Dr. Bitange Ndemo, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication has a very huge task of convincing Kenyans that the country's technology sector can be as good as the west, that we do not need to look further for exceptional services.

The PS has a Jambo.co.ke account that works, not like other officials that use yahoo, he responds to questions sent via email, and participates in technology forums for the youth and talks to them as a lecturer, not a technocrat.

But the PS has one problem, he is busy preaching technology to others and has forgotten to convert his soldiers, the people working under him.

The PS has been keen on the issue of virtual national resources and why Kenyans need to take up their online rights. one of the resources is the dot ke domain. It is the equivalent of a flag on the internet, alerts people of your nationality or where you operate the services. For instance, www.capitalfm.co.ke shows that Capital is Kenyan, though it is addressing a global audience online.

Some countries like the United Kingdom have managed to convince most corporations to take up dot uk. There are 6 million dot uk domains while Kenya has a paltry 9,000 registered dot ke users.

That is the reason why Ndemo is working hard to promote the uptake of dot ke in every sector.

The PS has been quoted saying that the government is ready to subsidize the acquisition of .ac.ke and .sc.ke accounts for academic institutions if the cost of the domains is reduced.

The PS has gone further to encourage Kenyans to buy the dot ke domain in order to build Kenya.

But Ndemo's message on the dot ke domain is fatally defective because he is yet to convert those under him who are still operating dot com accounts. Let the PS and his officers demonstrate the faith they have in these resources before converting the public.

For instance, Paul Kukubo, CEO Kenya ICT Board, who is supposed to be Ndemo's interpreter of the technology gospel operates www.paulkukubo.com while Al Kags, a program officer at the board operates www.alkags.com.

Picture this; Ndemo at a public meeting, telling people the essence of buying local domains and promoting local businesses, and Kukubo takes the stand and convinces you that a dot ke is as good as a dot com.

The question is: why is he not using it?

Last month, the Kenya ICT board held a one day meeting on local content, dubbed "Tandaa".

The meeting brought together the government, ICT technology experts and the public to discuss issues of generating local content and developing the local technology capacity.

Few days before the meeting kicked off, there were questions raised about the ICT board's decision to host the www.tandaa.com content abroad. How can the board encourage people to host locally while it has no faith in local hosting services?

Kukubo defended the decision, saying that if any local host was willing to give free hosting, the board was willing to migrate the site to a local server. He further argued that to develop locally, you do not need to host locally, arguing that even the laptops and email applications we use are manufactured elsewhere.

The defense merely philosophical as it sounds, does not address the root of the issue.

How does a board, tasked with marketing Kenya as a technology destination, opt to host abroad? Why then do we have the board if not to demonstrate Kenya's ability to perform like other countries?

How can the board convince a local or multinational corporation to host locally while it has no faith in such services or does not see the need to encourage people to host locally?

Even if the board was hosted free, it should be its primary mandate to insist that any hosting must be local, that is the only way services can improve. Not unless the board expects the hosting services to grow overnight without being tried and tested.

In the US, where hosting services are cheap, people started with trial and error and finally they perfected the services. When will Kenya grow if no one wants to give local techies business?

It has been argued that the techies have to prove their ability before Kenyans can have faith that services are consistent and stable. But who will give them the chance to prove themselves if the ICT marketing agency is shipping services abroad.

The messages are contradictory and it is better if the PS ensured that the whole ministry and all attendant agencies are sing from the same hymn book or reading from the same script.

Charity begins at home!

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Background on domains...... I wrote this article earlier this year.....

A domain name is a label separated by a dot, which allows internet users to easily find and communicate with web sites and other Internet Protocol (IP) based communication services.

A domain can use first level extensions e.g. country code Top level Domain (ccTLD) like .ke for Kenya or a generic TLD (.com, .net, .info .org etc).

Domain names are a superb marketing tool, a method to pass information about the business or service being offered. A domain name is a highly valuable resource for any company. Internet domain names are registered on a first-come, first-served basis by registering authorities, such as Kenya Network Information Centre, which administers the .ke name space.

Domain names have become more interesting to marketers because of their advertising and marketing potential, rather than just being used to label internet resources; they are now used in ways that are harmful to some businesses.

For instance, one can register www.moral.co.ke as a pornographic site, which would be contradictory to the known meaning of the word moral. Similarly, one can use a name that is more famous as a domain to drive visitors to the site.

As a result, large corporations use their trademark or brand name as a domain name because it helps customers remember it easily and distinguish it from a competitor’s product, which reinforces brand identity.

Because domain names are registered on the basis of first come, first served, registering authorities do not question whether a proposed domain name will cause likely confusion with another’s brand or trademark. For instance, Verizon, a large international technology corporation revealed that it spends up to 77 million Kenya shillings ($1million) in registering and safeguarding their domain.

This has allowed some unscrupulous people to take advantage of the ignorance and to register domains that are not related to them and drive up traffic in the process infringing on trademarks, trade names, brands or copyrighted characteristics of a company.

Some of the domains are registered with the intention of later selling them or transferring the domain name to another owner for valuable consideration; or simply to engage in unfair competition and misleading advertising by associating their own product or service with a better-known brand.

What would happen if someone registered a domain in the name of your business, then five years from now, the business is a large entity but unable to trade online in its trademark because it is owned by another person?

This would result in a domain name dispute which would be a big concern for a business. It is just like a trade mark that is protected under the Copyright Act of Kenya. Domain name disputes nevertheless remain complex and require separate regulations.

For instance, popular online auction site EBay is engaged in a protracted legal tussle trying to reclaim www.ebay.com.vn , which is registered by an individual.

Jennifer Lopez has also filed a dispute at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) seeking to get back www.jenniferlopez.org from one of her fans.

South Africa is perhaps one of the leading cases where the government had to result to international measures to get back www.southafrica.com which was registered under an individual.

Under Article 30 of the Law on Intellectual Property, which took effect on July 1, 2006, such acts as registering or possessing the right to use a domain name identical or confusingly similar to a protected trade name or mark of another, for the purpose of benefiting from or prejudicing the reputation and popularity of the respective trademark, trade name or geographical indicator is viewed as an act of unfair competition.

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