ICT Practitioners Bill is Vague, Kill it!

Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Practitioners were in an uproar on Wednesday 6 th July 2016 over a bill that attempts to regulate the nascent sectors ‘training, registration, licensing, practice and standards.’ A quick perusal of the bill proposals reveal an attempt to control the sector, its practitioners and their operational space.

The Bill is sponsored by the Majority Party leader in the National Assembly, Aden Duale who is not a stakeholder of the ICT industry. Furthermore, the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) has denounced the Bill and has written to the clerk, Speaker and Chairman of the Energy, Information Communications Parliamentary committee on the matter.

The Bill has raised a cloud of mistrust especially among Kenya Techprenuers and corporate sector who only knew about the Bill after it was gazetted. Key stakeholders in the ICT industry were not included in the formulation of the Bill. It also risks creating a body that will take up tax payer’s money with no defined output.

If the Bill is passed as currently formulated it will directly interfere s with a person’s ability to earn an honest living because it demands that one be licensed before one can get payment for any ICT services rendered. By this requirement the drafters of the Bill demonstrate lack of understanding of the ICT sector. Besides, there are too many variables to consider even if you were to use academic background as a threshold for licensing. Perhaps it’s for the same reason that concerned groups are asking what the working definition of an ICT practitioner is and whether there’s evidence of success where such a law was created.

Already Kenya is among the top African countries after South Africa and Nigeria with a growing number of Startups. The Startups are able to access international funding and offer employment opportunities. So, will they die a sudden death because their founders do not have an academic background in ICT? What about the jobs created as a result or the innovation on display?

The drafters of this Bill fail to realize that a country is developed by results and not academic certificates. Proposals put forward reveal a general lack of understanding of the sector and seem bent to curtail freedom of expression of the practitioners. They also affect several other laws, including labor laws, not just locally but also regionally, which is likely to kill our partnership with ICT focused countries like Rwanda and only serve to let us lag behind.

ICT industry is a most difficult field to regulate owing to its diverse and dynamic nature. Most of the ICT practitioners are self-taught and are making not only a living but transforming the digital space through their creativity. Indeed the drafters of this Bill create unnecessary confusion in roles of other statutory bodies like the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) and indeed as the concerned group poses, the role of the ICT Cabinet Secretary.

The ICT Bill is vague through and through, there’s hardly any clause that holds water on its own. A vague law is prone to be misused by power hungry ill motivated political leaders as interpretation is mostly based on the will of the person in authority.

The timing of this Bill is also suspect considering we are a few months to the general elections. Its common knowledge the effect ICT has had in electioneering period, pre-polls and after elections. Young people will be employed to design, develop websites, and offer ICT solutions. Passing of this Bill therefore can easily infringe on people’s right to support their political candidates or offer their services pro bono or otherwise because of licensing procedures. Consequently, why rush to draft the Bill when there’s an ongoing consultation on the Draft National ICT policy?

If there’s something important to learn from the outcry that has followed the publication of this Bill, it is the need to consciously participate in Bills before Parliament and to put the legislature to task. That is the only way MPs will do proper research before bringing a Bill on the floor of the house.

Posted by Mzalendo Editor on July 8, 2016

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