Experts say this sector, which has been operating in a legal vacuum, could achieve more in improving the economy in the coming five years if better policies were put in place.
Bitange Ndemo, the Information and Communications permanent secretary, however, says failure by Parliament to pass the ICT and Information Bill has stifled growth in the sector.
The Information Bill is, for example, deemed to be critical to the success of the planned digitisation of government documents.
“Digitised documents will need to be stored in a Data Centre. But this is not possible under the current legal framework because the law does not allow any government institution to store information with private operators,” Dr Ndemo said.
The archaic laws, he added, also stand in the way of e-commerce.
“The market needs an appropriate law that will encourage use of ICTs, encourage the growth of e-government and e-commerce by protecting the privacy of users and investors,” said Dr Ndemo.
More recently, the Government stepped up efforts on policy with the preparation of a draft Electronic Transfer Bill that is in circulation for public review.
Regional taxation regimes have also made it impossible for the cost of computer and parts to go down despite the government decision to zero-rate them.
Dr Ndemo reckons that the Kenya government has learnt some lessons from its computer assembly programme. Key among them is that universities were not the best centres to host incubation of personal computers (PCs).
“The project should have been done in collaboration with local entrepreneurs with the learning institutions handling the research segment,” he said.
Industry players also point to the need to lower duty on air-time from 26 to 10 per cent against the backdrop of communication as a necessity and not a luxury.
Recent studies have shown that a country’s Gross Domestic Product improves with increased penetration of telecommunication services. This means that the government can create more wealth by making communication affordable.
“Reduced calling costs means that more people will make more calls and create more jobs and the Government benefits in more ways other than levying more taxes,” said the PS.
The real drawback for Kenya’s ICT sector, however, remains the lack of high speed Internet. Kenya — like its Eastern African neighbours — is not connected to the global network of fibre optic cables.
Dr Ndemo said this is the reason the Government is taking lead in efforts to connect the country to high speed Internet through the fibre optic cables. But industry players say though connecting Kenya to the global network of fibre optic-driven Internet makes business sense, such projects cannot be left to the private sector.
Richard Bell, a private entrepreneur, says the TEAMS cable project would not have reached where it is if it were left entirely in private hands.
“Unlike the Government, which undertakes projects with an eye on the public interest, the private sector looks at the business case thus denying some regions access to important facilities,” he said.
Nick Nesbitt, an ICT entrepreneur said formation of the ICT board was the best thing to have happened to the industry this year.
Through this board, he says, the private sector — especially call centre operators have been able to market the country as the next BPO destination.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Okuttah Mark
Quelle/Source: Business Daily Africa, 24.12.2007
