Kenya's "digital" reputation is deceptive - very many aren't engaged

What you need to know:

  • Many a Kenyan citizen is frustrated, and resorts to tuning out of most civic processes and spaces as a survival tactic.
  • As explained in the draft’s foreword, the goal of the revised ICT policy is to, first and foremost, align it with the new constitutional dispensation.
  • Our society’s future is largely digital, ushering a new era and mode of governance of the consequent realities we are living in, and will face.

The Kenyan populace has many interests, issues and anxieties gunning for its attention, chief among them perhaps being the upcoming 2017 election, and then the subsequent one in 2022.

There also is the very immediate struggle to live – and hopefully thrive – in an increasingly unkind economic, political and social environment. The struggle, as we often say, is very, very real for Kenyans.

It is therefore with great surprise that I read Mr Walubengo’s column this week.

In it, he introduces to his readership the recently released draft review of the National ICT Policy and the ongoing public consultation process.

To fully participate in a policy review process, one has to be aware, and be adequately informed about the significance of the policy review, why policies matter and what they inform, in their lives and in society.

Then there’s the fact that several components may be understandably be considered highly technical, and would need experts in the subject matter to further demystify and expound.

SURVIVAL TACTIC

Rather than introduce the draft policy’s contents, it seems that my esteemed colleague opted to berate Kenyans for what he deemed to be insufficient contribution.

He did shed some insight to the history of government consulting practitioners and citizens in ICT policy, as well as the avenues through which folks can make their contributions, but spared no sentence to explain the policy’s significance, or give an overview of what it contains.

The review process is anchored in the desire to transform Kenya into a knowledge economy, a key component of Vision 2030.

While many may not feel vested in the vision for a number of justifiable reasons, it still is the country’s approved development blueprint, and is actually a laudable and achievable one, hurdles notwithstanding.

Many a Kenyan citizen is frustrated, and resorts to tuning out of most civic processes and spaces as a survival tactic. Avenues for participation are also unknown to many. Others, like a recent budget meeting in Nyeri that descended into chaos, are poorly managed.

The country is, and has been facing a leadership crisis at all levels.

As much as, in Mr Walubengo’s words, we have a “larger-than-life reputation as one of the most digitised nations in Africa”, that does not automatically translate to active engagement on ICT policy matters.

There is a crop of political actors who have either sensed or directly emasculated the media and civil society, and co-opted actors in these important pillars within a democracy to either put off or indoctrinate the electorate, often unchallenged.

So I am ringing the gong for media (traditional and digital) influencers and civil society actors to wake up and serve the electorate, rather than take the cynical approach.

WAVE OF HELPLESSNESS

There has never been a need for intermediaries in our society than today; in the media, civic and cultural spaces to bridge gaps, to interpret and explain the myriad of unfolding issues and dimensions to an overburdened electorate.

We may be more connected, but this does not translate to being more empowered.

Back to the ongoing ICT policy review. Its contents should matter to Kenyans, for some of the reasons that Mr Walubengo acknowledges.

We are a digitally-forward nation, and while many remain unconnected, there are concerted efforts from the government and other actors to ensure that universal access - to digital devices and services - in an affordable manner is realised.

Our society’s future is largely digital, ushering a new era and mode of governance of the consequent realities we are living in, and will face.

As explained in the draft’s foreword, the goal of the revised ICT policy is to, first and foremost, align it with the new constitutional dispensation.

A crucial acknowledgment resulting from that is the policy's respect for the essential values of human rights, equality, freedom, democracy, social justice and the rule of law.

ARMOUR OF VIGILANCE

The policy also acknowledges that “the privacy, security of the person and property shall be paramount in the deployment of information and communications technologies.”

This matters because ICTs are a double-edged sword; a source of great good, but also dormant tools that can easily be, and are being, activated to infringe on the privacy and security of users across the world.

Online privacy is under constant threat of being undermined in the name of national security, and prevailing perceptions among Kenyans seem to support this problematic trade-off. This is an important component, one that the policy drafters must be commended for.

It also is one to which civil society actors can hold the government to account, and that will need practitioners to shake off the shackles of cynicism and take on the armour of vigilance as subsequent laws and regulations are drafted.

Other principles guiding the ICT policy review include technology and convergence, universal service, open access, recognition of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, internationalisation, national cohesion and integration, to name a few.

Great aspirations, no doubt, but the devil is in the detail, and the implementation plan. Again, this points to the need for intermediaries who dissect these issues and repackage them for the public.

Twitter: @NiNanjira