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State to publish amended ICT bill as cybercrime threats rise

There shall be another session of validation by both public and private sectors

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by MARTIN MWITA

Business13 January 2025 - 09:00
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In Summary


  • In July last year, it called for public comments on the Bill, which critics termed controversial as it aims to regulate the ICT industry by licensing and registering ICT companies and professionals.
  • However, the ICT Authority insists the Bill is not controversial despite stiff opposition from some ICT experts who fear the government wants to stifle the sector.

President William Ruto with (L-R) ICT PS John Tanui , Deputy Chief of Staff in the Executive office of the President ,perfomance and delivery management Eliud Owalo and ICT Authority CEO Stanley Kamangunya during the Connected Africa Summit in Nairobi /FILE

The government plans to publish the ICT Authority Bill, 2024 amended draft for another round of public hearings this month, even as the country scrambles to set up measures to tame cybercrime and cyber-attacks.

In July last year, it called for public comments on the Bill, which critics termed controversial as it aims to regulate the ICT industry by licensing and registering ICT companies and professionals.

However, the ICT Authority insists the Bill is not controversial despite stiff opposition from some ICT experts who fear the government wants to stifle the sector.

“The comments from the public were taken into consideration by the Committee and some clauses of the Bill amended for conformity,” ICT Authority CEO, Stanley Kamanguya, said.

“We want to assure the public that the ICTA Bill is fashioned as a catalyst for sector growth rather than stifling innovations. There shall be another session of validation for both public and private sectors before it goes to Cabinet and the Attorney General for finalisation.”

According to the authority, the bill seeks to anchor the ICT Authority under an Act of Parliament from previously when it was established under the State Corporations Act.

A legal notice was valid for ten years hence why the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy embarked on enacting a law to establish ICTA.

“The ICT Authority Bill 2024 is not a re-introduction of the ICT Practitioners Bill. The ICTA Bill does not in any way seek to regulate ICT practitioners but encourages responsible development and use of ICT tools and platforms especially in the wake of increased cyber threats,” Kamanguya said.

Communications Authority’s data shows that between April and June 2024, the National KE-CIRT detected 1.1 billion cyber threats targeted at Kenyan assets.

The rising cost and complexity of cyber threats have prompted the government to initiate reforms that will lead to the consolidation of all cyber threat control units.

The ICT Authority has further noted that with the government’s digitisation agenda, there is need for a robust regulatory framework to prevent cases of cyber-crime and protect the very expensive infrastructure that supports the digital space.

“One of our challenges is vandalism of infrastructure, there is also destruction of infrastructure by other utility installations such as roads, electricity, water and rail,” Kamanguya said.

Consequently, the authority wants an urgent approval of the Critical Infrastructure Bill, which seeks to provide a legal framework for the protection of critical infrastructure and to provide for the establishment of a Critical Infrastructure Protection Committee.

“The OFC (Optical Fibre Cables) network deployed across the country is critical infrastructure that is installed to ensure connectivity for the citizenry,” said the CEO.

The authority is also keen to see the development of a policy on infrastructure sharing, which will ensure proper utilisation of existing public infrastructure ensuring connectivity to the unserved and underserved areas, while cutting costs.

“The need to collect own source revenue sees the county governments wanting to charge way leaves for contractors installing fibre; this infrastructure is beneficial even to the counties and if they did not have to charge way leaves or demand to authorize installations, it would not only make implementation faster but also benefit the counties more economically,” Kamanguya said.

DIGITAL SUPERHIGHWAY

The authority is also implementing several projects in the meantime.

They include the Digital Super Highway, whose purpose is to increase the fibre network coverage across the country, reduce cost of internet connectivity and enhance the delivery of e-government services, including health services, agricultural services and financial services.

Key components of the project include the deployment of 100,000 kilometres of fiber cable, installation of 25,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots, establishment of 1,450 digital village smart hubs and studios, establishment of three data centers and data protection and cyber security management.

Another project is the Digital skills programme, which aims to train 20 million Kenya citizens and equip them with relevant and necessary skills for the 21st Century and digital economy.

“So far, 114,038 citizens have trained on basic skills and cyber security and more than 10,000 public servants have so far been trained in ICT and emerging technologies,” Kamanguya said.

Additionally, under the Presidential DigiTalent Programme (PDTP), the authority has trained 2,900 interns who graduated in ICT by placing them in various institutions in the public sector for 12 months. Of these, 1,500 of the interns are gainfully employed.

In early December last year, the authority on boarded 400 interns to Cohort IX. The interns shall be deployed across Ministries, Counties, Departments and Agencies to support critical government services.

They will undergo further training and mentorship from captains of industry and stakeholders in the digital space.

PARTNERSHIPS WITH UNIVERSITIES

The authority in collaboration with Konza is implementing the Jitume labs programme in TVET institutions which ensures connectivity and devices for students to have access to digital opportunities and trainings.

In partnership with JKUAT, the agency is also seeking to minimise the impact of e-waste.

“We are cognisant of the fast evolution of digital devices and the millions of obsolete devices we have laying around. JKUAT established an industrial park to enable rehabilitation of these devices and safe dismantling of the same. Through the ambitious program, the authority has been receiving obsolete devices from MCDAs for destruction,” noted the CEO.

The authority also supports Dedan Kimathi University of Technology (DeKUT) in scaling innovations and incubation of innovators through the Huduma Whitebox programme.

The university holds innovation boot camps and hackathons to link innovators with investors, train the youth on sustainability of the innovations, mentorship from industry players and access to financing opportunities.

The ICT Authority is a state agency under the Ministry of Information Communication and Digital Economy established under Legal Notice 183 of 2013.

It was formed by amalgamation of three institutions–Kenya ICT Board, Government IT services (GITS) and Directorate of e-government.

Its main mandate is to develop and maintain secure ICT infrastructure and systems for the government as well as promote digital literacy, ICT innovations and enterprises.

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