preserving critical infrastructure and will be cohabited at the ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government to ensure full enforcement. Key infrastructural face rampant threats like vandalism, accidental damage and external attacks such as terrorism. Defaulters will be heavily penalised.

ICT Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i said this will attract investors and protect the country’s most valuable infrastructure. “Our development and attraction of investors hinges on the protection of our crucial infrastructure,” he said. “That’s how we ensure fuel moves from Mombasa to other parts of the country, detect and act on terrorism threats or communicate. Better coordination will lead to better investment and fair prices transferred to the mwananchi.”

According to the CS, close to Ksh2 billion is lost annually to various forms of damage and degradation to infrastructure. “This figure does not include indirect losses such as loss of business or losses arising from the denial of citizens of essential services, which would aggravate the situation,” Dr Matiang’i explained.

Critical infrastructure assets are identified as physical and virtual facilities owned by private or public entities, such as electricity, roads, ICT, security and energy. “We have benchmarked with other countries around the world and we are certain this bill will address the many challenges experienced,” said Ms Alice Kariuki, the chairperson of the taskforce and director of regulatory affairs at Airtel Africa.

The bill will be presented to the Attorney General for refining before being passed over to the Cabinet and Parliament for discussion and approval.

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