Image credits: sparkexperience.comInformation and communications technology (ICT) policy makers are confronted with the conflicting challenge of providing a stable and predictable regulatory environment to maintain existing investments and create room for long-term investments while still adapting to the ever changing ICT ecosystem. Growth in the ICT industry largely rides on certainty due to the resources required by investors to set up the infrastructure and maintain the same, especially in Africa where the industry is largely underdeveloped. While Kenya’s ICT sector continues to demonstrate dynamic growth, especially in the mobile sector, having an uncertain regulatory environment exposes investors to poor planning and government interference that is not based on any facts and is obstructive. This has led to lost opportunities from potential investors and the exit of existing investors.
The Ministry of ICT in Kenya is currently spearheading the process of reviewing the Kenya ICT Policy 2006, due to the need to align it with the 2010 constitution and Vision 2030, which seeks to transform our country into a leading information and knowledge hub of the region. The Ministry of ICT published the 2016 National ICT Draft Policy for public comments on 20 June 2016. The policy design adopted in this draft lacks evidence to support the proposals. This is the same mistake that was made in the 2006 ICT policy, which failed to anticipate the fast shifting interactive elements key to the success of the ICT sector. In the absence of data, policy makers rely on ideology, intuition or theory. Given the complexities of the ICT ecosystem, the resulting policy document is seriously astray. Evidence-based policy making is the surest way of reducing uncertainty in the market, as data allows for prediction and planning, hence circumventing this issue. All decisions and/or proposals must be tied to facts and not just ideologies and political interests. This has the effect of creating a system that is consistent and predictable for the industry players.
Though recent and untested, South Africa’s ICT white paper approved on 2 October 2016 is a good example regionally of how data can be used to tie the present to the future. Issues that are key to achieving the objectives, such as access to the internet and affordability, cannot just be ideological. There is a need to establish the present situation, appropriate responses, and the subsequent evaluation of success, which must be tied to measurable quantity and quality. Without this, the policy paper is merely a wish list left to fate.
The policy-making process needs to be deliberate in its objectives and how to achieve the same, supported by data to ensure that all the implementing institutions are held accountable and the government is kept in check. This kind of regulatory framework will further give confidence to investors in the ICT sector, who can tie their investments to the policy and help deliver its vision.
For the policy-making process to be successful, good data must be available and policy makers must have the proper knowledge and skills to determine what data is reliable and can be used in the process. Furthermore, the data used should be availed to the public and professionals in the industry for debate on emerging issues that will inform the policy-making process.
Lastly, while recognising that all policy is essentially experimentation, policy makers should not be blind to the evidence available to support the process and ensure the policy is not merely a wish list.