<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Mwendwa<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Thanks for bringing this up.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">On a light note..Does my brother Walu still have a job at the Uni? :-)</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Seriously though, this sort of thing just takes us back 10+ years to the days of KANU.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Ministry - Policy & Leadership</div><div class="">Regulator - Regulate</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">How difficult is that? </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I recall that after the new constitution was promulgated the hopes of the industry was that we will have a more robust and independent Regulator fashioned around the US Regulator - The Federal Communications Commission. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">It is my humble view that we owe it to the world to set the highest standards for Regulation & Policy Formulation in the world as we are now a recognised leader in innovation in the mobile space. Instead of the Executive looking to surround itself with more regulatorY powers they would do better to recognise their role of formulating & guiding policy & leadership to move this country forward in the ICT Sector.</div><div class=""><br class=""><div apple-content-edited="true" class="">
<div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Thanks & Regards<br class=""><br class="">Ali Hussein<br class=""><a href="mailto:ali@hussein.me.ke" class="">ali@hussein.me.ke</a><br class=""><br class="">+254 713 601113<br class="">Twitter: @AliHKassim</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Skype: Abu-Jomo</div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">LinkedIn: http//<a href="http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim" class="">ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim</a><br class="">Blog: <a href="http://www.alyhussein.com" class="">www.alyhussein.com</a><br class=""></div></div>
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<br class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Oct 21, 2015, at 10:01 AM, Mwendwa Kivuva via kictanet <<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" class="">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class="">Greetings,<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Walubengo seems to have captured the controversial issues surrounding the new KICA amendments where the executive is unsurprising powers from the "independent" Communications Authority. The emphasis of the community is that these amendments are unconstitutional and will not be allowed to pass.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">read on ... <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/blogs/dot9/walubengo/-/2274560/2921856/-/xolkx9z/-/index.html" class="">http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/blogs/dot9/walubengo/-/2274560/2921856/-/xolkx9z/-/index.html</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px">There is a proposed bill, the <a href="http://kenyalaw.org/kl/fileadmin/pdfdownloads/bills/2015/StatuteLaw__MiscellaneousAmendmens_Bill_164of2015.pdf" target="_blank" style="text-decoration:none;color:rgb(41,171,226)" class="">Miscellaneous Amendment Bill 164 of 2015</a> that proposes to move most of the communications regulatory powers to the Cabinet secretary. </p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px">It is not clear why the Executive suddenly wants to become the regulator in a day and age when global practice seems to be to keep the two as separate as possible.</p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px">In seeking to understand the rationale, one needs to look at the 'Memorandum of Objects and Reason’ section, which states as follows:</p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px"><em style="color:rgb(166,166,166)" class="">‘The Bill seeks to amend the Kenya Information And Communications Act, 1998 section 2 of 1998) so as firstly to align it with the Competitions Act, 2014 in respect of the criteria for being a dominant market</em></p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px"><em style="color:rgb(166,166,166)" class="">undertaking and secondly to harmonize the regulation making power so that it is exercised by the Cabinet Secretary in consultation with the Authority’.</em></p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px">Two aims seem to drive the new amendments. One is to put the contentious issue of dominance under the Competition Authority rather than the Communications Authority. The second is to enhance the Cabinet Secretary’s role in communication regulatory matters.</p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px">For those with a little bit of communications history, it is easy to see the deliberate shift towards the old days when communications regulation was strictly under the Minister of Transport and Communications.</p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px">In those days, prior to the Kenya Communications Act 1998, the then Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (KPTC), a fully-owned government parastatal, was the father, mother and grandparent of all regulatory matters in Kenya.</p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px">The performance of regulation then is well documented and it was clearly a case study in ‘how not to regulate’. </p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px">So it still beats all logic, despite the intended rationale for the amendments, why a modern, self-declared digital government would want to drag the whole country back to the so-called dark days.</p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px"><strong class="">'DEPARTMENT OF THE ICT MINISTRY'</strong></p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px">Indeed, the Kenyan Constitution (2010) anticipates and clearly states that we should have a more independent regulator than what we have always had.</p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px">As stated in Article 34: Section (5)-:</p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px"><em style="color:rgb(166,166,166)" class="">‘ Parliament shall enact legislation that provides for the establishment of a body, which shall—</em></p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px"><em style="color:rgb(166,166,166)" class="">(a) be independent of control by government, political interests or commercial interests;</em></p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px"><em style="color:rgb(166,166,166)" class="">(b) reflect the interests of all sections of the society; and</em></p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px"><em style="color:rgb(166,166,166)" class="">(c) set media standards and regulate and monitor compliance with those standards.’</em></p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px">Several court battles have recently been filed against the current regulator simply because their decisions, however well-intentioned were deemed not to have been undertaken by an independent regulator as envisioned in the new constitution.</p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px">Why, then, would the government deliberately plan to set itself up for more of these court battles by proposing amendments that clearly make the regulator a department of the ICT Ministry and therefore not independent from the Executive?</p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px"><strong class="">JUST WIND UP THE CA</strong></p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px">Most of the proposed amendments are about replacing the role of the regulator with that of the Cabinet secretary by inserting the words ‘The Cabinet secretary in consultation with the Communication Authority shall make regulations for…’</p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px">As an example, see Section 5(b)(5) on ‘Freedom of the media’. The new proposals say that ‘The Cabinet secretary in consultation with the Communication Authority shall make regulations for the better carrying out of the provisions in this section’.</p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px">In Section 27(d) on ‘SIM cards’, the new proposals say that ‘The Cabinet secretary in consultation with the Communication Authority may make regulations with respect to SIM Card registration, storage, retention, transfers….’</p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px">There are many other amendments of similar a nature, and the clear message is that the regulator cannot make operational decisions unless in consultation with the minister.</p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px">Indeed, one could argue that it is effectively the other way round - the Minister making the decision in consultation with the regulator.</p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px">If the famous voting machine in Parliament, otherwise known as the "tyranny of numbers", is anything to go by, these amendments are likely to pass.</p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px">However, the government should do Kenyans a favour thereafter and wind up the Communications Authority of Kenya, since its role will essentially have been absorbed by the Ministry.</p></div><div style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:ColfaxRegular,'AvantGardeGothicITCW01B 731069','Nimbus Sans TW01',Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:24px" class=""><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:15.6px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-size:17px;font-family:Georgia,'ITC Century W01 Light';line-height:25px"><em style="color:rgb(166,166,166)" class="">Mr Walubengo is a lecturer at the Multimedia University of Kenya's Faculty of Computing and IT. Twitter: @jwalu Email: <a href="mailto:jwalubengo@mmu.ac.ke" class="">jwalubengo@mmu.ac.ke</a></em></p></div><div class=""><div class=""><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr" class=""><div class=""><div dir="ltr" class="">______________________<br class="">Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya<br class=""><br class="">"There are some men who lift the age they inhabit, till all men walk on higher ground in that lifetime." - Maxwell Anderson<br class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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_______________________________________________<br class="">kictanet mailing list<br class=""><a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" class="">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a><br class="">https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet<br class=""><br class="">Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/info%40alyhussein.com<br class=""><br class="">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.<br class=""><br class="">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.</div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></body></html>