« Welcome Back, Stardust | Main | Students Expose Sex Offender Through Wikipedia Research »
January 18, 2006
Kenya's Parliament Website: Too Embarassing for Public Consumption?
Internet users who happen upon the website of the Kenyan parliament will find a near-blank page with the terse message, "Thank you for visiting the Parliament Website. We are currently updating this site. Please bookmark this site and visit us shortly." One might assume the problem is a hacked database, or merely an attempt to roll out a new website. In fact, the problem is embarassment.
As reported by the East African Standard by way of AllAfrica.com, the Kenyan parliament website has been shuttered since September because parliamentarians were embarrassed about the information published about them. What content shamed them so? Apparently their education backgrounds, hobbies and ages, among other biographical trivia. According to the article, the site was shut down after complaints that this information was "too sensitive" for public consumption.
The article goes on to compare Kenya's closed door website policy with that of Tanzania and Uganda. Both countries embrace a more open approach to e-government:
They detail MPs' employment history, political experience and special skills. The sites also tabulate MPs' performance in Parliament in terms of questions raised and their contributions. The sites also contain a summary of development funds and ministry activities. Also posted on the sites are proceedings of committee meetings, which are still a closed-door affair in Kenya. The public is also given an opportunity to post comments on the websites.
The article stops short of criticizing the Kenyan parliament for its decision to shut the website. But it seems clear that the policy reflects a skittishness that borders on paranoid. While Uganda and Tanzania are now exploring e-goverment as tools for greater transparency and decreasing barriers between politicians and constituents, Kenya's parliamentarians remain fearful of acknowledging they're a few years older (or younger?) than they look, or they didn't study at Cambridge, or they like to spend their free time reading mystery novels. Such basic biographical information is standard on almost every politician's website. Even Turkmenistan's President for Life, head of one of the most secretive and repressive regimes in the world, details his background on official government websites. According to the Turkmen Embassy in Washington, Saparmurat Niyazov was born in 1940, was orphaned at a young age, obtained an engineering degree, has two children and enjoys poetry, history, philosophy and music.
It will be interesting to see what the restored Kenyan parliamentary website looks like. What kind of information will Kenyans be able to learn about their elected officials? Hopefully there will be more discussion about the issue in the Kenyan press and blogosphere; if politicians are too ashamed to acknowledge their backgrounds and qualifications, how can they be expected to engage in open, transparent policymaking?
Posted by acarvin at January 18, 2006 10:29 AM
Listen to a computer-generated podcast of this article
