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The Association of Fintechs in Kenya (AFIK) urges members to acquire MTO, PSP, licenses
by Hezron Gikanga 05 Aug '22

05 Aug '22

Good job Hussein & Team: - https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/corporate/technology/fintech-lobby-j… Hez Gikang’a

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No “annoying” promo texts past 7pm as CA cracks-down on mobile operators
by Victor Kapiyo 04 Aug '22

04 Aug '22

Mobile network operators will no longer be allowed to send marketing text messages to subscribers after 7pm, in new guidelines by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA). Read more: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/no-annoying-promo-texts-past-7pm-as-ca-cra…

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Fwd: Tracing Mobile Money's History—and Future
by Grace Mutung'u 04 Aug '22

04 Aug '22

Dear listers, Please see the email below from our colleague Daniel who is conducting research on mobile money. Please help if you can, and share widely. Warmly, Grace --- Hi there! We are researchers in the Department of Information Science at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. We are conducting a research study on mobile money’s history in East Africa, drawing on user innovations and social practices such as informal airtime sharing, ‘beeping’ or ‘flashing,’ among others. In particular, we’re interested in the ways people have exchanged things like currency, services, or information; we are calling this broad category, technologies of exchange. We aim to chart historical, missed, and potential future pathways for technologies of exchange in Sub-Saharan Africa. We are seeking nominations for professionals and social commentators in private, public, and donor sectors who were active in the intersection of technology and value exchange in East Africa in the years around mobile money’s gestation (~1998 – 2009). But the research still welcomes nominations for relevant actors from periods other than the aforementioned. You can nominate yourself or someone else. We're mostly interested in speaking to those in current or past roles in engineering, research, innovation, journalism, arts and literature, funding, policy, law, and regulatory affairs, or any other relevant profession. We are interested in both the formal and informal manifestations of technologies of exchange – from APIs to social practices. If you choose to nominate someone else, we will not inform them that you nominated them. For all nominations, we will reach out to the nominees and seek their informed consent before they can participate in the research study. Please note that you may not be financially compensated for participation in this nomination phase, and all information shared in connection with the research will be treated with the utmost confidentiality in line with Cornell University research ethics guidelines and regulations. Please complete the nomination here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSduWfePCDbyKiqY4upUWAxFX2XsZvGxE-P… (completing this survey should take about 4 minutes). If you have any questions or comments, please send me an email ( dm663(a)cornell.edu) Best regards, Daniel Mwesigwa -- Ph.D. student, Department of Information Science, Cornell, NY Affiliate, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmwsgw/ -- Grace Mutung'u Skype: gracebomu @Bomu PGP ID : 807F57ACF469B0BB

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Re: [kictanet] ICTs Accessibility and Equality for Persons with Disabilities
by Angela Minayo 03 Aug '22

03 Aug '22

Hi Listers, KICTANet will be implementing a project on ICTs Accessibility and Equality for Persons with Disabilities. The project is supported by Association for Progressive Communications’s Impact Grant 2021. As part of the project, KICTANET will host two persons with disabilities in a one year fellowship. This is a big step for PWDs to participate in advocating for their ICT access and be heard in the internet governance processes. The blog on further details on the project can be accessed here: https://lnkd.in/dNHzGCBU Persons with disabilities can apply for the fellowship here: https://lnkd.in/d7KJY6xA Angela Minayo Women's Digital Rights Program Officer- KICTANet KICTANet portals KICTANet.or.ke <https://kictanet.or.ke/> | Twitter <https://twitter.com/kictanet> | LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/company/18428106/admin/> | Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/>

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‘Innovation always precedes regulation’ - A tech myth that needs busting
by Nanjira Sambuli 03 Aug '22

03 Aug '22

I think this is an important angle to bring to the fintech innovation (vs) regulation discourse. https://businessday.ng/columnist/article/innovation-always-precedes-regulat… ‘Innovation always precedes regulation’ – A tech myth that needs busting David HundeyinAug 1, 2022 Fintech One of last week’s biggest stories out of Africa was the Kenyan central bank’s decision to effectively blacklist Flutterwave and Chipper Cash from operating in Kenya. Typically, much of the reaction to the story from Nigeria managed to completely sidestep the material facts of the case and turn it into an African macrocosm of Nigeria’s usual ethno-tribal discourse. Flutterwave, according to the narrative, was merely being unfairly targeted because it is a successful Nigerian company operating in Kenya. The “jealous” Kenyan authorities were simply acting as proxies for Flutterwave’s Kenyan competitors who wanted to protect their market share from “de Najeeryans.” When the point was raised that Flutterwave was, in fact, operating illegally in Kenya, in addition to being in clear violation of Anti Money Laundering regulations, the reply that came was, “Obtaining a Kenyan licence is hard. Innovation always precedes regulation.” I have written previously about how there exists a dangerous narrative in Nigerian tech – Fintech especially – that rules are secondary considerations that tech is somehow exempt from. Now, it is time to critically analyse this idea so that if it turns out to lack merit, perhaps we can start the process of killing it dead once and for all. Here goes. “Tech is special” – says who? Earlier in the year, I was approached for a private investigation engagement focusing on an investment scheme promoter who had made away with billions of naira worth of client money. Having registered his investment scheme with the Corporate Affairs Commission, he managed to convince investors that having CAC registration somehow had anything to do with being licensed to offer investment or crowdfunding services in Nigeria. Meanwhile, as anyone with the slightest regulatory awareness knows, only the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has the ability to license investment companies. Unsurprisingly after he disappeared into the night with hundreds of people’s money, there was no way to do anything to him. Because the company had no SEC registration, the commission had nothing to freeze, revoke or investigate. It wasn’t even interested, which is why I was approached. At the point when I was approached, every informed reaction I came across treated the matter as a lesson in the importance of due diligence and making sure that investment schemes have the appropriate regulatory compliance before putting money into them. Nobody made the fatuous argument that perhaps the scheme started off legitimately, and the promoters just needed to get it off the ground first before worrying about SEC registration later. Instead, it was correctly recognised as fraudulent behaviour where other people’s money was involved. Just a few weeks later, however, when news emerged that GetEquity, a tech investment platform purporting to offer access to American stocks was doing exactly the same thing, plus the added illegality of an unrecognised, unenforceable “digital investment token,” the reaction was completely different. This time around, that fatuous argument was thrown around with such regularity that one might have almost begun thinking it was some kind of accepted wisdom. Apparently, when Maxwell Odum floats an investment scheme that has no SEC registration and fraudulently portrays CAC business name registration as “regulatory compliance,” he is correctly recognised as a fraudster who should be prosecuted. When Jude Dike does the EXACT same thing, but slaps a mobile app, a dot io website and a little tryhard tech PR branding on it, he is an “innovator,” a “striver” and a “disruptor” who “moves fast and breaks stuff.” When the story inevitably ends the same way, instead of having private investigators hired to tail his movements around the world, he will instead get to live in peace and security, undisturbed by anyone because apparently fraudulent behaviour is bad, but when you call it https://fraudulentbehaviour.io, it becomes something else. This giant mental black spot is the reason why tech is used to facilitate and abet different kinds of criminality in Africa without so much as an eyelid being raised. Once again, rules exist for a reason In my line of work, a truism that I often come across goes like this: “There is never only one cockroach.” What this statement means to investigators and auditors is that where one serious regulatory or cultural lapse can be observed in an organisation, there will almost certainly be other serious issues afflicting that organisation. In the case of Uber, the initial cockroach was the company’s studious refusal to cooperate with local laws around the world as it followed its “Always Be Hustling” internal motto, moving fast and breaking stuff until the things getting broken were no longer just rules. Read also: Nigerian fintechs grapple with KYC amid rapid growth First came the women who complained about sexual harassment by unvetted Uber drivers, and then came the more serious stuff. Rapes. Homicides. Deaths from traffic accidents caused by fatigued Uber drivers struggling desperately to maintain their near 5-star ratings so as to keep earning a living, while Uber used loss of ratings as grounds for account removal and potential loss of livelihood. All of these issues were avoidable if Uber had spent a few months working with authorities to ensure full compliance first, but “moving fast and breaking stuff” was more important. The story is much the same with Flutterwave, which not only began operating without a licence in Kenya, but then began actively and brazenly facilitating money laundering on its platform in the jurisdiction where it was already operating illegally. It is difficult to picture any other commercial space where such behaviour would not have resulted in conferment of societal pariah status. Can you imagine, say, a Nigerian construction company opening up illegally in Kenya and then deliberately using substandard construction materials resulting in Kenyans’ deaths? Would Nigerians feel moved to defend such a thing? Why then, do so many Nigerian techies feel obliged to defend Flutterwave and its money laundering activities in a country whose last major terror attack was planned and funded using electronic payment platforms? These are the questions that we must ask ourselves as we react to stories like that of Flutterwave. The rules exist for a reason – they are not impediments to the individual egos of people with behavioural disorders who think that they exist as protagonists in a videogame where they can do as they please. Perspective is a healthy thing. Regards, Nanjira. Sent on the move.

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Fwd: [NRIs List] Now Available: Outcome of African Parliamentary Digital Policy Symposium!
by Barrack Otieno 03 Aug '22

03 Aug '22

Listers, Might be of interest. We hope once our new parliament is settled. We will take our seat on the table. Best Regards ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Anja Gengo <anja.gengo(a)un.org> Date: Wed, Jul 27, 2022 at 3:45 PM Subject: [NRIs List] Now Available: Outcome of African Parliamentary Digital Policy Symposium! To: igfregionals(a)intgovforum.org <igfregionals(a)intgovforum.org> Dear All, Last week, 30 parliamentarians from 20 African countries participated in a Digital Policy Symposium <https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.intgo…> co-organized by the Secretariat at the African IGF. You can now read the Key Takeaways <https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.intgo…> from those discussions, which cover a number of critical digital issues for the region, including: - Legislation for an unfragmented Internet - Achieving sustainable digital development - Data governance frameworks - Strengthening digital economies We invite you to explore the African parliamentary Takeaways <https://eur02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.intgo…> in full, and encourage you to share these far and wide within your networks! Best regards, IGF Secretariat _______________________________________________ Igfregionals mailing list Igfregionals(a)intgovforum.org To unsubscribe or manage your options please go to http://intgovforum.org/mailman/listinfo/igfregionals_intgovforum.org -- Barrack O. Otieno +254721325277 +254733206359 Skype: barrack.otieno PGP ID: 0x2611D86A

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Kenya Elections 2022:
by David Indeje 02 Aug '22

02 Aug '22

[image: image.png] Dear Listers, Last week we discussed the issue of manual vs digital registers <https://www.kictanet.or.ke/kenya-elections-manual-vs-digital-registers-deba…> with regard to voter identification. Whereas this issue has been widely covered in the media <https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/national/article/2001449158/debate-over-man…>, there is very little coverage and discussion around the results transmission system (RTS) that IEBC will deploy next week during the general election. This week, "Will IEBC STream Presidential Results at Bomas of Kenya" https://bit.ly/3oL45dd -- *Kind Regards,* *David Indeje* *KICTANet Communications *_____________________________________ +254 (0) 711 385 945 | +254 (0) 734 024 856 KICTANet portals KICTANet.or.ke <https://kictanet.or.ke/> | Twitter <https://twitter.com/kictanet> | LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/company/18428106/admin/> | Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/>

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Re: [kictanet] WHATSAPP GB AND META'S PRIVACY POLICY
by Angela Minayo 30 Jul '22

30 Jul '22

Hi Listers, Correct me if I am wrong. I understand that Whatsapp GB is a separate app from Meta's WhatsApp. Yet the Whatsapp GB users can override the privacy setting of Meta's WhatsApp users. How is Meta dealing with this seemingly different apps that can be integrated and put its users' personal information at risk? Angela Minayo Program Officer- KICTANet KICTANet portals KICTANet.or.ke <https://kictanet.or.ke/> | Twitter <https://twitter.com/kictanet> | LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/company/18428106/admin/> | Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/>

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The History of Data & Elections in Kenya: The New Data Protection Act & the Challenges Ahead
by Gachungi, Lydia 29 Jul '22

29 Jul '22

The History of Data & Elections in Kenya: The New Data Protection Act & the Challenges Ahead. Episode: https://anchor.fm/privacyisglobal/episodes/The-History-of-Data--Elections-i… . Media: https://anchor.fm/s/6b861df0/podcast/play/54998595/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1kt… .

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Kenya Elections 2022 Blog Series: Manual vs Digital Registers Debate
by David Indeje 28 Jul '22

28 Jul '22

[image: IEBC Kenya.jpg] Dear Listers, Ahead of the August 9, 2022 General Elections, we shall be sharinga series of articles geared at raising our awareness of the electoral process. To begin, Mr John Walubengo in "Manual vs Digital Registers Debate" writes that it was there in 2017 and the protagonists took different sides. Where do we stand? Read and share your thoughts. https://tinyurl.com/2p9f8ebm -- *Kind Regards,* *David Indeje* *KICTANet Communications *_____________________________________ +254 (0) 711 385 945 | +254 (0) 734 024 856 KICTANet portals KICTANet.or.ke <https://kictanet.or.ke/> | Twitter <https://twitter.com/kictanet> | LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/company/18428106/admin/> | Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/>

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