2.2 Constitution Kenya enacted a new Constitution in 2010. The Constitution brings with it significant changes to the political system of governance of Kenya, expands the rights and fundamental freedoms, and introduces a new system of public finance, among other changes. ‘ICT is one of the most effective methods to attain some of the objectives of the Constitution.’ ICT is one of the most effective methods to attain some of the objectives of the Constitution. This includes realizing democracy through participation of citizen as defined in the Constitution; efficiency of the Government; effective method to provide public service; and citizen’s right to know. Specifically, ICT is imperative for the cost-effective achievement of constitutional requirements. In particular, Article 6 (3) on equitable delivery of public services to Kenyan citizens regardless of their domicile; Article 232 on quality service delivery by the public service; Article 35 on the correctness of information held by the state as well as ensuring public access to the information; and other articles concerning accountability of public officers, transparency of Government and participation of citizens in Government processes. 2.3 National ICT Policy Kenya produced its first National ICT Policy in 2006. Its vision is a prosperous ICT-driven Kenyan society, while its mission is to improve the livelihoods of Kenyans by ensuring the availability of accessible, efficient, reliable and affordable ICT services. This policy was guided by the need for infrastructure development, human resource development, stakeholder participation and appropriate policy and regulatory framework. It focuses on IT, broadcasting, telecommunications, postal services, radio frequency spectrum, universal access and institutional framework for implementation. The country has not updated this policy for close to eight years, a period when the world has witnessed various technological developments and many changes have taken place in the ICT sector in Kenya. The policy therefore needs to be updated to take into account the changes including Vision 2030; ..24 .................................................................................................................Towards ...............a...Digital .............Kenya ............ the Constitution; new sectoral strategies; and other realities that have emerged since 2006. The ICT State Department has developed a draft ICT policy which needs to go through the various stages of policy development and finalised as soon as possible. 2.4 Regulatory Environment ICT matters fall under several pieces of legislation, including the Kenya Communications Act (KCA) of 1998; Science and Technology Act (Cap. 250) of 1977; and Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) Act of 1988. Kenya’s information and communication regulatory issues are under the umbrella of the Communication Authority of Kenya (CAK), formally Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK). A major catalyst in the development and expansion of ICTs has been the liberalization of the market, which began in 1999 when the Kenya Post and Telecommunications Corporation was split into five entities namely: • The Postal Corporation of Kenya; • Telkom Kenya Ltd (later privatized); • The Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) the industry regulator; • The National Communications Secretariat (NCS) to advise on policy issues; and • An Appeals Tribunal for arbitrating in cases where disputes arise between parties. ‘A major catalyst in the development and expansion of ICTs has been the liberalization of the market’ Kenya Communication Act 1998 has now been amended to the Kenya Information and Communications (Amendment) Act, 2013 (no. 41A). In 2008, the CCK, implemented a framework of technology-neutral unified licensing framework (ULF). Under the ULF, operators and service providers are licensed according to three broad types of provision to the ICT market:  network facilities provider (NFP) – provides infrastructure systems for long-distance transmission and for local access; 25 Towards a Digital Kenya ..............................................................................................................................................................

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