[kictanet] Kenya ICT Practitioners Bill - Walu's Views

Wed Jul 6 21:54:00 EAT 2016

Always good to have you back, Bwana Daktari. We miss your valuable &
insightful contributions of yore..

I was just about to respond to Kulubi's contribution, when your post came
up. It aptly sums it up..! In an earlier post I alluded to some 14 years
that have been nothing short of a truly amazing, tremendous story in the
ICT space, why..?  Because during this time, the previously heavily
regulated space opened up and was liberalized and  from there on, there was
no looking back, and everyone can attest to the achievements to date in the
sector. Again why..? Because, while those with regulatory mandate and
oversight had all within their power to further stifle innovation and
growth, they instead wisely chose  to only promote a regulatory framework
that sought to create an enabling environment for this space to thrive. And
towards this, you played your rightful role, facilitating and  engaging
constantly  with stakeholders even right  here on this forum. With one
single stroke of a pen, we can build on or lay to waste post-haste what we
achieved over the period.  So be forewarned..  But again,  who is listening
out here..??

Thanks James for putting  the whole bill into perspective..

Regards,
Harry

On Wed, Jul 6, 2016 at 9:19 PM, Bitange Ndemo via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> Here we shall kill innovation and set ourselves back to 25 years ago.
> Good people, let us stop this by all means.
>
>
> Ndemo.
>
> On Wed, Jul 6, 2016 at 8:41 PM, James Kulubi via kictanet <
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>
>> The fact that the Bill has been presented to Parliament before the ICT
>> Policy review process is completed means that it will be very difficult to
>> administer it when enacted into law. Usually, the policy sets vision and
>> mission for the sector for a foreseeable future. The policy may have a
>> human resource development component. The policy is then implemented
>> through legislation, government budget and regulations. When I read the
>> reason and memorandum of the bill, the only policy statement that I can see
>> is ‘to establish a legal framework for the training, registration,
>> licensing, practice and standards of Information Communication Technology
>> (ICT) professionals in Kenya.’
>> The ICT practitioners bill therefore creates some unusual situation.
>> Those who can remember, we in the ICT sector faced a similar situation in
>> the period 2005 – 2007. There were many people supporting the legislation
>> of the Media Bill but there were serious disagreements on the media council
>> membership; licensing of media practitioners; the role of the government;
>> the role of the media owners; regulation of print and electronic media,
>> offences, and the financing of the Council.
>> The government, for instance, while supporting the establishment of the
>> Media Council, did not want the Council to be financed from foreign
>> sources. On the other hand, some media practitioners did not want to be
>> financed by the government.  The middle ground was funding by member
>> subscriptions and accreditation. This too was opposed by many media
>> practitioners.
>> Eventually, a policy was developed through public consultation covering
>> such aspects as media ownership, accreditation of journalists, code of
>> conduct of journalists and the broadcasting code, etc.
>> In my view the policy informing the  ICT professional bill should have
>> borrowed heavily from the outcome of current ICT policy review process and
>> been subjected to wider stakeholder consultation. The following issues, for
>> instance, require wider consultation.
>> 1. The definition provided for ICT practitioner which I quote ‘ICT
>> practitioner (ICTP)" means a person registered under this Act as an ICT
>> practitioner who is also licensed under section 20 to practice’ is vague,
>> misleading and may be viewed as discriminating.
>> 2. Many ICT professionals qualify or are already registered by other
>> organizations. These include those in fields like Telecommunication
>> Engineering, Computer Engineering, Medical Information Systems, financial
>> information systems, etc.
>> 3. The eligibility for registration which is stated as ‘holder of at
>> least a bachelor's degree in an ICT related field from a recognized
>> university,’ is vague and can be abused. Already, we have other fields like
>> engineering where applicants for registration are suffering due to this
>> condition. Graduates from countries like USSR which offer MSc as first
>> degrees cannot be registered. Similarly, those with Higher National Diploma
>> who have gone ahead to get MSc and even PhD cannot be registered! Further,
>> in some universities like Maseno all degree programmes have an extension
>> ‘with ICT.’ How will the Council treat these degrees?
>> 4. Technologists have drafted another bill which is before Parliament.
>> How will the Technologists bill co-exist with the ICT practitioners bill?
>> 5. There are many institutions carrying out institutional accreditation
>> and certification of ICT practitioners. How will such accreditation and
>> certification be treated by the Council?
>> Best regards,
>> Prof. James Kulubi
>>
>>
>> On Wednesday, 6 July 2016, 19:10, Wangari Kabiru via kictanet <
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Blessed Wednesday!
>> A handshake to the 2014 article!
>> There is a great opportunity for Techies to take their rightful place as
>> professionals and be invited to give valued contributions to the nation
>> building table.
>> As I said earlier, non-Techs will be there. Perhaps another
>> classification within the broader "ICT Professional".
>> *ICT Practitioners - sounds like a very broad term to attempt to compact
>> and create shared guidelines/standards.
>> On the said ICT Practitioners Bill - it seems that part of the issue is
>> with regard to who is/are behind it. All in all, to have gotten a hearing,
>> it means this is an organised group.
>> Which is perhaps what this community might seek to engage with and build
>> together before "shooting the innovator".
>> Blessed day.
>> Regards/Wangari
>> On Jul 6, 2016 15:47, Alex Watila via kictanet <
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:
>>
>> Thanks Walu,
>> What is the way forward on the bill?
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Alex
>>
>>
>> *From:* Walubengo J [mailto:jwalu at yahoo.com]
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, July 6, 2016 3:26 PM
>> *To:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>> *Cc:* Dennis Muthuri <muthuridennis at gmail.com>; Alex Watila <
>> awatila at yahoo.co.uk>
>> *Subject:* Kenya ICT Practitioners Bill - Walu's Views
>>
>> @Alex, @Muthuri,
>>
>> Thnx for 'bursting' me @
>>
>>
>> http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/blogs/dot9/walubengo/-/2274560/2305252/-/1208fkiz/-/index.html
>>
>>
>>
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>> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
>> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
>> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>>
>> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
>> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
>> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
>> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>>
>
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> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>
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