“He is as useless as a dog” this was part of a Facebook post by a young Kenyan photographer on the wall of a Kenyan politician, Mr. Lewis Nguyai. The Facebook post has since led to the photographer’s arrest and may ultimately result in a defamation suit. Kenya’s National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) which was set up after the post election violence in 2008 to “promote equality of opportunity, good relations, harmony and peaceful coexistence between persons of different ethnic and racial backgrounds in Kenya” claims that they received 60 complaints in February 2012 regarding defamatory comments made about individuals on social media web sites. In most countries defamation is entrenched in local laws and mostly predicated on Article 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees legal protection against “attacks upon … honour and reputation”.

ICT policy in Africa: a lot still to be done

In this blog I argue that there is a critical need for ICT policy in Africa because ICT policy in Africa is in many respects closely linked with overcoming the digital divide. Both private investors and increasingly, public donors are not yet ready to invest in countries without a proper institutional and legal environment for internet development.

It is amazing to note the growth of ICT in Africa. Truth is that growth is measured in many ways and my measurement is based on the African environment. Many countries in Africa with exception of a few face the same challenges i.e. lack of infrastructure, poverty, education levels, unemployment to mention but a few.