Listers, Before the dust clears on the proposed ICT Practitioners Bill, it is appropriate to highlight the the following: ICTAK’s actions are hardly novel and merely highlight a growing trend towards rent-seeking activities by both statutory and non-statutory entities at the expense of our hard-earned liberty. I found the following on the Computer Society of Kenya website (http://www.cskonline.org/training/accredited-computer-training-colleges): "For a college to be recognized as an ICT Training Institution and its Internal Certification to be recognized, the institution needs to be accredited by CSK and given the mandate to offer CSK Curriculum and Exams. CSK Member Companies consider anyone looking for internship,attachment or employment with CSK certificate more than any other examining body and an internal certificate from unaccredited college,regardless of facilities and expertise of the training team is simply considered invalid. Note: Accreditation does not server as an alternative for registering your entity with the relevant government ministries. Check wether your college is accredited below. *If not your internal certification may be considered invalid afterwards. Students have a right to enquire why their college is not among the list of accredited colleges below, and the management should take a step and contact CSK for accreditation as soon as possible. If your college is accredited and its not appearing below contact CSK immediately.* Producing relevant documents and dates of accreditation. Newly added Institutions may appear differently for a short period of time as the data propagates in our database. For more information email: training@cskonline.org or contact us.” (emphasis added) CSK understands that it is “… a membership community representing Kenya’s ICT community…” (http://www.cskonline.org/membership/overview) but the above wording is tantamount to compelling ICT training institutions to be accredited by CSK (“…the management should take a step and contact CSK for accreditation as soon as possible...”), which violates ICT training institutions’ rights (under Article 36 (2) of the Constitution of Kenya (“a person shall not be compelled to join an association of any kind”). While gaining accreditation and joining are not equivalent, the statement conveys a mandatory requirement involving substantial unnecessary costs. To the best of my knowledge CSK has no legal mandate to make such claims. It would be helpful if CSK could clarify its position on the above. In particular, given my understanding of its standing as a society, it should clarify that: - CSK member companies are under no compulsion to only hire students examined from CSK-accredited ICT training institutions (in fact, it would not be in their best interests to confine their hiring to this class); - accreditation of ICT institutions is not a legal requirement for validation of internal certifications i.e. ICT training institutions can choose to disregard CSK accreditation without fear of adverse consequences i.e. it might be desirable but is not mandatory; - while students have a right to enquire whether ICT training institutions are accredited it does not necessarily invalidate their certifications; - the claim "CSK member companies consider anyone … more than any other examining body” is stated without any evidence and amounts to fearmongery; I would be happy to be corrected if I am in error. Kind regards, Dr. Paul Korir, PhD +44 7780 283 183 +254 72 400 4767 Ordnung muß sein