When I read the report on what Mugo said (Nation Page 23), it is clear he is not talking about regulating "ICT Practitioners". His concern appears to be bogus service providers especially in the counties. It is like the counties do not have the capacity and guidelines to evaluate the service providers. I think it's ok for the ICT Authority to proceed to set standards to be met by those bidding for work in the public service.
ICT is a very wide field. It is not possible to regulate it in-toto. Some specific aspects can be regulated because they impact on pubic safety and other concerns (e.g. privacy, cyber-crime, etc.). There is also no such thing as an "ICT Profession". ICT is composed of various professions like Engineering (Prof. Kulubi, Shem Ochuodho, etc), programming (Dorcas Muthoni, etc) and many others. Health Records and Information Management is a sub-section of ICT that requires regulation, since, inter alia, health records are confidential. I am surprised that from the same paper no-one has picked up the public notice (page 62) on the "Health Records and Information Managers Act 2016" which is now operational.
So for me, don't try and regulate "ICT practitioners". Pick on something specific (bounded) which has a negative impact on the public if it is not regulated.
W.
On Fri, Dec 2, 2016, at 05:01 PM, Kamotho Njenga via kictanet wrote:
Fellow Listers,
The proposal by the ICT Authority to rein on quacks is actually overdue if ICTA's legal mandate is anything to go by. On the basis of Legal Notice 183 of 2013 and Legal Notice 198 of 2013, the functions of ICTA are as set out below: I have listed all and boldly highlighted the ones that are most significant in light of the current conversation.
(a) set and enforce ICT standards & guidelines for human resource, infrastructure, processes, systems and technology for the public office and public service and;
(b) deploy and manage all ICT staff in the public service;
(c) facilitate and regulate the design, implementation and use of ICTs in the public service;
(d) promote ICT literacy and capacity;
(e) promote e-Government services;
(f) facilitate optimal electronic, electronic form, electronic record and equipment use in the public service; promote ICT innovation and enterprise;
(h) establish, develop and maintain secure ICT infrastructure and systems
(i) supervise the design, development and implementation of critical ICT Projects across the public service.
(j)implement and manage the Kenya National Spatial Data Initiative
As long as the ICT Authority operates within its lawful mandate and adopts a consultative approach, we owe them some measure of support rather than castigation.
Kamotho
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