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KRA M-Pesa Data Mining
Ash Ock
#1 Posted : Friday, July 19, 2013 6:49:56 PM
Rank: Member


Joined: 8/27/2010
Posts: 495
Location: Nairobi
According to the Business Daily of 19.07.2013, the mobile companies and financial institutions have all agreed to give out their customer's data to the KRA.

An excerpt:

Quote:
KRA commissioner-general John Njiraini said on Wednesday the authority is implementing third-party data mining and physical mapping of small businesses across the country. The country has around nine million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
“For third-party data mining, our officers are tracking money transferred by mobile phone services and transactions made through financial institutions before we ask parties involved to pay taxes due,” Mr Njiraini said.


Source: http://www.businessdaily...0/-/iwuo25/-/index.html

Is really this legal? Can the mobile companies and financial institutions just hand over personal details without KRA having followed the necessary legal means?
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murchr
#2 Posted : Friday, July 19, 2013 6:54:18 PM
Rank: Elder


Joined: 2/26/2012
Posts: 15,980
Kenyans dont read the small details written on those forms when your filling out the forms with your details. I am curious to know what is written and if the data can be shared.
"There are only two emotions in the market, hope & fear. The problem is you hope when you should fear & fear when you should hope: - Jesse Livermore
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Ash Ock
#3 Posted : Friday, July 19, 2013 7:09:25 PM
Rank: Member


Joined: 8/27/2010
Posts: 495
Location: Nairobi
Not a lawyer but I found this about M-Pesa T&C. Guess maybe they do have the right. Oh well smile

Quote:
16.1 You hereby expressly consent and authorize Safaricom to
disclose any Transaction data or information pertaining to
your M-PESA Account to any law enforcement, investigative
or regulatory authority including without limitation the Kenya
Police, Central Bank of Kenya, Kenya Anti-Corruption
Commission, Kenya Revenue Authority or any competent
Anti-Money Laundering authority for the purposes of any
genuine enquiry or investigation or to any third party to which
you have separately, either in writing or electronically through
the M-PESA System or otherwise, authorised Safaricom to
disclose Transaction data or information pertaining to you or
your usage of Safaricom Products and Services, including
your M-PESA account provided that any consent given to
Safaricom to disclose information to any third party (not being
a law enforcement, investigative or regulatory authority )
pursuant to this clause may be withdrawn at any time.


Source: http://www.safaricom.co....MER_TERMS_March_2012.pdf
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Kobayashi
#4 Posted : Saturday, July 20, 2013 11:25:29 AM
Rank: New-farer


Joined: 8/13/2012
Posts: 16
sitaki.kujulikana
#5 Posted : Saturday, July 20, 2013 1:00:39 PM
Rank: Veteran


Joined: 8/25/2012
Posts: 1,826
with the recent lipa na mpesa service which targets the small businesses will be a gold mine for them, but still I think the problem is not the information but the cost of following up the guys in the informal sector without the risk of breaking the laws
Ash Ock
#6 Posted : Saturday, July 20, 2013 3:08:39 PM
Rank: Member


Joined: 8/27/2010
Posts: 495
Location: Nairobi
@Kobayashi, thanks for the link. That was actually my concern, that the KRA can just start fishing and hoping to find any information it can use against a taxpayer. In my mind, it is like the police just walking into someone’s house on the off chance they might find something worth prosecuting (or to get TKK).

For Safaricom and the financial institutions to hand over all the information as the article suggests seems to me to be illegal. Customer’s data must be privileged information until and unless there is a genuine case to be investigated, not given out wholesale. The Safaricom T&C I quoted above even highlights this (pointed out by Thinkersroom), by specifically mentioning “for the purposes of any genuine enquiry or investigation”. KRA is as usual feeding the public nonsense so they can continue being inefficient.
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webish
#7 Posted : Saturday, July 20, 2013 5:04:04 PM
Rank: Member


Joined: 10/19/2009
Posts: 671
Location: Nairobi
Quite disturbing I must say.

Life is joy, death is peace, but the transition is very difficult.
symbols
#8 Posted : Saturday, July 20, 2013 8:22:24 PM
Rank: Elder


Joined: 3/19/2013
Posts: 2,552
Two words: Data scientists!
washiku
#9 Posted : Sunday, July 21, 2013 9:13:39 PM
Rank: Chief


Joined: 5/9/2007
Posts: 13,095
Ash Ock wrote:
@Kobayashi, thanks for the link. That was actually my concern, that the KRA can just start fishing and hoping to find any information it can use against a taxpayer. In my mind, it is like the police just walking into someone’s house on the off chance they might find something worth prosecuting (or to get TKK).

For Safaricom and the financial institutions to hand over all the information as the article suggests seems to me to be illegal. Customer’s data must be privileged information until and unless there is a genuine case to be investigated, not given out wholesale. The Safaricom T&C I quoted above even highlights this (pointed out by Thinkersroom), by specifically mentioning “for the purposes of any genuine enquiry or investigation”. KRA is as usual feeding the public nonsense so they can continue being inefficient.


If you av nothing to hide, what is wrong with KRA knowing who you are? On one hand we say KRA shud look for ways to seal tax leaks n expand tax blacket, when they suggest one way, we r up in arm against them!!! Which way Kenya?
mukiha
#10 Posted : Monday, July 22, 2013 9:38:07 AM
Rank: Elder


Joined: 6/27/2008
Posts: 4,114
Ash Ock wrote:
According to the Business Daily of 19.07.2013, the mobile companies and financial institutions have all agreed to give out their customer's data to the KRA.

An excerpt:

Quote:
KRA commissioner-general John Njiraini said on Wednesday the authority is implementing third-party data mining and physical mapping of small businesses across the country. The country has around nine million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
“For third-party data mining, our officers are tracking money transferred by mobile phone services and transactions made through financial institutions before we ask parties involved to pay taxes due,” Mr Njiraini said.


Source: http://www.businessdaily...0/-/iwuo25/-/index.html

Is really this legal? Can the mobile companies and financial institutions just hand over personal details without KRA having followed the necessary legal means?


What are those "necessary legal means" that you allude to?
Nothing is real unless it can be named; nothing has value unless it can be sold; money is worthless unless you spend it.
Ash Ock
#11 Posted : Monday, July 22, 2013 11:17:05 AM
Rank: Member


Joined: 8/27/2010
Posts: 495
Location: Nairobi
mukiha wrote:
What are those "necessary legal means" that you allude to?


Read the constitution, specifically Article 31:

31. Every person has the right to privacy, which includes the right not to have—

(a)their person, home or property searched;
(b)their possessions seized;
(c)information relating to their family or private affairs unnecessarily required or revealed; or
(d)the privacy of their communications infringed.


KRA is fishing hoping to find information to use against taxpayers! If the KRA has reasonable grounds to suspect tax cheats, then I have no problem with that and by all means they should track the buggers. But not everybody!


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