---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Fred Matiangi <fredmatiangi@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Aug 16, 2013 at 1:02 AM
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Dr. Ndemo parting shot-what of the get-together?
To:
otieno.barrack@gmail.comCc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <
kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>
The lunch to say kwaheri to Dr. Ndemo happened last Wednesday at the Panafric Hotel. About 600 guests attended.It was a great
event although I wished we had more time to interact. I however hope we
will get more opportunities in the days to come to share several ideas
on the ICT sector generally with our colleague Dr. Ndemo who will remain involved with us in various ways.
My colleague, Mr. Tiampati, and I have
received very useful support from the sector as we embark on making our
contribution. We have settled down and are taking on several matters
in the ICT sector. The gazette notice to fully establish the ICT Authority having been signed by the President, ICTA is now a reality and this brings together all of which was formerly the Directorate of e-government, GITS and the Kenya ICT Board. We have embarked on the immediate steps of institutionalizing ICTA including putting up a board for the same- which I hope we will do by end of the month and identifying the men and women who will help manage the Authority in its first transitional and formation days.
I have already reached out to quite a number of individuals in the ICT sector to team up with us in various ways to help move the government's ICT agenda to the next level. I therefore hope that as we embark on the implementation of the national broadband strategy, review and clarify the national ICT master plan and take the first critical steps to enhance internet penetration (expand broadband spread, increase digital awareness, move the operations of government itself to a more ICT driven platform-including the single registration goal etc) we will continue the vibrant and hopefully much more policy focused discussions on how to strengthen the ICT sector in Kenya generally.
We intend to better structure our industry contact groups so as to be more focused on each of the sub-sectors. In the first week of September we host a meeting with the ICT Executive Committee members of all the 47 counties in Kenya to ensure we coordinate effective interface between the national and county governments on ICT policies. I have taken very seriously a number of issues that have been raised about how county governments could affect national plans on deployment of ICTs- especially if we do not address the issue of infrastructure development levies, support to security and credibility of ICT infrastructure, last mile connection etc. We hope the opportunity to get together in the first week of September will enable us reflect on these issues and begin to construct a platform for effective synergy in national and county ICT policy implementation.
We have received various representations on policy and regulatory actions necessary in various sub-sectors and are having the necessary conversations to address these. I hope listers have studied the Media Bill and the Kenya Information and Communication Amendment Bill both published last month and will be available to contribute to the Parliamentary Committee's discussions in September before the bills are finally debated in Parliament. The Access to Information and Data protection bills have also gone through the CIC and headed to Cabinet for discussions before they are brought to Parliament-hopefully by end of September. A national cyber security policy is being developed and we hope to bring together at least 3-4 academic/research sites to partner with the ministry on developing a framework for continued cyber security research in Kenya.
There is indeed a lot to be done. There may be no consensus yet on how the list of priorities should be ordered but we are optimistic that with the establishment of ICTA, the Kenya government's approach to ICTs deployment will surely change (have better government websites, a better and more robust government e-mail system, institute a public communication policy, have government adopt a communication coordination mechanism etc.) I personally hope that we will not just be talking about plans but will soon experience actual change.
Fred
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