What is the Kenyan position on global Internet governance?

The Global Multistakeholder Meeting on the Future of Internet Governance, dubbed NETmundial, was held on 23 -24th April 2014 in Sao Paolo, Brazil. 

The meeting was triggered by the Snowden Effect, in which the former CIA agent leaked damning evidence of how the US government spies on all citizens - including heads of states from friendly nations.  One of the victims of the US spying operations, Dilma Rousseff, the President of Brazil, felt motivated enough to mobilise other nations to discuss the governance structures of the Internet and how this should evolve going forward.

The assumption, of course, is that the US government would not have been able to enjoy the latitude its security agencies have were it not for the oversight role it exercises over the Internet.  Indeed the latest evidence of this thinking came from the Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sensationally remarked that the Internet was, and still is, a CIA project used exclusively to US advantage.

Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have been slowly but increasingly pulling their weight on global Internet issues under the BRICS banner.  The Snowden scandal simply gave these countries more impetus to demand a bigger say on how the Internet is run and controlled. The recent NETmundial meeting in Sao Paolo was most likely not the only meeting where we shall see nations pushing and shoving for space to control the way the Internet is governed.

So where was Kenya in all these dynamics?  As noted in a previous article, the Kenyan voice has been heard way below its weight in global Internet issues. It seems Kenya prefers to stake its position on global Internet issues through the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).  Unfortunately, and with all due respect to the ITU which has a special and global role on matters telecommunication, it only enjoys a peripheral, if not ceremonial role, on matters pertaining to the Internet.

The ITU itself recognizes this fact and has consistently tried but failed to grab a piece of the Internet “action” through various forums, like in the most recent World Conference on International Telecommunication (WCIT, 2012).  Our strategy of working through ITU on matters Internet is therefore overrated, and perhaps entirely misplaced. It always leaves Kenya playing well and tackling hard - but unfortunately in the wrong league.

NO KENYAN VOICE

The correct league and the “owners” of the Internet as we know it today is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN and its affiliates manage the core functions that keep the Internet running securely, reliably and globally. If Kenya wants a say on how the Internet is run, it can only do so through getting involved strategically within the ICANN ecosystem. The ITU route is likely to be very costly, frustrating and ultimately unsuccessful. 

The BRICS nations, particularly Brazil, know this very well and they have been mobilizing other nations to initiate reforms within the ICANN ecosystem.  Common wisdom shows that hidden at the top of the ICANN value chain is the US Government, but pressure from the BRICS nations has seen the US Government cede some ground on how the Internet is controlled by offering to fast-track the “internationalisation” of its current Oversight role.

This is where the absence of the Kenyan voice or position is worrying, particularly for a government that prides itself in being “digital”.  Apart from the overrated trust in the ITU to fight for the Kenyan position on global Internet matters, there is also the problem of how to solicit, analyse and consolidate a Kenyan position on previous and emerging issues at global Internet forums.

The problem is also compounded by the lack of a unifying industry or professional ICT body that the government could engage in order to firm up its understanding and position on such global Internet matters.  There have been many generic possibilities for consideration, such as CSK, ICTAK and KICTAnet. Additionally, there exist the more specialized but exclusive candidate organizations such as TESPOK, ISACA-Kenya and KITOS.

Unfortunately, none of these seem to be in a position to speak on behalf of all the others, leaving the government with the easier option of selectively engaging and/or ignoring all of them.  Whatever the case, Kenya's voice and leadership on matters Internet in the global arena continues to be either misplaced, conspicuously silent or contentious. It is high time that this was addressed.

Mr Walubengo is a lecturer at the Multimedia University of Kenya, Faculty of Computing and IT. Twitter: @jwalu