Dear KICTANET Members Below and attached is the interim report for the review and analysis of our IC bill. Thank you and best regards alice --------------------------------------------------------- 1.0 Introduction Following the publication of Kenya Information and Communications Bill 2006 by the Ministry of Information and Communications in Feb 2006, KICTAnet decided to establish an infrastructure to review the bill in a systematic manner. The purpose was to take on board comments emerging from stakeholders in an efficient, constructive and nationally engaging process. Consequently KICTAnet established a team to undertake the review. This an interim report of the work of the I&C Review Team 2.0 Team composition The Team was formally constituted in the beginning of May and comprise of the following facilitators and their theme of responsibility in the Bill review exercise as set out in Table 1. Table 1: team membership and area of focus 1. Telecommunications: Muruiki Mureithi 2. Legal/Regulatory: J. N. Kihanya 3. Social Dimensions, including gender, youth etc: Dorcas Muthoni 4. Broadcasting/Media: Grace Githaiga 5. Acadamia: Victor Kyalo 6. Internet and information technology: John Walubengo 7. Economics: Ndungu Kimani 8. Outreach: Alari Alare The team Chair is Mr Muriuki Mureithi 3.0 Activities At its first meeting held on April 10th the team - approved an innovative model to review the bill . The model developed by Summit Strategies Ltd breaks down the review process into three dimensions, namely carriage system(s), content and finally services provision environment over three time phases. A detailed description of the model is attached - reviewed and allocated responsibilities for each team member as indicated in Table 1 above - Agreed to finalise and present phase 1 – contextualisation by Tue April 25 - Requested the Chair to brief and seek collaboration from PS Ministry of Information and Communications - Decided to publicise the bill review process to get constructive engagement with broad participation by all stakeholders - Decided to engage an expert to help engage the media on the review process These activities were carried out and reported in the 2nd meeting held on April 19th .This second meeting took note of the following;- - Briefing on the meeting with PS on April 13th who committed to support the process as reported below Dear Colleagues Further to our concurrence to work with the Ministry of Infocom, I met the PS on Thursday April 13th at 1700hrs and briefed him - on the framework and strategy we are using to review the bill - that the motivation of the process was to create synergy among all stake holders and enhance efficiency in the review process - that it was an open process we seek to bring all stakeholder interest on board - the team is giving time as a national contribution to development of ICT in the country - being a phased approach we shall have a peer review meeting on May 12th and a national workshop towards end of May or early June to be determined by the publishing of the bill by the AG The PS expressed appreciation to the work we are doing and committed to support us in this noble activity. He indicated that he will send his staff on the meeting of May 12th and that the ministry will takeover ownership of the national workshop to ensure high level participation. His office is open for any consultations we may need or support to undertake research that we may need. The Asst minister also came in briefly in our meeting Email to team members dated April 18th , 2006 , by Muriuki Mureithi chair - very concise reports by all members on their respective themes - the process leading to publishing of the bill by the Attorney General explained below ‘My very rudimentary understanding of the Bills process will be that on finalisation by the AG, the Bill will be published and forwarded to the House Business Committee, which will in turn forward it to the relevant committee of the House. The Bill will then be presented for its first reading by the Minister for communications. This involves a paragraph by paragraph reading of the all clauses in the Bill..or highlight of the PARTS of the Bill...It will then go to the second stage where the house will convert itself into a committee and raise queries on the Bill and then refer the Bill to the appropriate committee for any amendments proposed. It will then come back to the House for a final third reading and if passed, will await presidential assent to become law. I hope this gives a guide of some sort ON THE TIME FRAME.I could make a detailed report after enquiries. I am not aware of the internal workings at the AGs but would assume that the relevant officers will make the relevant changes to accord the Bill a final parliamentary style and when passed by the AG, the process above would kick in..’ Submission to the team by J N Kihanya Legal/ regulatory on Parliamentary process April 18th - Low response from the KICTANET list members. The team tasked a specialist Mr Alari to develop a strategy to engage all stakeholders in the bill review process - Commenced phase 2 – analysis of the bill with a view to make substantive proposals on the bill. A guideline has been developed by the legal expert on how to make proposals to the text as below Section 58(1)(ICBill) “The Minister may, by notification in the Kenya gazette, declare that any computer system or computer network is s a protected system.” Comment Delete entire section. The data protection regime needs a more robust treatment and we should seek views in other jurisdictions on how they have achieved this. Mr J N Kihanya Legal expert - to hold a media owners/ senior editors workshop in the first week of May to brief the media on the process - others key stakeholders to be engaged and briefed include TESPOK, Telkom Kenya, Safaricom, Celtel , E-government Secretariat, Postal Corporation of Kenya, CCK, Civil Society of Organisation - to meet on May 10th to present output of Phase 2 - to present our findings to a ½ morning workshop for peer review on may 12th - 4.0 Status PS Ministry of I&C has confirmed to attend the breakfast media briefing workshop on May 5th. We are now finalising the logistics to organise the meeting and bring in Media owners and senior editors Team members have almost finalised the final reports of Phase 1 whose cut off was Tue April 25th 5.0 Future programme The team has planned the following near term activities a.. Brief the Minister on the review once the report is complete b.. To organise a one day workshop for ICT reporters once review is complete to educate them on the contents of the Bill and our proposals Once the Bill is published by the AG a.. Jointly with the Minister organise a one day national workshop b.. Jointly with IEA , ATPS hold a two day workshop for Members of Parliament Committee responsible for ICTs 6.0 Resources The team is literally donating time and expertise for these national activities. The team needs funding for the better honoraria to cover direct costs and funding to organise the National workshop as well as the two day workshop with Members of Parliament Committee responsible for ICTs. +++