Is It Legal to Record Phone Calls in Kenya? What the Data Protection Act Says

If you're thinking about recording customer calls — for training, quality, or dispute resolution — the first question is simple: is this even legal in Kenya? The short answer is yes, but with real conditions attached, and the regulator has shown it will enforce them.

There's no simple one-party or two-party rule

Unlike some countries with a clear "one-party consent" or "two-party consent" rule for recording calls, Kenya doesn't have a dedicated call-recording statute. Instead, a recorded voice call is treated as personal data under the Data Protection Act, 2019, and governed by the same consent rules as any other personal data processing.

The ODPC has actually fined a company over this

This isn't theoretical. The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner fined Liquid Telecom Kenya KES 700,000 in early 2026 for recording a call after the participant had explicitly refused consent. The company argued the recording served a legitimate business or evidentiary purpose — the regulator rejected that as a defense. The lesson: a business reason for recording doesn't override a caller's refusal.

What this means in practice

• —Tell callers clearly that the call may be recorded — a passive disclosure isn't enough on its own
• —Build in a real way for a caller to object, and honor it if they do
• —If someone refuses consent during a call, stop recording — don't rely on "we already started"
• —Keep a log of consent, not just the recording itself

Why this matters for AI voice agents specifically

If an AI agent is answering your calls, this isn't optional extra work — it has to be built into the call flow itself, not bolted on afterward. That's a design decision, not a legal footnote.