Winter has come for Kenyan IT practitioners.
The tech community in Kenya experienced a day of darkness, doom and gloom last week; Wednesday the 8th of June, 2022.
In a legislative session that was noted by legendary tech writer(s) TechCabal to be sleepy and uninspiring, parliament passed the controversial ICT practitioners bill, 2020.
This is a bill that was introduced by former majority leader Aden Duale in 2016 and was duly thrown out because of just how restrictive it was. In 2018, just two years later, MP Godfrey Osotsi re-introduced the bill to the house with minor cosmetic changes. Yet again it was thrown out, with ICT cabinet secretary Joe Mucheru calling it out as being unimaginative and an impediment to innovative thinking in the ICT sector.
Like the proverbial phoenix up from the ashes of logic and sense, the bill was introduced to the house again in 2020 where still, even with further aesthetic changes, it still didn’t make the cut.
Last week, on what was possibly this August house’ last sitting before they left office to prepare for the August 9th general elections, the bill was passed in a sleepy parliament and is now waiting to be ascended to law.
First of all, I understand the need for debates on policy. I am a huge proponent of change and the evolution of society from a point of ignorance to a point of knowledge. However, the fact that the bill was tabled three prior times and did not pass should have been a message to parliament that the bill was not a part of the sort of visionary legislative steps we hoped they would take in the governance of this country, especially on something as dynamic as ICT.
The bill proposed that all ICT practitioners would have to be registered under an ICT Institute which shall be headed by a council whose leadership would be appointees of the executive arm of government (the cabinet secretary of ICT in this case). The council would be responsible for the running of the institute and enforcing the provisions of the bill (now act) according to the law.
Among the more controversial sections of the bill are as follows;
- For one to be considered a bonafide member of the institute, the council would require that that person holds a degree in ICT from a recognised university, holds a degree in another field but with 1 years post experience in ICT or holds a diploma with 3 years post experience in ICT or ICT related field.
- The practitioners would have to be licensed and would have to renew this license every year at a fee.
- Failure to renew the license after a year would mean that the individual would have to apply again and be registered afresh by the council.
- No one is allowed to practice in ICT under the name of someone else unless the aforementioned individual was part of the latter’s ICT organization and the latter was registered and licensed to practice and the organization (firm) also certified to conduct business in the field.
- Failure to adhere to these provisions and many others would attract a fine or jail terms or both.
I am sure, just like me, you are already noticing how the bill (found here) is wide sweeping and vaguely defined and looks like a sorry attempt at legislating matters that are better left as they were at the cost of true legislative work.
ICT cabinet secretary in a 2016 address about the bill said, “If enacted, the ICT Protection Bill 2016 will cause duplication in regulation and frustrate individual talents from realizing their potential.”
This is my problem with the situation as it is now that the bill passed the house;
First of all, reiterating what the CS said in 2016, forcing all practitioners to register with the council among other new laws in the act (read restrictions) is a hindrance to the innovative capacities of young people interested in the ICT space in Kenya.
According to a study conducted by the International Trade Administration, “Kenya is a regional leader in terms of broadband connectivity, general ICT infrastructure, value added services, mobile money, and mobile banking services. The country’s ICT sector is set to account for up to 8% of the country’s GDP through IT-enabled services (ITES) and create more than a quarter of a million jobs by the end of 2021.”
When this study was conducted, the results, positive as is evident, were not pegged on the industry being as restricted as the just passed bill requires. ICT related jobs and professions were some of the easiest and most accessible to Kenyan youth.
See, the average cost of a university education in Kenya is between $1380 and $5000 per year (Ksh.138,000 and Ksh500,000 respectively). Contrasting that to an average income of $76 (Ksh. 7600) per month, translating to $912 (Ksh. 91200) per year, most families clearly cannot afford to take their children to university.
Now, the average cost of a laptop in Kenya is roughly $200 dollars (Ksh. 20,000) thanks to Kenya’s visionary ICT sector (pre-bill of course) and a free market for mobile service providers (being home to at least 5 of them) the costs for internet access are very competitive and range anywhere between $20 dollars and upwards of $300 per month depending on which plan you’re on with mobile data costs being even cheaper in some cases.
Globally, with the advent of the fourth industrial revolution and a mass exodus into the ICT sector, there are a great many opportunities for anyone interested in the sector to grow and curate a stream of income for themselves.
Why then would a government, so interested in the development of its people be the very stumbling block on their path to sustainable growth and development?
I say this is a case of terrible governance and restrictive legislation by an unimaginative house. It also doesn’t go without noting that the house on the day was all but empty. There were entire swaths of space in the house, seats in upright positions and microphones duly off. A ghost august house. I dare to say that had the full house sat and debated this bill, it would not have passed and would have met the same fate it met all three other times.
Additionally and very ironically, parliament passed this bill restricting ICT practitioners to only being registered if they have university degrees when the senate has just passed a bill removing degree requirements for elective posts up to the parliamentary level.
Our only avenue for recourse now that the bill passed the house is to pressure the president to veto it back to the house. The bill was passed on the second to last day of the 12th parliament sitting. The president, by law, has 14 days to sign the bill into law or veto it back to parliament where it would only be tabled post August. It is my sincere hope that should the president take it back to parliament, the 13th August house of Kenya will have enough foresight to kick the bill and all future iterations of it out.
Mr. President, Hi please…
Do it one time for the youth. We will come restart your router for free. I promise.
(Hey, it was nice talking to you. Stay with me!)
