[kictanet] [Security Forum] #KeIGF15 Online Discussions Day One: Inclusiveness and Diversity

[meshack emakunat]

Hi all, making inclusiveness and diversity a norm within our policy formulation mechanism will require the utilization of governance structures (county governments)


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On Mon, Jul 20, 2015 6:07 AM PDT Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet wrote:

>Thank you Grace and Barrack for this important topic.
>
>I will start by sharing the sentiments of the Speaker of the National
>Assembly Justin Muturi.
>http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Kenyans-must-be-involved-in-all-processes/-/440808/2768460/-/view/printVersion/-/6tg7g9/-/index.html
>The speaker lamented that public participation ... and consultation in
>matters of national building are either not happening, or not enough.
>"citizens wanted to be consulted on everything being done on their behalf
>by their leaders and that transparency was not optional", he said.
>
>As it stands, the Communications Authority of Kenya is in limbo after the
>court threw out the sitting board pending appeal. Is it possible that there
>was proper consultation by the Ministry and Cabinet Secretary of ICT, but
>some people did not feel their "interests" were covered well enough and
>opted to run to the courts?
>
>Well, being a member of the CA board may attract bigger allowances,
>probably the reason why the litigants did not bother with the important
>Universal Service Fund (USF) Council. The USF is supposed to be the
>ultimate inclusiveness and diversity tool when it comes to offering a
>semblance of uniform communication services to all Kenyans may it be radio,
>postal, telecommunications or cyber services. I am yet to see any report on
>how the USF Council has contributed to bridging the digital divide using
>the funds at their disposal. A little history here will help.  The
>Universal Service Advisory Council (USAC) was entrenched in the Kenya
>Information and Communications act (1998) to advice the then CCK and give
>policy guidance in the implementation of the USF. The term of the first
>USAC expired in January 2014, and a new Council put in place from May 2014
>to May 2017. I understand there are a few pilot projects that have been
>setup across the country by the USF, but we would like to see a report on
>the same from the said Council, and probably measure the effectiveness of
>these projects.
>
>There is also the issue of "Multi-stakeholder-ism", how is it playing out
>in our ICT landscape? Does the word make any sense to the different
>stakeholders? How are partnerships forged between say government and
>business community or academia? Well, I have seen many initiatives in the
>country where the different stakeholders have partnered and blended really
>well to transform the society. A good case is our celebrated ICT hubs
>especially in Nairobi ... iHub, iLab, C4Dlab, Nairobi Garage, e.t.c. where
>businesses have partnered with the government and academia and the
>technical community to give our youth hope and opportunities in life. "The
>Kenyan Dream". Truly, multistakeholderism can work. We only need to put
>more effort, and recognise the important role eac stakeholder plays.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>______________________
>Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
>
>"There are some men who lift the age they inhabit, till all men walk on
>higher ground in that lifetime." - Maxwell Anderson