Monday, July 11, 2011

Parliament goes digital

National Council for Law Reporting, Kenya National Assembly, Kenya ICT Board and Google work to digitise over 1,750 editions of parliamentary debates dating back over 50 years, writes TIMOTHY MAKOKHAKenyans now have free online access to debates from the Hansard, a collection of debates that date back to the pre-independence Legislative Council.
The earliest edition of the Hansard indexed is the Report of the Fourth Session of the Debates of the Legislative Council, dated November 24, 1959.
Until now, these records have only been available to the public in hard copy as part of the public records of the Kenya National Assembly and the Kenya National Archives.
With the digitisation, anyone around the world can now browse the Hansard online. Over 1,750 editions can now be accessed and perused by the public, including historians and students.
"The initiative will enhance the capacity of the National Council for Law Reporting to manage and distribute public legal information, and to provide free public access to legacy legal information on a user-friendly interface," said Michael Murungi, Chief Executive and Editor of the National Council for Law Reporting.
"It will help us develop and implement an open, technology-neutral standard for the management of current and future public legal information."
Denis Gikunda, Google Localisation Manager for Africa says these records are not only of great historical value, but they are also a rich research resource, providing insight into, for example, how an issue like majimbo has been addressed through time, or to verify a particular Member of Parliament’s position on an issue.
"The initiative to digitise the Hansard is part of our continuing partnership with the National Council for Law Reporting (NCLR) and the Kenyan government," Gikunda said.
The debates Kenyans will be able to access include records of the Fourth Parliament debate on June 9, 1982 preceding the constitutional amendment making Kenya a de jure one party state, the first recorded contribution by the first female legislator in Parliament Hon Grace Onyango and debates about the compensation or lack thereof of freedom fighters that started as far back as the 1970s and continue today.
Other records will include debates about the Nyayo Pioneer project, the government’s attempt at manufacturing a car locally, information on who composed the song Tawala Kenya, the original debate around the assassination of the then Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Robert Ouko in 1990, the Ouko Commission report that was finally tabled in Parliament 10 years later as well as information about who exactly the ngorokos were.
Free accessKenyans will also be able to confirm whether their MPs have spoken in Parliament about issues directly affecting them.
Since 2007, the Kenya National Assembly has been digitising its proceedings and providing free access to them through its website www.parliament.go.ke.
The National Council for Law Reporting, in conjunction with the Kenya National Assembly, converted all pre-2007 records into digital documents, and used Google’s unique indexing and search engine technology to provide an access platform that makes it easy to search and browse, while retaining the record’s original look and feel.
This initiative, Open Access to Public Legal Information, is aimed at improving access to public information. While Article 35 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 establishes the citizen’s right of access to public information, actual access remains limited.
Thanks to the new digital platform, the records of the Hansard and the Gazette can be accessed online at www.kenyalaw.org, www.parliament.go.ke and www.google.co.ke.
This move comes after the digitisation of over 100 years of the Kenya Gazette in April 2011, with historical copies dating back to 1906, for free, via Google Books.
Other recent examples of Google’s ongoing global efforts to bring historical and cultural heritage online include partnerships with Yad Vashem, the Jerusalem-based archive of Holocaust materials, with 17 of the world’s most famous art museums, through the Google Art Project, and with many libraries that hold rare collections.
In March this year, Google also announced a grant of $2.5million to digitise Nelson Mandela’s and Desmond Tutu’s archives.
This latest initiative puts Kenya in the league of developed countries that have digitally archived information for public access for close to a century.
In Africa, Usaid last year funded Zimbabwe’s purchase and installation of an equipment to enhance the documentation and archiving of parliamentary debates and other proceedings in the august house.
Speaking during the launch of the equipment Zimbabwe Premier Morgan Tsivangirai said the state-of-the-art digital equipment will enable Parliament to improve its ability to make official proceedings accessible to the media and public.
"The equipment will help build and maintain a permanent, and authoritative record of parliamentary activities in a digital form that is capable of being accessed despite changes in technology," Tsivangirai said.
Dedicated serverThe equipment included 211 microphones, loudspeakers and headphones in the Senate as well as the House of Assembly, microphones and servers in the six committee rooms, recording software, PCs and monitors for use by Hansard reporters.
With the new technology, Hansard reporters only come into the Houses to make note of interjections and the rest will be captured by the recording software.
Audio output from the two Houses is captured on a dedicated server and can be played back, paused, and re-wound.
"This improvement will enable Parliament to compile a digital archive of all its proceedings in the respective Houses, as well as in the Committee Rooms," Tsivangirai said.
"In addition, it will now be possible for journalists to obtain audio recordings of any sitting of Parliament and Committee proceedings."
By last year, Rwanda too had started archiving all its documents and Parliament is currently seeking proposals to digitise the archive materials.
To date, the archives from 1962 to 2003 have been organised and physically sorted; those from 2003 through 2009 remain to be completed.
The archives are freely open to, and used by, the public.

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