The Information Communication Ministry has come out strongly distancing itself from the controversial proposed Information Communication Technology (ICT) Practitioners bill 2015.
In statement,ICT the Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru said the bill did not originate from the Ministry’s office. He added that the Bill was a Private Member’s Bill and does not represent the policy position of the government of Kenya.
‘’The Ministry would like to clarify that this ICT Practitioners Bill is a Private Member’s Bill,s which, whilst dealing with the ICT sector, does not originate from the ICT Ministry’’ The statement read.
The CS further said the ministry was undertaking a review of ICT policies and is in the process of drafting them. The policies according to the ministry are not in agreement with those drafted in the practitioners bill and are are subject to public participation.
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The bill if passed into law would require ICT Practitioners to be members of a new body to be known as ICT Practitioners Institute. The body will be in charge of registering and overseeing all the actives of ICT practitioners. Before being registered the bill proposed that practitioners must satisfy the Council that they are people of good moral character. If the applicant possesses all this he will then be issued with a certificate upon payment of a Kshs.5,000 fee.
It also proposes that practitioners must be holders of at bachelor’s degree in an ICT related field from a recognized university.
Early this week, ICT stakeholders were up in arms over the proposed ICT Practitioners Bill. They descried the bill as archaic aimed at locking out the thriving ICT sector in the country.
