By John Walubengo
We have extensively written about Blockchain and one of its use cases, Cryptocurrencies for a while now. Indeed KICTANet was the first Kenyan ICT policy think tank to publish a Blockchain policy brief in 2017.
A year later, a formal task force by the Ministry of ICT was commissioned and chaired by Prof Bitange Ndemo. They published what is commonly known as the Government of Kenya Blockchain Report.
Then everything went quiet – at least from the government side of things. Until last year, the Worldcoin Project with its Cryptocurrency component hit the headlines for paying Kenyans over 50 USD in the form of Cryptocurrencies, in exchange for a copy of their iris data.
It was such a contentious issue that the Parliament of Kenya had to set up a committee to investigate the conduct of Worldcoin operations in Kenya and report on its findings.
Fast forward to last week.
Incoming CS Treasury vs Cryptocurrency Question
The Cabinet Secretary for Treasury nominee, Hon. John Mbadi, is on the hot seat, facing the parliamentary vetting committee during his interview for the job. One of the questions that popped up was his opinion on matters of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency.
The candidate pleaded ignorance and said he would consult ICT. The Speaker, chairing and referring the session also pleaded ignorance and waved the flag to play onto the next set of questions.
Essentially, the issues around Blockchain and Cryptos within the two critical arms of government may continue to be pushed back to the back burner, as one of those esoteric issues that require little or no attention.
At least, until the next national event in the mould of the Worldcoin project strikes our shores.
However, as the government chooses to bury its head in the sand and pretends to see no evil, hear no evil and do no evil on matters of cryptocurrency, the tech-savvy Kenyans, particularly in the Fintech space continue to engage with the phenomena daily.
Kenyans actively treading in Cryptocurrencies
Their engagement in terms of volumes and value of cryptocurrencies traded in the Kenyan territory is one of the highest in Africa and it attracted the interest of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), who since 2022, have made provision to tax capital gains on Crypto trades.
This is in contrast to the 2015 Central Bank of Kenya Circular warning Banks not to engage in or facilitate cryptocurrency trades.
Whereas KRA has a right to tax anything they deem valuable, the action, perhaps demonstrates of a classic case of one department of the Treasury, pretending NOT to know what the other is doing.
What exactly is the Kenya Government Policy position for Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies? This is something that both the incoming CS for Treasury and CS for ICT must boldly pronounce themselves on, as soon as they settle in office.
John Walubengo is an ICT Lecturer and Consultant. @jwalu.
