[kictanet] [nairobilug] Draft National ICT policy

Tue Jul 5 19:27:36 EAT 2016

Interesting developments Alex.
My initial reaction after reading the Bill is, questions questions
questions:
First of all, why would anyone conceive such an idea? To cure what problem?
How will it better society as a whole? If indeed there was a problem to be
addressed, couldn't the same have been dealt with in the policy process
first? Assuming this Bill emanated from the Ministry, why would the
Ministry undertake a policy review process and at the same time undertake a
legal process to regulate the profession? And why is regulation of ICT
professionals not even mentioned in the draft policy? We are always ready
to engage and I am shocked to have learnt of the process so far in the day.
Or did ICT professionals have a processes the outcome of which is this
Bill?

Speaking of a profession, what is the ICT profession? I see the Bill has
attempted a definition at section 2 but isn't ICTs the most dynamic and
cross cutting "profession" we have? Was there a study done to support such
a disruptive regulation of the profession? Are there other countries that
regulate their geeks this much? So what informed this legislation?

Think of all the young people who eke a living from ICT related businesses.
Why would anyone want to subject all these youth, together with those
graduating from colleges and universities to one more hurdle before they
can start working? Can't we leave it to the market to separate the very
good practitioners from the average ones?
I do not understand the Kenyan obsession with  ever regulating professions.
What I know is that it is expensive for parents to perpetually pay fees
before their (overgrown) children can finally get employment. It is also an
additional cost to businesses as they have to foot the cost of compliance
for the various professionals they employ or outsource.

Finally, what are our legislative priorities in this sector? I would have
thought the Data Protection framework is more urgent and maybe a Cyber
Security one. While I did not intend to comment on the contents of the
Bill, I can't help but notice that one ICT Association of Kenya will have
the arduous task of appointing five (out of nine) people to the Council
that will regulate professionals (Section 4). Pray tell, who is this
association?

Regards,

2016-07-05 14:03 GMT+03:00 Alex Watila via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>:

> FYI
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nairobi-gnu at googlegroups.com [mailto:nairobi-gnu at googlegroups.com]
> On Behalf Of Tim Schofield
> Sent: Tuesday, July 5, 2016 11:37 AM
> To: nairobi-gnu at googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: [nairobilug] Draft National ICT policy
>
> This could be a crushing blow to Kenya's ICT industry. If the USA had such
> a law then so many of their major ICT companies would never have happened.
> To name but 2, neither Steve Jobs nor Bill Gates gained any formal ICT
> qualifications, in fact neither of them passed a degree in anything.
> Several of the leading Linux kernel developers have no formal ICT training.
>
> Tim
>
> On 4 July 2016 at 14:04, Tony White <tony.mzungu at gmail.com> wrote:
> > ...and *this*:
> >
> > http://kenyalaw.org/kl/fileadmin/pdfdownloads/bills/2016/InformationCo
> > mmunicationTechnologyPractitioners_Bill_2016.pdf
> >
> > Which was introduced in the National Assembly last week, which will
> > rquire all ICT 'practitioners' to be licenced (annually!!) and
> > registered, with examination of qualifications, and ongoing
> > 'training'!!
> >
> > Phew!!
> >
> > Tony
> >
> > On 04/07/2016, Ibrahim Ng'eno <eebrah at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Y'all have seen this[1], yes?
> >>
> >> [1]
> >> http://www.information.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Draft-Nationa
> >> l-ICT-Policy-20June2016.pdf
> >>
> >> -- Ibrahim
> >>
> >> --
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> >
> >
> > --
> > Tony White
> >
> > --
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-- 
Grace L.N. Mutung'u
Nairobi Kenya
Skype: gracebomu
Twitter: @Bomu

<http://www.diplointernetgovernance.org/profile/GraceMutungu>

PGP ID : 0x33A3450F
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