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On Wednesday, a contentious ICT Practitioners Bill 2020 went through the final stage – third reading – in the Kenyan Parliament. The Bill now awaits Presidential Assent before it is turned into law.
The bill seeks to establish an ICT Practitioners Institute for training, registration, licensing, practice and setting standards for ICT professionals in Kenya. The proposed Institute will also issue annual licenses to the practitioners at a fee.
Suffice to say, the requirements proposed by the Bill will be a hurdle to many young people wishing to join the profession but do not meet the threshold set by the body. The bill also proposes to introduce an annual licensing fee for the ICT practitioners. This could kill the dreams of young people who want to join the profession but lack money to pay for the annual licenses.
As usual, politicians looking to control any means by which Kenyans can pull themselves out of poverty and make a decent living. The controversial bill was rejected twice before, with the sponsors unable to clearly articulate which problems they want to solve through the bill. Then just when parliament is about to close, it was quickly and silently passed the third time.
Developments in the Kibaki era opened up great opportunities for those in the tech sector but it seems after a while the politicians noticed how lucrative the sector was becoming and started salivating for control. So now they want to place barriers of entry, whereas in other countries, kids are encouraged to get into tech as young as possible so that they can become competitive in the global arena.
If this becomes law, I forsee significant brain drain amongst Kenyan techies as they look for opportunities elsewhere
The bill seeks to establish an ICT Practitioners Institute for training, registration, licensing, practice and setting standards for ICT professionals in Kenya. The proposed Institute will also issue annual licenses to the practitioners at a fee.
Suffice to say, the requirements proposed by the Bill will be a hurdle to many young people wishing to join the profession but do not meet the threshold set by the body. The bill also proposes to introduce an annual licensing fee for the ICT practitioners. This could kill the dreams of young people who want to join the profession but lack money to pay for the annual licenses.
As usual, politicians looking to control any means by which Kenyans can pull themselves out of poverty and make a decent living. The controversial bill was rejected twice before, with the sponsors unable to clearly articulate which problems they want to solve through the bill. Then just when parliament is about to close, it was quickly and silently passed the third time.
Developments in the Kibaki era opened up great opportunities for those in the tech sector but it seems after a while the politicians noticed how lucrative the sector was becoming and started salivating for control. So now they want to place barriers of entry, whereas in other countries, kids are encouraged to get into tech as young as possible so that they can become competitive in the global arena.
If this becomes law, I forsee significant brain drain amongst Kenyan techies as they look for opportunities elsewhere
