The Kenyan government is exploring a new revenue-generation strategy through the sale of non-personal data collected from digital platforms such as eCitizen under a proposed National Data Governance Policy developed by the Ministry of Information, Communication and the Digital Economy.
The proposal seeks to establish a State-managed data marketplace where anonymised and aggregated datasets from government agencies would be made available to businesses, researchers, non-governmental organisations and innovators for a fee.
Under the policy, a National Data Governance and Emerging Technologies Council would be created to oversee the collection, management and commercialisation of government-held data. The government aims to facilitate the exchange of at least 1,000 datasets within the next five years, positioning data as a strategic national asset capable of generating revenue while supporting innovation and informed decision-making.
Officials insist that personal information will not be sold. Data earmarked for commercial use would exclude names, phone numbers, identification details, photographs and other personally identifiable information protected under Kenya’s data protection laws.
Instead, the marketplace would offer access to aggregated and anonymised information such as:
- Business registration trends
- Demand for government services
- Passport and immigration application statistics
- Birth and death registration data
- Vehicle registration trends
- Land transaction patterns
- Traffic flow information
- Agricultural production statistics
The ICT Ministry argues that the initiative will unlock economic value from government-held information, support research and technological innovation, and help Kenya participate more actively in the rapidly growing global data economy.
The proposed platform is projected to cost approximately KSh396 million to develop and operate over five years. If implemented, Kenya would become one of the first countries in Africa to formally commercialise non-personal government data through a structured marketplace.
The proposal is likely to spark debate among stakeholders over issues such as data governance, transparency, public trust, pricing models, and safeguards to ensure anonymised datasets cannot be used to indirectly identify individuals.
