APRM • SECOND COUNTRY REVIEW REPORT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA discrimination against people of Somali ethnicity or origin and Muslim groups and organisations. The KNHRC in 2007 conducted a hearing, which led to the findings that the vetting process for Kenyan-Somalis, Nubians and Kenyan Arabs as well as Maasais and Tesos was corrupt, difficult and discriminatory and violated the principle of equal treatment.1 The CRT heard widespread complaints on this issue in the frontier areas such as Isiolo, Garissa, Lamu and Mombasa even though the underlying logic for the security measures was acknowledged. Some of the major problems seem to stem from lack of community engagement and information sharing between affected populations and government agencies, leading to misinformation and misunderstanding. 129. Access to information: The Access to Information Bill, 2015 that was passed in August 2016 seeks to consolidate citizen’s rights to seek and obtain information from private and public institutions. While it is still early days yet, this law has the potential to give effect to the Constitutional requirement for public participation and inclusive government if well effected and utilised. Another innovation of great value is the Kenya Open Data Initiative set up in 2012 to make accessible data and statistics in digital form accessible to the public via the Internet. 130. Non State Actors: The Public Benefit Organisations (PBO) Act, 2013 emerged through consensus building processes between the state and civil society and is well received in civil society and government quarters as promoting transparency and self-regulation for and offering tax incentives to public benefits organisations. The law however faced a threeyear delay and was only operationalized in September 2016 although the establishment of the Regulatory Authority and the National Federation of Public Benefits Organisations is pending. 131. Security and liberty of persons: Kenyans have suffered immense physical and psychological insecurity as a result of terrorist and criminal activities in Nairobi and Garissa, Mandera, Wajir and other coastal regions. As a result, government has put in place various security measures and programmes to cope with the challenge of insecurity and loss of life. Some of these measures have been a source of discontent in particularly the Kenyan Somali and Arab as well as Muslim communities. The rights of asylum seekers and refugees also came into play as discussed in Objective 8. 132. The Security laws (Amendment) Bill, 2014 raised concerns around grave breaches of civil rights. The Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KNHRC) pointed out that the proposed amendments would infringe on key fundamental freedoms in the bill of rights such as freedom of assembly and association, expression and information, privacy and citizenship rights, access to justice and the rights of refugees. 2The Security Laws (Amendment) Act, No 19 of 2014 became the subject matter of Constitutional Petition No 628 of 2014 lodged by various actors including the KNRC. In this case the state testified about the illegal procurement of identity registration documents by non-citizens who move to urban settlements by exploiting corrupt networks in registration systems. The Court in 2015 declared eight potentially repressive clauses of this law as unconstitutional Kenya National Human Rights Commission ‘An Identity Crisis? A Study on the Issuance of National Identity Cards In Kenya’ 2007 2 Kenya National Commission on Human Rights ‘Advisory on the Security Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2014’ 1 | 92 |