NAIROBI, Kenya — President William Ruto has nominated Lydia Sitienei Chelagat as Kenya’s next Data Commissioner, sending her name to the National Assembly for consideration before a final appointment.
Government Spokesperson Charles Owino announced the nomination on Monday, 9 November 2026, following a recommendation by the Public Service Commission, according to Citizen Digital’s report. Chelagat is the Communications Authority of Kenya’s Director of Legal Services and Corporation Secretary.
The nomination puts her forward to succeed Immaculate Kassait, Kenya’s inaugural Data Commissioner. It does not mean she has already taken office.
Has Lydia Chelagat been appointed Data Commissioner?
President William Ruto has nominated Lydia Sitienei Chelagat, but National Assembly approval is still required before appointment. She is currently listed as the Communications Authority’s legal director and corporation secretary. The proposed role would put her in charge of Kenya’s personal-data protection regulator.
Parliament’s approval comes before appointment
The announcement leaves an important stage unfinished. Under section 6 of Kenya’s Data Protection Act, the President nominates the Data Commissioner and appoints the successful candidate with the approval of the National Assembly.
The Act gives the Public Service Commission responsibility for advertising the vacancy, shortlisting applicants and conducting interviews through an open and transparent process. It then submits three nominees, ranked in order of merit, to the President.
For Chelagat, the next substantive question is whether the Assembly approves her nomination. A presidential nomination and a completed appointment are distinct stages, even when news headlines use the terms loosely.
The law provides for a single six-year term, without reappointment. It also requires the commissioner to take an oath on appointment. Those provisions define the office she has been nominated to hold; they do not establish a starting date for her tenure.
POLITICAL APPOINTMENTS
Ruto Nominates Lydia Chelagat as Kenya Data Commissioner
Nov 10, 2026
Nov 10, 2026
5 min read
Published
Updated:
NAIROBI, Kenya — President William Ruto has nominated Lydia Sitienei Chelagat as Kenya’s next Data Commissioner, sending her name to the National Assembly for consideration before a final appointment.
Government Spokesperson Charles Owino announced the nomination on Monday, 9 November 2026, following a recommendation by the Public Service Commission, according to Citizen Digital’s report. Chelagat is the Communications Authority of Kenya’s Director of Legal Services and Corporation Secretary.
The nomination puts her forward to succeed Immaculate Kassait, Kenya’s inaugural Data Commissioner. It does not mean she has already taken office.
Has Lydia Chelagat been appointed Data Commissioner?
President William Ruto has nominated Lydia Sitienei Chelagat, but National Assembly approval is still required before appointment. She is currently listed as the Communications Authority’s legal director and corporation secretary. The proposed role would put her in charge of Kenya’s personal-data protection regulator.
Parliament’s approval comes before appointment
The announcement leaves an important stage unfinished. Under section 6 of Kenya’s Data Protection Act, the President nominates the Data Commissioner and appoints the successful candidate with the approval of the National Assembly.
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The Act gives the Public Service Commission responsibility for advertising the vacancy, shortlisting applicants and conducting interviews through an open and transparent process. It then submits three nominees, ranked in order of merit, to the President.
For Chelagat, the next substantive question is whether the Assembly approves her nomination. A presidential nomination and a completed appointment are distinct stages, even when news headlines use the terms loosely.
The law provides for a single six-year term, without reappointment. It also requires the commissioner to take an oath on appointment. Those provisions define the office she has been nominated to hold; they do not establish a starting date for her tenure.
Chelagat’s current regulatory role
The Communications Authority’s institutional profile identifies Lydia Sitienei as Director of Legal Services and Corporation Secretary. Her nomination would move her from that role into leadership of a separate regulator responsible for personal-data protection.
The recruitment attracted 152 applications, with 13 candidates shortlisted for interviews in October, Citizen reported. That competitive process preceded the President’s choice and the referral to Parliament.
The legal requirements for the post include a relevant degree, a master’s degree, at least ten years of relevant knowledge and experience, and compliance with Chapter Six of the Constitution. These are requirements for the position, rather than a substitute for Parliament’s assessment of an individual nominee.
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What the data-protection office actually does
The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner oversees compliance with Kenya’s personal-data law. Its work extends beyond technology companies to public and private organisations that handle information about identifiable people.
The Public Service Commission’s advertisement for the office sets out responsibilities including receiving and investigating complaints, inspecting data-processing operations and maintaining a register of data controllers and processors.
The mandate also includes public education, research into developments in data processing and international cooperation on data protection. It combines enforcement with guidance: organisations need to understand their obligations, while individuals need a route for challenging misuse of their information.
For businesses building digital services, that framework sits alongside the investment ambitions covered in XTRAfrica’s explainer on Kenya’s proposed startup fund. Raising capital and protecting customers’ information are separate responsibilities; growth does not remove the duty to comply with data-protection law.
What the transition means for the public
The nomination changes the proposed leadership, rather than creating a new set of personal-data rights. The ODPC’s guidance on data-subject rights explains that people can be informed about how their information will be used, access their data, object to processing and seek correction or deletion of false or misleading information.
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Those rights make the office relevant to everyday interactions involving personal records. The institution’s current website also directs people to its official complaints service, keeping the public-facing enforcement route distinct from the appointment process.
Privacy questions also reach the courts. XTRAfrica’s earlier report on the Ndiang’ui Kinyagia police-raid ruling examined constitutional protections in a different setting. That case is separate from the nomination and should not be read as an ODPC decision.
A proposed successor to Immaculate Kassait
Kassait became Kenya’s first Data Commissioner in 2020. TechTrendsKE’s account of the transition places Chelagat’s nomination in the context of the inaugural commissioner’s six-year tenure and the institution built during that period.
The nomination formed part of a wider leadership announcement. KBC reported that five state corporations also received substantive or acting chief executives, with those appointments made by their respective boards following competitive recruitment.
Chelagat’s proposed appointment follows its own statutory process. The next decisive development is the National Assembly’s consideration of her nomination, followed, if approved, by the presidential appointment required by law.
