[kictanet] ARE WE ROLLING BACK THE ICT GAINS OF THE LAST 10 YEARS?

[Ali Hussein]

Kivuva

Thanks. This is beyond civil society and control issues. It goes to the heart of how we as a country have been able to grow in the Internet space in the last 10 years because of progressive government interventions in consultation with private sector and civil society. 

Let me put it plainly so that maybe some of the policy makers may understand the import of some of the decisions we take as a country. 

If we accept the ITRs as they are what we are basically saying from a commercial perspective is this:-

ISPs (read Safaricom, Orange, Access Kenya, Airtel etc) will have the legal standing to tell content providers (from my blog, to Google, to Facebook, to Ma3Racer, to Nation Digital etc) that for them to allow their customers to access your content you must pay them a toll fee.  Now I understand that this particular shot was aimed at the Googles and Facebooks  of this world. Fundamentally this is wrong and in principle this was something suggested by the European Telcos which the EU rejected and somehow found its way as the Africa Position during WCIT12..

NOW I ASK:- ON WHOSE BEHALF WAS THE AFRICA POSITION TABLED? WHY ARE WE STILL PAWNS IN THE BIGGER SCHEME OF THINGS? ( the CAPS are intentional because somehow we must get a reaction from the policy wonks in government)

There are many other issues that are fundamentally wrong with the new ITRs but I will leave that to Grace, Alice and all. 

Lets get serious as a country. I understand that there are political and diplomatic ramifications in international treaty making and discourse. These however must be tempered with commitment to our economic realities. If I'm to make a reference to the Jubilee Manifesto then some of the actions of this government go contrary to the letter and spirit of the very manifesto they eschew. 

Ali Hussein

+254 0770 906375 / 0713 601113

"I fear the day technology will surpass human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots".  ~ Albert Einstein

Sent from my iPad

> On Nov 28, 2013, at 8:27 AM, Kivuva <Kivuva at transworldafrica.com> wrote:
> 
> Ali, I hear your frustrations. After so many different developments in
> Internet Governance, most of us had forgotten about ITRs, WCIT12 looks
> like a long time ago. I'm sure government would like more control in
> telecommunications sector, and this leaves the civil society
> disadvantaged since we might not have a formal forum to engage them.
> 
> One path we can take is to have a public petition from the Internet
> and Civil Society community to support the common position.
> 
> Regards
> 
>> On 27/11/2013, Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke> wrote:
>> Bwana CS
>> 
>> Incase you missed my last posting on this issue.
>> 
>> Listers
>> 
>> I little bird mentioned to me today that the ICT Ministry is about to sign
>> the ITRs that Kenya declined to back in Dec 2012.
>> 
>> As a member of the delegation that went to Dubai we fought hard to ensure
>> that we didn't sign and that there was adequate representation across
>> Government and the private sector. There were pre consultations both off and
>> online and the CCK actively engaged with other stakeholders.
>> 
>> Ultimately there were divergent views and the head of delegation declined to
>> sign the ITRs. At that time I penned a few paragraphs on why it was a good
>> thing that Kenya didn't sign the ITRs.
>> 
>> http://www.alyhussein.com/2013/01/why-its-a-good-thing-kenya-didnt-sign-the-new-itrs-at-wcit12-in-dubai/
>> 
>> I hope that little bird was just that..a rumor. If it is true then I
>> personally appeal to Dr. Matiangi as the head of the Ministry to please
>> update us on this issue. Further more we expect at the very least to be
>> engaged as stakeholders in this space as to the reasons of the turnaround.
>> 
>> We hope Daktari that we are not jumping the gun here but as you may well
>> understand we are concerned..
>> 
>> Ali Hussein
>> 
>> +254 0770 906375 / 0713 601113
>> 
>> "I fear the day technology will surpass human interaction. The world will
>> have a generation of idiots".  ~ Albert Einstein
>> 
>> Sent from my iPad
> 
> 
> -- 
> ______________________
> Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
> twitter.com/lordmwesh
> kenya.or.ke | The Kenya we know
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