[kictanet] Legislation and Regulation for e-Commerce in Kenya

[Brian Munyao Longwe]

Very correct Waudi. That's why we have Paediatrics Association, a  
Pyschiatrics Association, a Dental Board, an Obstetrics Society. You  
have gotten the point clearly.

Asante sana!

B

Sent from my iPhone

On 07 Jul 2008, at 7:54 PM, "waudo siganga" <emailsignet at mailcan.com>  
wrote:

> Brian - I do not know what you are saying. The medical field, as  
> another
> example, is wide and diverse - we have heart surgeons, ENT  
> specialists,
> paeditricians, general practitioners, gynacologists, etc, etc. Are  
> these
> people the same? Would you go to a gynacologist to solve your eye
> ailment? OK, let us forget about regulating or registering doctors. To
> wide, large and deep.
>
> Waudo
> On Mon, 7 Jul 2008 19:00:54 +0300, "Brian Longwe" <blongwe at gmail.com>
> said:
>> Hi Walu,
>>
>> I beg to differ. ICT is too large, too deep and too wide to have a
>> single, authoritative, representative body. What you refer to would
>> probably be more appropriate to some of the professional disciplines
>> within the ICT sector e.g. Software Developers Guild, System
>> Administrators Association, CIO/CTO Society - within which there can
>> be certain codes of behavior, ethics, values, best practices etc...
>>
>> I would venture to suggest that ICT is very similar to the auto
>> industry - which is made up of so many different types of  
>> stakeholders
>> (from multi-national vendors like GM to Owino my jua-kali fundi and a
>> plethora of linkages across insurance, finance, property, transport
>> etc...)
>>
>> Not that I intend to put your suggestions down - but to request a
>> slightly broader view of the animal called ICT.
>>
>> To illustrate this point I will wax poetic and share with you the
>> following poem by John Godfrey Saxe ( 1816-1887)
>>
>> The Blind men and the Elephant
>>
>> It was six men of Indostan
>> To learning much inclined,
>> Who went to see the Elephant
>> (Though all of them were blind),
>> That each by observation
>> Might satisfy his mind.
>>
>> The First approach'd the Elephant,
>> And happening to fall
>> Against his broad and sturdy side,
>> At once began to bawl:
>> "God bless me! but the Elephant
>> Is very like a wall!"
>>
>> The Second, feeling of the tusk,
>> Cried, -"Ho! what have we here
>> So very round and smooth and sharp?
>> To me 'tis mighty clear
>> This wonder of an Elephant
>> Is very like a spear!"
>>
>> The Third approached the animal,
>> And happening to take
>> The squirming trunk within his hands,
>> Thus boldly up and spake:
>> "I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
>> Is very like a snake!"
>>
>> The Fourth reached out his eager hand,
>> And felt about the knee.
>> "What most this wondrous beast is like
>> Is mighty plain," quoth he,
>> "'Tis clear enough the Elephant
>> Is very like a tree!"
>>
>> The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
>> Said: "E'en the blindest man
>> Can tell what this resembles most;
>> Deny the fact who can,
>> This marvel of an Elephant
>> Is very like a fan!"
>>
>> The Sixth no sooner had begun
>> About the beast to grope,
>> Then, seizing on the swinging tail
>> That fell within his scope,
>> "I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
>> Is very like a rope!"
>>
>> And so these men of Indostan
>> Disputed loud and long,
>> Each in his own opinion
>> Exceeding stiff and strong,
>> Though each was partly in the right,
>> And all were in the wrong!
>>
>> MORAL.
>>
>> So oft in theologic wars,
>> The disputants, I ween,
>> Rail on in utter ignorance
>> Of what each other mean,
>> And prate about an Elephant
>> Not one of them has seen!
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On 07 Jul 2008, at 12:45 PM, John Walubengo <jwalu at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Marcel,
>>>
>>> It looks like quite some work has been ongoing in this
>>> area...unfortunately it seems as if it was restricted within KIF
>>> only?  I wonder if Computer Society of Kenya (CSK, Waudo r u there?)
>>> or Information Security Audit & Control (ISACA-Kenya Chapter) just
>>> to mention some of the big IT Associations in Kenya were involved. I
>>> beg to be enlightened.
>>>
>>> This brings in an old question - who really represents the IT
>>> Profession in Kenya?  Shem has been on record as saying that IT is
>>> the only discipline where we seem to lack bodies with the same
>>> authority as LSK (Law Society of Kenya), IEK (Institute of Engineers
>>> of Kenya), Medical Practictioners Board amongst others to regulate
>>> the IT Profession.
>>>
>>> And by the way, KICTAnet does not fit the bill either  (and has a
>>> different objective anyway).  But time has come to really start
>>> thinking of regulating the IT profession, even as we struggle to
>>> regulate the industry...Ideally, CSK should take the lead on this,
>>> but they have been awfully quite except when they award prizes at
>>> the end of the year (Waudo I know u will kill me offline but I just
>>> had to say it!).
>>>
>>> KEPSA? very reputable and effective particularly in the
>>> Manufacturing sector but on IT? am not sure they have been as
>>> effective - particularly because the link between KEPSA/KIF and the
>>> IT industry has been 'cloudy' for lack of a better word...Can for
>>> example CSK or ISACA  be part of KEPSA without being part of KIF? I
>>> again need to be enlightened.
>>>
>>> O.K. I agree I did digress, but just thinking loudly and saying that
>>> as we think of regulating electronic transactions, we also need to
>>> simultaneously start regulating the IT profession..but maybe I am
>>> wrong. Particularly because regulation can and often leads to
>>> suppression...
>>>
>>> walu.
>>> --- On Sun, 7/6/08, Marcel Werner <marcelcwerner at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> From: Marcel Werner <marcelcwerner at gmail.com>
>>>> Subject: [kictanet] Legislation and Regulation for e-Commerce in
>>>> Kenya
>>>> To: jwalu at yahoo.com
>>>> Cc: secretariat at kif.or.ke, "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>>>>>
>>>> Date: Sunday, July 6, 2008, 6:43 PM
>>>> Legislation and Regulation for e-Commerce in Kenya
>>>>
>>>> Kenya ICT Federation (KIF) - Briefing Note # 3  - Report -
>>>> Public Panel 19
>>>> June 2008
>>>>
>>>> *Electronic commerce (e-commerce) will add at least one
>>>> percent point growth
>>>> to Kenya's overall economic growth within five years.
>>>> This is contingent
>>>> upon the adoption of legislation that supports electronic
>>>> transactions. *Kenya,
>>>> as an emerging economy and regional leader, lags behind in
>>>> having a legal
>>>> framework for e-commerce in place. The current situation is
>>>> an anachronism
>>>> hampering national development, placing provincial centres
>>>> at a
>>>> disadvantage, and harming global competitiveness. Both
>>>> external and internal
>>>> trade require the new framework.The Kenyan private sector
>>>> strongly supports
>>>> e-commerce legislation, as well as legislation of the
>>>> Information and
>>>> Communication Technology sector that guarantees an open
>>>> market and promotes
>>>> innovation.
>>>>
>>>> Why e-commerce law? Today, legislation supporting
>>>> electronic transactions
>>>> represents the single most powerful innovation opportunity
>>>> in the legal
>>>> framework of the ICT sector. Legislation is needed to:
>>>> -Legalize e-commerce transactions by recognizing an
>>>> electronic signature
>>>> -Manage and control e-commerce risks
>>>> -Remove e-commerce barriers
>>>> KIF has studied drafts currently circulating in the public
>>>> domain, the
>>>> Information and Communications Bill, 2008, and the
>>>> Electronic Transactions
>>>> Bill, 2007, respectively, both of which are of the highest
>>>> technical
>>>> standards. Public panels and hearings with sectors of the
>>>> economy (including
>>>> tourism, agriculture, ICT) have been held on 6th and 27th
>>>> May, 4th June and
>>>> 19th June. The Kenyan private sector has expressed
>>>> overwhelming support for
>>>> urgent legislation of e-commerce.
>>>>
>>>> Suggested improvements in Bills - The public panels and
>>>> hearings to date
>>>> have yielded the following important issues for improvement
>>>> in the current
>>>> Bills:
>>>>
>>>> -          Provisions on who can prosecute are missing
>>>>
>>>> -          Liability of Internet Service Providers must be
>>>> demarcated
>>>>
>>>> -          Clarification on which commercial documents are
>>>> excluded from
>>>> proposed legislation
>>>>
>>>> -          Eliminate any ambiguity on admissibility of
>>>> electronic evidence
>>>>
>>>> -          Need for data protection and privacy provisions
>>>>
>>>> -          The Bills are more lenient on e-commerce fraud
>>>> than on
>>>> traditional fraud
>>>>
>>>> -          Remove inconsistencies in determining crimes and
>>>> punishments
>>>>
>>>> -          Provisions for the inclusion of cyber-crime
>>>> within the scope of
>>>> the Extradition Act
>>>>
>>>> -          Creation of an Administrator for e-commerce laws
>>>> whose functions
>>>> will be policy implementation and advisory, as a
>>>> multi-sectoral body with
>>>> industry associations including KIF, lead regulator
>>>> Communications
>>>> Commission of Kenya and co-regulator Central Bank of Kenya
>>>>
>>>> Gains in tourism, agriculture, healthcare
>>>>
>>>> Industry sectors, notably the tourism industry, are
>>>> expressing their desire
>>>> to see e-commerce covered by law. In tourism, on-line
>>>> travel bookings have
>>>> exceeded 80% in the USA and 50% in Europe. Decline in
>>>> off-line bookings is
>>>> in ample evidence. Those destinations that cannot legally
>>>> support abundant
>>>> on-line booking, such as Kenya, will loose market share.
>>>> E-commerce in
>>>> agriculture will improve small-holder's living
>>>> standards. Great impact is
>>>> expected notably in the coffee sector that provides
>>>> livelihood to at least 5
>>>> million Kenyans, as well as in the dairy industry.
>>>> Healthcare efficiency and
>>>> affordability will improve by on-line health data
>>>> management systems.
>>>> Business operators in rural towns and rural centres have
>>>> also expressed keen
>>>> interest, as they see scope to address issues of trade
>>>> efficiency and
>>>> security in rural Kenya.
>>>>
>>>> What is e-commerce
>>>>
>>>> E-commerce is a method of trading that replaces paper-based
>>>> documentation by
>>>> a mutually binding electronic protocol between buyers and
>>>> sellers.
>>>> E-commerce is gaining ground globally and has become an
>>>> irreversible trend.
>>>> Many trading partners are already practicing e-commerce, by
>>>> mutual
>>>> agreement, also in Kenya. However, e-commerce will reach
>>>> its full potential
>>>> when parties that do not know each other are able to trade
>>>> with full mutual
>>>> protection under the law. This will benefit large numbers
>>>> of consumers and
>>>> businesses, including small-holder farmers, tourism
>>>> operators, small-scale
>>>> industry and services providers in almost any business
>>>> sector.
>>>>
>>>> About KIF
>>>>
>>>> The Kenya Information and Communication Technology
>>>> Federation (KIF)
>>>> represents the ICT industry with Government and with
>>>> private sector bodies
>>>> e.g. Kenya Association of Manufacturers and Kenya Private
>>>> Sector Alliance
>>>> KEPSA <http://www.kepsa.org/>. KIF is a legally
>>>> registered membership based
>>>> Association, made up of trade associations and professional
>>>> bodies within
>>>> the national ICT industry, as well as commercial
>>>> corporations. KIF has been
>>>> accepted as the private sector voice of ICT by Government.
>>>> KIF contributes
>>>> ideas to key sectors like healthcare, education,
>>>> agriculture, construction
>>>> industry, and last but not least supports e-government
>>>> development. KIF is a
>>>> membership-driven organisation. Members bring issues on
>>>> public policy and
>>>> industry development forward for KIF to take action. Issues
>>>> include:
>>>> innovation promotion, education improvement, duties, taxes
>>>> and levies, rural
>>>> ICT investment. KIF has a strong and active network, with
>>>> excellent
>>>> relationships with all government agencies. KIF membership
>>>> is open for
>>>> market segment associations and individual companies.
>>>> Membership charges are
>>>> annual and based on company size. Contact:
>>>> secretariat at kif.or.ke, 020
>>>> 4440102
>>>> MARCEL WERNER, Chairman, Kenya ICT Federation
>>>>
>>>> please send any business mail to:
>>>> Marcel.Werner at innovation-africa.or.ke_______________________________________________
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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> People make a plan work, a plan alone seldom makes people work  
> (Confucius).
>