Kenya's parliament has passed a controversial new bill which will give the government a range of powers to tackle security issues and terrorism on Thursday.
The bill allows the authorities to detain terror suspects for up to a year and also grants the country's spy agencies permission to tap communications without court consent. Journalists will also be required to obtain government approval before reporting on security issues, facing a fine of $56,000, a three-year prison term or both for violating this.
The opposition political coalition CORD and human rights groups have criticised the bill, with opposition MP Ababu Namwamba saying,
"This law is draconian, it is retrogressive, it is unconstitutional, it entrenches impunity.
However, Asman Kamama, chairman of the Administrative and National Security Committee stated,
"These are extraordinary times and extraordinary times require extraordinary decisions."
Earlier Kenya's president Kenyatta had said,
"The time has come for each and every one of us to decide and choose - are you on the side of an open, free, democratic Kenya... or do you stand with repressive, intolerant extremists?"
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