The County Assembly of Migori has been ordered to compensate a candidate for the position of Speaker Sh900,000 for infringing on his right to privacy after publishing his curriculum vitae (CV) on its website.[โฆ]CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLEโถ
Mr Allan Chacha unsuccessfully applied to be the Speaker of the Migori County Assembly in May this year. He filed a complaint with the Office of the Data Commissioner after his CV was made public.
Mr Chacha said despite losing the post, the county assembly published and retained the CV on the website, yet it contains sensitive personal information.
โThe County Assembly of Migori did not therefore have a lawful basis for publishing the complainantโs CV on its website and making it available to persons who are not members of the County Assembly of Migori,โ said the Data Commissioner Immaculate Kassait.
She directed the CV to be deleted within seven days from the date of the determination. The county assembly defended itself saying it relied on the standing orders to publish the CV as they are supposed to be made available to the members of the county assembly (MCAs).
Ms Kassait, however, rejected the defence saying standing orders provide that only the list of shortlisted candidates be made public.
However, CVs of shortlisted candidates was to be made available only to the MCAs.
The Data Commissioner noted that a spot-check of websites from various county assemblies across the country revealed that only a list of shortlisted candidates was published without their CVs.
Ms Kassait said Section 25 of the Act provides that every data controller or processor shall ensure that personal data is processed by the right to privacy of the data subject.
The Act further states that the data controller or processor shall ensure that data collected for explicit, specified, and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner incompatible with those purposes.
โThe purpose of processing the complainantโs personal data as contained in his curriculum vitae as provided in order 5(5)(b) of the governing standing order was limited to making the same available to the members of the County Assembly of Migori and not the public,โ she said.
The data commissioner noted that the CV contained Mr Chachaโs full name, identification number, phone number, and information about individuals listed as his referees.
Sensitive personal data, including his religious beliefs and marital status, was also contained in the CV and was made available, publicly.
The commissioner said the action of making the CV public on its website was contrary to the purpose and his right to privacy.
โIt follows that the complainant is entitled to compensation. The respondent is hereby directed to compensate the complainant Sh900,000. In so doing, this office takes into account the nature of the personal data exposed being sensitive personal data, the fact that it was published in a publicly available website and the same is still published as at the date of this determination,โ she saidโฆCLICK HERE TO READ MORE ARTICLES>>>
