November 2012 - KICTANet

Hurricane Sandy
by robert yawe 02 Nov '12

02 Nov '12

Hi, Might be me being paranoid but has anyone else noticed that social media site updates seem to have trickled down since the hurricane landed in the USA? Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

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Final Report on intermediary liability in Kenya
by Grace Githaiga 02 Nov '12

02 Nov '12

Good morning Listers Please find the final report on Intermediary liability in Kenya. http://www.apc.org/en/system/files/Intermediary_Liability_in_Kenya.pdf This report looks at the role of internet intermediaries as well as their limitations on enabling communication and facilitating information flows and the recently placed policy focus on internet intermediaries. Other countries that undertook the study include Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria and Senegal. You can find synthesis report on http://www.apc.org/en/system/files/READY%20-%20Intermediary%20Liability%20i… RgdsGG

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Presidential Debate Par Excellence!
by Edith Adera 01 Nov '12

01 Nov '12

Listers, Did anyone watch the 1st Ghanaian Presidential Debate held Live on Tuesday this week? If you missed it, it is worth watching at http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_110227&feature=iv&src… It was impressive and I loved the structure of the debate for 3 reasons:- 1. It focused entirely on SUBTANCE (Development Agenda) - ICT issues also featured in the discussions! A pure focus on concrete agenda/vision for the country going forward. 2. The facilitation was very focused with strategic questions posed to the candidates sequentially and they had EXACTLY 3 minutes to succinctly respond and no more! They had only 3 "chances of rebuttal" 3. They had a blend of a researcher/media personality as the co-hosts - which means empirical evidence/research information was consulted to pose piercing and targeted questions. There was no room as such for "dirty politics/ethnic persuasions". The 3rd debate will feature a debate of the running mates! The whole debate series is managed by the Institute of Economic Affairs. As we gear up to Kenya's debate this month, many questions run through my mind: 1. Will Kenya for the first time focus on SUBTANCE and NOT our usual political theatrics? 2. Will we draw on empirical evidence to pose challenging and deep questions? What role can research think tanks play to have substantive issues addressed? 3. How will the 20+ presidential candidates be managed in an effective way to give equal opportunity to all, yet remain focused and substantive? ............the list goes on! I'm sure listers have many more questions! As a community, we should aim to submit concrete pressing questions related to the industry (assuming there's room for this) I hope Julie and her co-host will run Kenya's debate differently and borrow a leaf from Ghana's....avoiding the Kenyan typical style of politics! This is a challenge we throw to the media houses that will be hosting the series of historic debates. Reflective Edith!

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IGF remote hub/IGF Africa agenda
by Grace Githaiga 01 Nov '12

01 Nov '12

LizSee the 2012 IGF Africa meeting Agenda. It might be of interest too to those who will be following remotely. RgdsGG

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The test for determining if State has met its obligations in Consumer Rights
by Grace Mutung'u (Bomu) 01 Nov '12

01 Nov '12

Listers, Though not directly ICT related, this is a pace setting decision as it attempts to set a test for socio-economic rights. I foresee a day when Kenyans will demand Internet rights from the Government. *Socio–Economic Rights* Consumer Federation of Kenya (COFEK) v Attorney General & 4 Others Petition No 88 of 2011 High Court at Nairobi October 5, 2012 M Ngugi, J. Reported by Andrew Halonyere *Download the Decision*<http://kenyalaw.org/CaseSearch/view_preview1.php?link=432590923895267534070…> *Issues* 1. Whether the enjoyment of socio–economic rights had been violated through an alleged Government’s failure to control the rising cost of living. *Constitutional Law ** - **fundamental rights and freedoms - socio-economic rights - declaration that socio-economic rights were violated by Government's failure to control rising cost of living - test for determining whether or not the state has met its obligation - manner in which matters concerning public interest should be brought before court-costs not to be imposed on proceedings that advance a legitimate public interest -whether the petition had merit -Constitution of Kenya, 2010 - Article 20(5), 22,23,43* This was a petition seeking inter alia a declaration that the Government’s failure to stabilize and reduce high fuel prices violates article 43 of the Constitution of Kenya which guarantees the petitioners and other citizens’ economic and social rights.Read More... *Held:* 1. The key to justifiability of the socio-economic rights is the standard of reasonableness. Though a considerable margin of discretion must be given to the state in deciding how it is to go about fulfilling the socio-economic rights, the reasonableness of the measures that the state adopts can be evaluated by a court. 2. Many factors including a failure in rainfall have a negative impact on the availability of food and the cost of living and such factors are not a result of the failure on the part of the state to take appropriate policy and other measures to ensure the realisation by citizens of the socio-economic rights guaranteed under Article 43. The respondents have taken reasonable measures to meet their obligations under the Constitution. 3. When bringing matters of socio economic rights before the court, which have a critical bearing on the rights, lives and livelihoods of citizens, it is not enough to make bare statements with regard to the violation of rights without seriously addressing oneself to the manner in which the violations have occurred and the reasonableness or otherwise of the measures taken to avert or ameliorate their impact. At this nascent stage in the implementation of the Constitution of Kenya 2010, parties in the position of the petitioner, should they determine to take on cases which have a bearing on the public interest, must take them on with all due seriousness. 4. 1. The manner in which the petition was conducted by the petitioner would ordinarily have attracted an award of costs against it. However, the intent of Articles 22 and 23 of the Constitution is that persons should have free and unhindered access to the Constitutional Court for the enforcement of their fundamental rights and freedoms. Similarly, Article 258 allows any person to institute proceedings claiming the Constitution has been violated or is threatened. The imposition of costs would constitute a deterrent and would have a chilling effect on the enforcement of the Bill of Rights. 5. In matters concerning public interest litigation, a litigant who has brought proceedings to advance a legitimate public interest and contributed to a proper understanding of the law in question without private gain should not be deterred from adopting a course that is beneficial to the public for fear of costs being imposed. -- Grace L.N. Mutung'u (Bomu) Kenya Skype: gracebomu Twitter: @Bomu Website: http://www.diplointernetgovernance.org/profile/GraceMutungu

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For civil society looking to join govt delegations to WCIT
by Ory Okolloh 01 Nov '12

01 Nov '12

(any news on the Kenya position yet by the way from CCK? ) See below: Hi all, Apologies for cross-posting. I wanted to share some new WCIT advocacy resources from Access. We have just released a sample letter for civil society groups to request to join a national delegation to WCIT. We are encouraging civil society who want to participate in WCIT to adapt this language as appropriate in writing to their governments. Here's the link to the letter: https://www.accessnow.org/page/-/docs/Sample%20Letter%20to%20request%20to%2… Here's a link to find the appropriate contact point in your government: http://www.itu.int/cgi-bin/htsh/mm/scripts/mm.list?_search=ITUstates&_langu… Additionally, we have developed talking points and a letter to request to a national consultation. These documents are now available in English, French, Spanish, Russian, Italian, Dutch, Bulgarian, and Polish. We encourage you to circulate these resources widely and let us know if you've found them useful. Best regards, Deborah -- Deborah Brown Policy Analyst Access | AccessNow.org E. deborah(a)accessnow.org S. deborah.l.brown T. deblebrown PGP 0x5EB4727D _______________________________________________ AfriCS-IG mailing list Info and options: http://lists.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/africs-ig To unsubscribe, email africs-ig-unsubscribe(a)lists.apc.org

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IGF remote hub
by Liz Orembo 01 Nov '12

01 Nov '12

Listers, ISOC KE is setting up a remote participation hub for the next week's IGF The venue will be at View Park towers 10th floor at Qnet offices. If interested in participating, please send an email to register(a)isoc.or.ke You can also circulate this info to your networks -- Best regards.

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Citizens Pathway scenarios for Kenya for 2013
by Alice Munyua 01 Nov '12

01 Nov '12

Possible 2013 scenarios for Kenya an analysis by Citizen Pathway group. best Alice *From:* Citizen Solutions <citizensolution(a)gmail.com <mailto:citizensolution@gmail.com>> *To:* *Sent:* Tuesday, 30 October 2012, 12:07 *Subject:* Citizens Pathway scenarios for Kenya Citizens Pathway Group: We trust you are all well and making efforts to stay positive during this time. The Citizens Pathway core group has thought through the current situation in the country and tried to see how things could turn out over the next few months and beyond. The result is a paper in two parts (attached): * Part I: An assessment of Kenya in 2012, given the experience of 2008; and * Part II: A set of scenarios describing how the country could go over the next few months and beyond. As Citizens Pathway, we believe the transformative scenario (#4) is possible, so please pay particular attention to it, especially the action points. As usual, please feel free to circulate widely. We are particularly keen to hear from you and others. Incidentally, in case you haven't yet seen it, there is a must-see movie entitled "Nairobi Half Life" which should help you and I appreciate the challenges many Kenyans live with, day-in, day-out. Please let's make sure we elect leaders who will truly uplift the people of this country -- help your family, friends and networks understand this. Kind regards, Citizens Pathway

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Interesting case on Intermediary liabilities
by Paul Kimumwe 01 Nov '12

01 Nov '12

This might be of interest to the ongoing discussions on intermediary liabilities. Google loses Australia 'gangland' defamation lawsuit http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20153309 -Paul ________________________________ From: kictanet [kictanet-bounces+paul=article19.org(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke] on behalf of Michael Bullut [main(a)kipsang.com] Sent: 30 October 2012 20:55 To: Paul Kimumwe Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Who Controls the Internet? @ Kivuva & McTimm - I appreciate the correction... :-) Sent on the run, Please excuse errors & ommissions! On Oct 22, 2012 8:48 PM, "McTim" <dogwallah(a)gmail.com<mailto:dogwallah@gmail.com>> wrote: On Sun, Oct 21, 2012 at 11:39 AM, Michael Bullut <main(a)kipsang.com<mailto:main@kipsang.com>> wrote: @McTim: I beg to differ on your first point. Ten out of thirteen of the Internet's root servers reside within the United States. yes, and several of these orgs are US gov bodies (NASA and the U.S. Army). As Kivuva mentioned, Anycast let's root-ops run servers in multiple locations, including 2 at KIXP. If there's a global issue & some countries differ with it on it's stand / viewpoint, what would the U.S. from blocking traffic to those countries' websites? Well, first of all, the US gov CANNOT change the rootzone file. They can give final approval to changes as per the existing agreement. What they actually do is check to see that processes have been followed, they DO NOT edit the rootzone file itself, nor can they. Second, what is in the rootzone DOES NOT determine traffic flows to individual websites. The rootzone is a list of TLDs and associated name server addresses for those TLDs. In other words, the US CANNOT block traffic to/from websites, you have been misled I am afraid. -- Cheers, McTim "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A route indicates how we get there." Jon Postel

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A Billion Reasons to Believe in Africa: A Rethink
by Gilda Odera 01 Nov '12

01 Nov '12

Sorry for cross-posting but this is an interesting read........... A good read and hopefully a wakeup call. 24 - 31 October 2012 A Billion Reasons to Believe in Africa: A Rethink - ADVERTISEMENT - Graphics courtesy “There are a billion reasons to believe in Africa,” states Coca-Cola’s new commercial that attempts to capture the spirit of “new” Africa. Africa-optimism has in the recent past gained massive hype. Ernst & Young in its May report on Africa’s attractiveness for foreign direct investment (FDI) states that "…There is a new story emerging about Africa; a story of growth, progress, potential and profitability.” According to the African Developmental Bank, "Africa has started to see an economic resurgence" as a result of stronger demand for its commodities from emerging economies such as Brazil, China, India, and South Africa. With the continent’s middle class clocking 313 million people, the region’s consumer spending has increased. McKinsey Global Institute projects that consumer spending in Africa will reach $1.4 trillion in 2020, from about $860 million in 2008. Over 616 million people out of the 1 billion people that reside in Africa have a cellular phone. The average African drinks about 8 liters of beer per year compared to about 70 liters on average per year for Americans. While the continent is bequeathed with flowery endearments, it must guard against falling prey to the “feel good” trap and ask fundamental questions. For example, how are the endearments changing the lot of Africa's ordinary citizen? How is Africa changing for the better? Is the renewed interest in Africa by emerging and developed economies out to improve the continent's socio-economic wellbeing? While Africa ought to embrace the old and new suitors trooping to the continent, this must be done with caution and on a win-win basis. What happened in Malawi ought to make Africans rethink their celebration. As long as Malawi followed donor dictates and allowed multinational companies to control its agricultural sector, the country was hailed as Africa’s success story on food security. Once Malawi fell out with donors and multinational companies, the country’s food security was crippled. This begs the question: who was driving Malawi’s food security? Between Malawians and merchants of patented and re-engineered seeds and fertilizer manufacturers, who was benefitting most from the ‘success story’? Was this a Malawi success story or a multinational company success story? As global optimism in Africa is hyped, Africa’s land is being grabbed by ‘investors.’ Investors from China and Europe are busy buying land in Kenya and putting up 'Chinese only' and 'European only' real estate. As elegant edifices mushroom in Nairobi and its environs, where is the revenue accrued heading? Won’t we wake up one day and find ourselves legally landless and at the mercy of the so called ‘investors’?What will happen twenty years from now when our children find themselves landless? Isn't this a prescription for a revolution and civil war? Saudi Arabian investors have reportedly paid $100 million for an Ethiopian farm. Uganda has sold 2 million acres to Egypt. Kenya is leasing out 40,000 acres to Qatar. China owns vast tracts of land in Zimbabwe and Algeria. Madagascar was in the process of leasing out 1 million acres to South Korea. Millions of Africans are dying from starvation as African governments lease and sell millions of acres of land to feed populations in China, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and Qatar among others. Africa is busy working on internet connectivity. In fact, growth in Africa’s Internet and Broadband sector has accelerated. By December 31 2011, Africa had 139,875,242 internet users and 37,739,380 people who had subscribed to Facebook. As we consume this service, do we ever question who is controlling the internet? What would happen if the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which basically holds the keys for any person or business hoping to turn up in search results on the Internet, gave a blackout to the continent? As more computers are dumped into the continent, who is the ultimate beneficiary? Africa, a continent that carries 25% of the world’s diseases is dependent on multinational ‘investors’ for medical supplies. It imports around 70% of its pharmaceutical needs from abroad. Two thirds of global value of pharmaceutical products are produced in 5 countries; USA, Japan, France, Germany and UK. In the banking sector, more than half of countries in Africa have a banking market with either a dominant or a significant share of foreign-owned financial institutions.The continent spends more money servicing its debt, in other words, paying interest to outsiders, than it spends on infrastructural development. On the natural resources front, none of the natural resources Africa is blessed with is under African control. While African countries like Nigeria, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Libya, and Equatorial Guinea among others possess oil in abundance, they don't have the capacity to discover oil; drill for the oil; refine the oil; transport the oil to the destination where it would be refined; repair existing refineries or have the vessel to transport the oil back to Africa for consumption. Africa should not celebrate the “...billion reasons to believe in Africa” craze while the continent is owned stock and barrel by other people. We cannot talk of a thriving economy when we are mere consumers and passive. Before we celebrate Coke’s penetration to most parts of Africa, we ought to ask why we are dying of preventable and treatable diseases; why essential medicines cannot be accessed in African households; why we don't benefit from our rich natural resources; why we are not in control of our economies; why we are food insecure in spite of a good climate; why it is easier to fly to other continents but not our own; why intra-Africa exchange of goods and services is low and why there is no African homegrown brand that the world can celebrate. By Dr. Mary Kinyanjui Institute of Development Studies, University of Nairobi Email: marykinyanjui(a)yahoo.com WRITE TO THE EDITOR We are always glad to hear from you and our team takes the contents of the letters we receive seriously in order to ensure that the magazine is beneficial to you. Do not hesitate to write to us and make our services better. You can do this through editor(a)africanexecutive.com. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Subscribe to The African Executive magazine now to start your business relationship with us. Send a subscription request mail to subscribe(a)africanexecutive.com to subscribe now! Advertise With US Advertse with us to support what we do and to increase your reach. To find out more about the advertisement opportunities you could have from us, get in touch through editor(a)africanexecutive.com OUR CONTACTS The African Executive - P.O. Box 135-00100 G.P.O. Nairobi KENYA Phone: 254202731497 - Cel: 254733823062 - Fax: 254202723258 - Email: editor(a)africanexecutive.com - Website: www.africanexecutive.com -- YWLI forum creates space for young women to empower each other by sharing of information. The opinions expressed in this forum do not necessarily reflect the view of YWLI but that of the sender. Share more on our website by logging in on www.ywli.org and register as a network member. -- YWLI forum creates space for young women to empower each other by sharing of information. The opinions expressed in this forum do not necessarily reflect the view of YWLI but that of the sender. Share more on our website by logging in on www.ywli.org and register as a network member. -- Pesika Muhwaya Odera 0721723944

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