What Kenya loses when State agencies hoard information

A woman goes through land registry at Ardhi House on the 18th of May,2014. FILE PHOTO | NMG 

By SARAH OOKO

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It is a data data- driven world where almost all decisions are made based on information that individuals, institutions or nations have about certain things that interest them.

Quality data is now a pre-requisite for success. And it is for this reason that countries are pushing for data-driven development initiatives to help them meet the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.

“If you want to invest or come up with solutions to certain problems, you can’t just go in blindly. You need quality data to guide you on where the issues are and the gaps that need to be filled,” said Al Kags, executive director of Open Institute, which promotes access to development data.

Companies, NGOs, government entities, research bodies and academic institutions collect data regularly.

In the past, when data was mainly analogue, it was difficult to access most of this information as people had to peruse paper records and reports.

But thanks to advancements in ICT most institutions are now dealing with digital data that can be easily shared through the internet. Aside from expediting research and enhancing accuracy of generated results, Mr Kags says digital technologies have made it possible to comprehensively analyse sets of data and gain deeper insights on information obtained.

“With digitisation, it’s possible to overlay data. So with one set of data on malaria incident and another on weather patterns you are able to determine how environmental conditions influence disease occurrences.”

“Such linkages allow you to get a bigger picture of what is happening in a manner that would not be possible when looking at singular data sets.”
As a result of this digital data revolution, Mr Kags notes that it is now becoming increasingly important for countries to embrace data sharing allowing access to useful information and use it to come up with solutions.

According to Anastasia Wahome, a data expert at the Regional Centre for Mapping Resource for Development (RCMRD), the full gains of an open data strategy are yet to be exploited in Kenya — just as in many African countries — since organisations are reluctant to make available data they collect to external parties.

“We have so much information out there. Probably what you are researching on has already been done elsewhere. But it’s now hard to tell as people hold on to their data.”

She says this makes the country to lag in innovation and economic growth since instead of leveraging on information that is out there, organisations usually have to start from scratch to build their own data, thus wasting valuable time and monetary resources.

“An organisation seeking to sell farm inputs targeting farmers growing certain crops may be wondering how to go about it. Yet we already have a map at RCMRD with data on where different types of crops in the country are grown.”

To promote information sharing among various organisations in the country, the government launched the Kenya Open Data Initiative (KODI) platform in 2011.

Even though the site helps in sharing government data, it has been unable to offer sufficient information from the private sector as well as other public entities.

According to Mr Kags, unwillingness to share data in the public sector is more of a cultural issue.

“Most of these people are coming from a culture of secrecy that was characteristic of government institutions in the past. But they are slowly beginning to open up. So, progress is slowly happening.”

He states that most private institutions shy away from sharing data for fear of competition.

“They are stuck to the old ideology where businesses considered themselves powerful if they had data that other competitors lacked.”

“But things are changing. Information is becoming more ubiquitous. Data is now considered inanimate. So having it means nothing. It’s what you do with it that gives you the cutting edge.”

Ms Wahome states that no one has a monopoly of ideas. “Sharing information allows companies to generate numerous revenue schemes using data that they already have.”

For instance, by Safaricom sharing its M-Pesa application programming interface (API) with code writers, software developers have been able to build new innovations such as Pesa Pal and mobile banking apps that are plugged into the company’s M-Pesa data platform.

“This creates a win-win situation. The creators are making profits from their innovations and Safaricom is still getting its cut. These are new revenue streams that the company is now enjoying as a result of sharing data,” says Mr Kags.

Similarly, by sharing its mapping data with transport companies such as Uber, Google is able to get additional income from its digital mapping service.

READ: Officials risk Sh500,000 fine for denying public information in new law

Alex Gakuru, Executive Director of Content Development and Intellectual Property (CODE-IP) Trust states that even with open data, privacy of shared data needs to be enhanced.

“No organisation should release sensitive data about individuals without prior consent from them.”

He called on the government to hasten the enactment of the data protection law which has been pending in Parliament for some time now.

Countries that have passed similar laws have strict guidelines or frameworks that determine how private data collected by companies should be managed to safeguard the rights of citizens.

Mr Gakuru states that Kenya is already losing out on potential business opportunities linked to data sharing from European Union countries due to lack of the law.

“Europe has a strict data protection policy. So they can only transfer information collected from their citizens to countries that have equivalent data protection regulations.”

He notes that that before releasing personal information, people need to be sure that their data is in the right hands where it cannot be manipulated to cause harm or sold to third parties without their knowledge.