The expansion of the East African Community to include Rwanda and Burundi is raising new challenges when it comes to policy issues.
Opening a stakeholders meeting in Nairobi recently, Kenya’s Information and Communication permanent secretary, Dr Bitange Ndemo revealed that his ministry was spearheading the drafting of a Data protection bill alongside the ICT and Freedom of Information (FOI) bills.
“The industry is expanding fast and we need a comprehensive policy on Data Protection to ensure regulated growth in the 120million people EAC market,” he explained.
Ndemo said among the critical issues to unhinge the regional ICT industry include a single currency, political union and unified but workable policy framework.
e-waste
Other issues that need review, he said, include handling of e-waste, guarding against Internet violence against women and region’s participation in global ICT bodies. “Our ultimate aim is to ensure that the policy must not favour one country or its businesses and citizens over another…the EAC ICT policy is to enable cross border trade where even the landlocked partner countries benefit equally,” he said.
In two to three weeks, he said, the ICT bill would have gone through second reading in Parliament and stakeholders would be called upon to give further input.
The Freedom of Information Bill is at its final last stages of drafting at the Attorney General’s office before going to Parliament.
Kenya’s ICT policy has now been panel-beaten to expound on e-commerce legislation and regulation of broadcast content. Regional EAC Director of Planning and Infrastructure Philip Wambugu said lack of interconnectivity and harsh licensing regime is a hurdle for the sector.
What would ultimately be needed too is a common licensing regime for operators across the region, and this can only be achieved with unified ICT policies.
The Standard
