[kictanet] Call for input into Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and Election Offences (Amendment) Bill 2017
Lawrence Dinga, CISSP
ldinga at managecom.co.ke
Wed Oct 4 12:29:48 EAT 2017
I completely concur with the views so far.
It is evident from the current mood of the country that the amendments to the Election Laws are not all inclusive and the general feeling is that it is more of a political game undermining the electoral commission ahead of the repeat presidential elections. As Barrack says, our key interest is promoting the best use of ICT to bring lasting solutions to our myriad problems.
As we are aware, the contentious issue that led to the nullification of the presidential election was that IEBC refused to open the servers for scrutiny and get the logs for analysis. The reason they were citing is that servers are not located in Kenya and "the custodians were still asleep" while the logs were needed by the Supreme Court. This brings my point of Data Protection and Residency Laws in Kenya. (Please I do apologise in advance incase there are any such laws which I am ignorant of). If only KICTANet could engage in such initiatives as to help Kenya in having Data Protection and Residency Laws, then that would solve a lot of problems for the nation. As it turns out, many of us were victims of data privacy violations in 2013 when most of us found themselves to be members of various political parties without their knowledge. Technology is changing rapidly and shaping our ways of life and that is why even Europe is replacing the old EU Data Protection Directive which has been there since 1998 with the new legislation that is far more comprehensive than our old Act, the journey that started way back in 2012.
We can start somewhere by KICTANet initiating stakeholders workshops to educate the public on basic understanding of personal data, what data privacy means to everyone, protecting your digital identity and how to respond to a data breach. This may culminate into some select committee of technology and legal professionals to draft our data protection regulation. I think by this we will have contributed something we can be proud of as KICTANet instead of involving ourselves in a process which is viewed by many Kenyans as not all inclusive and could be having some sinister motives.
That is just my opinion
Regards
Lawrence Dinga, MSc. (InfoSec & Forensics), CISSP
Managecom Systems Ltd
+254 721226324/ 0733973999
From: Ali Hussein via kictanet
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2017 11:57 AM
To: ldinga at managecom.co.ke
Cc: Ali Hussein
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Call for input into Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and Election Offences (Amendment) Bill 2017
I agree with Barrack.
We may object to some or all of the amendments but we must adhere to the spirit of our new constitution, part of which specifically urges the Govt and the citizenry to engage through public participation. It is also critical that we in the sector don’t create a vacuum in this space for nature surely abhors a vacuum.
Ali Hussein
Principal
Hussein & Associates
+254 0713 601113
Twitter: @AliHKassim
Skype: abu-jomo
LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." ~ Aristotle
Sent from my iPad
On 4 Oct 2017, at 10:21 AM, Barrack Otieno via kictanet <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Hi John,
I think it is worth commenting otherwise someone else will comment on
our behalf. We have many Kenyans with public interest at heart who
contribute towards the many strides this country makes yet we keep
reversing the same without thinking through well. We should rise up in
one accord and say no to what is not right for our nation without fear
or favour, i beleive the network is apolitical, our key interest in
promoting the best use of ICT's.
Regards
On 10/4/17, John Kieti <jkieti at gmail.com> wrote:
My sense is that the ammendments are rushed if not too reactionary. Also
too close to an election (Just days!). As Grace Bomu observes, there is
much we could contribute but with the nature of the process, you wonder
whether its worth putting our valuable time in it.
On Wed, Oct 4, 2017 at 10:10 AM, Barrack Otieno via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Dear Grace,
I object to the amendments . I have gone through the bill and found
some of the amendments to be ill advised. I think we should always
uphold the spirit of the law other than the letter of the law. For
instance when we say that in the event manual transmission defers from
electronic transmission the manual transmission will carry the day yet
we know basic principles of computing such as Garbage in Garbage out
(GIGO) or What You See is What you get (WYSWYG) it shows that the
processes and use of electronic system as supplementary aids is
misunderstood why should we entertain a situation where the input
differs from the output. Electronic aids only make the system more
efficient and effective they don't alter results unless there is
interference.
On another note, we have new members of parliament who are just being
inducted, it would therefore be untrue to claim that they have
understood the election management system and processes which have
taken time to develop and now want to dismantle it to suit temporary
political interests , i think we should uphold the interests of the
country first and i would urge our elected leaders to be at the fore
front of this effort. The election laws might not be perfect but it
would be prudent to have a consensus based approach of scrutinizing
any weak areas and addressing the same based on merit.
Finally and in my humble opinion, in as much as we have deployed
technology and used technology to make many advances in different
spheres of our nation, we are yet to fully embrace and intergrate
Information Technology Governance principles and practices in our
institutions be they public or private. I think this is our archilles
heel and this are the issues that might need to be addressed. We
deploy good systems but lack the manners to use the same correctly let
alone protect the data under our custody. A data protection act will
help resolve some of this challenges we are trying to resolve
politically, the election laws amendment bill is just a red herring,
technology is here to stay and will continue affecting every aspect of
our lives if we don't address IT, IT will address us politically and
socially sooner than later.
Regards
Best Regards
On 10/3/17, Grace Mutung'u (Bomu) via kictanet
<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Hi all,
There is a lot to say about the substance of the proposed law but I
think
the process is ill advised. There should be no amendments to the law
given
the very limited time period before the rerun.
And although we have been invited because we care about technology, I
would
like to believe that we also care about the nation. We shall achieve
very
little in terms of building trust in our processes and institutions in
such
a rushed process. Shelve this law.
On 2 Oct 2017 16:57, "Grace Githaiga via kictanet" <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
Listers
Greetings!
KICTANet has been invited on Thursday October 5, 2017, to a meeting of
the
select committees on Election laws 2017. Considering that there will
be
many other groups participating, we would like to present a memorandum
containing our specific concerns as they pertain to tech issues.
Further, we realize that the time is too short to hold a moderated
debate
and therefore would like to hear from you on specific tech issues. We
have
to do this by *Wednesday October 4, 2017 at** 2 p.m. *Thereafter, I
and
Kanini Mutemi will collate the views in readiness for Thursday. In
addition, it would be good for those who participated in the KICTANet
observation mission on August 8, 2017 to also attend this Thursday
meeting.
We attach the two bills, and would like to draw your attention to:
1. Election Laws (Amendment) Bill
- Clause 6 (Electronic AND manual transmission of presidential
election results, with manual taking precedence).
- Clause 7 (Substantially amends Section 44 of the Elections Act
which
prescribes the use of technology in the conduct of elections).
- Clause 8 (Amends Section 44A on use of a complementary mechanism
for
identification of voters).
- Clause 9 (Amends Section 83 on the effect of non-compliance).
- Clause 11 (Criminal liability for failing to sign documents).
2. Election Offences (Amendment) Bill-
- Clause 2 (Amends Election Offences Act to allow the government to
publish advertisements on its achievements during the election
period).
Kindlyprovide your input by providing which clause you think is
problematic, what your concerns are, and the recommendations.
Asanteni sana.
Rgds
Grace
------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------
*Grace Githaiga*
Twitter: @ggithaiga
Skype: gracegithaiga
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gracegithaiga
.*..**the most important office in a democracy is the citizen. So, you
see, that’s what our democracy demands. It needs you!----Barrack
Obama.*
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The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and
development.
KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and
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share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
--
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