[kictanet] Discipline & Ethics - Re: Legislation and Regulation fore-Commerce in Keny

[Gakuru , Alex]

I am strongly opposed to top-down opinion quashing by any
quarters. We do not have to agree on every issue to paint a
rosy state of ICT affairs in Kenya. Who would we be fooling ?

I believe this list is mature enough for online democracy as long as
conversations are founded and guided by the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights (attached pdf proudly brought to you by OpenOffice.org;)

Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right
includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek,
receive and impart information and ideas through any media and
regardless of frontiers.

Since others have called me consumer lobbyist, consumer rights
advocate, etc, in this context you could also refer to me as
Internet Freedom fighter;)

--- On Sun, 7/13/08, Bill Kagai <billkagai at gmail.com> wrote:

> As a conclusion, I must admit that I have never received an
> email (and I
> read all my email, including spam) calling me for an
> AGM/election of any of
> these organisations...KIF, KICTANET, Consumer Organisation
> (Alex) and CSK. I
> have attended sessions in all and some have not held
> elections in more than
> ten years. Apparently election fever does not only eat our
> politicians. Last
> time I checked, Alice was coordinating Kictanet and
> yesterday I learnt that
> there is also a chairman. Some expert also came to my
> office last year to
> discuss these structures in Kictanet and nothing ever
> materialised.
>
> In the final analysis, this means that anyone can take
> advantage of a
> society that is crippled by bad governance. ICT industry
> reeks of it. It
> begins by electing officials acceptable to the players. Who
> is ready to
> offer the much needed leadership???
>

There was a time in Kenya when leadership was an automatic genetic
quality. One had to have certain family DNAs, for example, for (s)he to
be eligible parliament. Unless one was the son, daughter, nephew,
niece, cousin etc of so-or-so from a who-is-whos, (full?) secret database
guarded like a warship. That political culture led to deplorable public
sector governance and the private sector was justified in uniting in
the fight against resultant corruption. Note: It takes two for a corrupt
transaction to be completed thus an impeccable private sector
governance is a prerequisite.

Furthermore, suppose the "private sector" infiltrated government?
This would mean privatization of public interest, a government that
pursued  private profit-driven NOT universal public-interest agenda,
example being universal access, services, security etc...

Governance questions-ICT Consumers Association of Kenya:
This (4-year) old like of attack (not from you Bill) first surfaced in 2005.
See attached article. Our lawyers paid registration fees twice after the
first set of application documents "got lost" at Sheria house. Next,
delayed issuance of certificate of registration, without which it would
be illegal to collect membership fees from the public or hold grand
public meetings such as the AGM.("Scheduling Next AGM"
< http://www.bdix.net/pipermail/ke-internetusers/2008-March/date.html>.

The Societies Act, (Cap 108) requires that within 120 days the government
either issues applicants with a certificate or a memorandum stating reasons
applied association cannot be registered. We were last told to check from the
post office since the Act requires certificates be issued through
registered post.
<http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/414/78/17690.html> and
<http://www.usig.org/countryinfo/laws/Kenya/Kenya%20The%20Societies%20Act%20s.%2011,%20Cap%20108.pdf>

At some point last year, someone requested these details suggesting their
lawyers could also engage on our behalf.

To sort out the root causes of deliberate Consumer Protection frustrations
after our diplomatic requests fell on many deaf ears, and others who turned
out only interested in updating themselves on our status we go into stealth
mode -we do not post *everything* on ke-users list... Justified after
after twice
paying registration fees. Pingamizi tele za upande na upande ili watumizi wa
vyombo vya mawasiliano waendelee kunyanyaswa zinastahili mbinu mwafaka
na za kuwatoka na juu.... (The "Politics" i referred to earlier)

Consumers, like all other rights, are fought for not served on a silver platter
by Telcos and Internet service providers, their partners and collaborators in
and out of corridors of power and influence. Our understanding of surrounding
policy, legal, regulatory and how government functions has helped find
very good
support from several government quarters which is only making The ICT Consumers
Association even stronger.

In view of my Founder Chairman title on our application documents, I
hope I have
cleared all suggestive authenticity doubts raised, proven our resolute agenda
reinforced by our assertive engagement strategy.

However, if this is inadequate on own governance let me know and I'll be glad
to share more onlist being a believer in online democracy. Furthermore Consumer
protection is in and of public interest and we are expected to demand it by the
ICT policy .
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