*KRA loses bid for open access to personal data* The Finance Committee of the National Assembly has rejected for the second time a proposal to grant the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) unrestricted access to taxpayers’ data, citing privacy concerns and constitutional safeguards. The provision, included inthis year’s Finance Bill, drew public backlash over alleged privacy violations as the State seeks personal and company data to weed out tax cheats. KRA is allowed to integrate its system with those of third parties such as banks, telcos, money remittance firms and payment service providers without tapping personal data and trade secrets. Source: Business Daily