2009/2/13 Solomon Mburu <solo.mburu@gmail.com>

I'm just curious on this silly question.

I was just looking at various government of Kenya department's domain name extensions and realized that they ended with either a or.ke, com, co.ke etc. A few had .go.ke( especially ministries) Now, isn't it right for the govt domain's to have a .go.ke as the extension (to show they are owned by a Govt)? The Nairobi City Council has a .org; NHIF has .or.ke etc as their extensions yet these are not Non-Governmental Organizations or something of that sort but government agencies!

Hi Solomon,

See http://www.kenic.or.ke/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=117&Itemid=145

Now, from my own experience, the issue you've raised about the name extensions being inconsistent with your expectation has got something to do with the lack of a central reference point in the govt where the decision on the extension can be taken.
Each govt ministry/dept operates in isolation and it only depends on the understanding of the ICT coordinator in that ministry/dept to decide on the extension to be used. I recall a few times when I was handling domain registration when I had to advise them on the right extension to use, but they'd hate it, especially because to do a .go.ke required a letter from the Treasury or GITS... let me see..
See: http://www.kenic.or.ke/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=52&Itemid=72

Some of them hated the procedures and would settle for the less "procedural" ones:)

Which body in Kenya determines the extesions for govt. owned domain names?

Nobody. GITS only dealt with approval of the use of .go.ke extension.

In Germany, the extension .de is for both private and public use but mostly used in government agencies, while in US it is .gov

Domain names are a unique way of identification, isn't it? Suppose in Kenya we had just an extesion .ke e.g www.foreignaffiars.ke as the domain name for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will it go against ICANN' regulations or any other body charged with domain names?

The .ke namespace is controlled by KENIC, but IIRC, the KENIC board has not yet approved the use of the top level .ke as you suggest.

I am sure someone from KENIC is on this list and can clarify.

2009/6/18 kennedy waweru <kenne2ke@gmail.com>

Thanks alot mburu. I also feel your case.
What about offering second domain registration to individuals e.g.
nazizi.ke, is it possible? if it is why is it not being done? why do
we have our very own personalities going for the .com? marionshako.com
etc??

what other improvements can be done to its management i.e. best
industry practices. what are the implications considering the landing
of the fiber optic?

regards
kennedy

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