NAIROBI, Kenya — The government plans to introduce facial recognition-enabled surveillance cameras in selected major towns as part of efforts to strengthen security monitoring through the Integrated Command Control Centre (IC3), Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has announced.
Murkomen said the technology will be deployed as the government expands the capacity of the IC3 platform, which coordinates surveillance and security response operations.
Speaking on Monday, June 22, the Interior CS clarified that Kenya currently does not have a national facial recognition database containing biometric facial information of citizens.
“We do not have a database with facial recognition technology that already has the data of the faces of Kenyans, where you merge the faces you get from the cameras and the database to establish the credentials of individuals,” Murkomen said.
He explained that the planned rollout will focus on installing cameras with facial recognition capabilities in public areas as part of broader security infrastructure improvements.
The targeted towns include Nairobi, Nakuru, Mombasa, Eldoret, and Nyeri.
“Our objective is that in our Integrated Command Control Centre, which we are enhancing, part of the work is to see Nairobi, Nakuru, Mombasa, Eldoret, Nyeri, and we establish cameras with the capacity to do facial recognition,” he said.
Murkomen said the government expects to complete procurement for the project within two months, followed by a deployment period estimated between three and six months.
“With this project, we are hoping to conclude procurement in two months, and rolling out would take three to six months. The IC3 was already in place and functioning,” he said.
The CS said the technology would be restricted to public spaces and would not involve placing surveillance cameras in private areas.
“What you avoid in that situation is that cameras should not be put in private places, but in public places that are accessible,” he added.
The planned expansion comes as governments globally increasingly adopt artificial intelligence-powered surveillance tools to support law enforcement, crime prevention, and emergency response.
However, the use of facial recognition technology has raised questions around privacy, data protection, and oversight due to the sensitive nature of biometric information.
Kenya’s Data Protection Act, 2019, provides safeguards on the collection, processing, and storage of personal data, including requirements on lawful processing, transparency, and protection of individual rights.
The introduction of facial recognition systems would therefore require clear regulations, oversight mechanisms, and public accountability measures to ensure security objectives are balanced with constitutional rights to privacy.
Murkomen maintained that the government’s priority is improving security coordination and response through technology while ensuring surveillance infrastructure is deployed responsibly.
