Dominance rules split authority and the AG
DAILY NATION By LILIAN OCHIENG
Thursday August 06, 2015
The Communications Authority of Kenya says it will stand its ground and push through with dominance regulations even after the Attorney General called for the rules to be withdrawn from Parliament for consultation.
Speaking to the Nation, CA director general Francis Wangusi said the authority will now broaden its reach to capture broadcasting and courier sectors.
In a letter to the ICT Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i dated July 9, 2015, Attorney General Githu Muigai advised the ministry to withdraw the regulations from the National Assembly and “subject them to discussions in all aspects as contemplated by the MoU (between CA and Competitions Authority of Kenya).”
Admitting that no consultations were done with the competition body, Mr Wangusi said that was not necessary at this stage given that CAK role will come in at a point where there is an overlap between the jurisdiction and CA regulations.
NOT OUR REGULATOR
“Competitions Authority of Kenya (CAK) is not our regulator; we have to regulate the sector and apply fair competition rules before the market crashes,” Mr Wangusi said.
CAK director general Wang’ombe Kariuki said since the signing of the MoU, he has been awaiting a meeting with the CA on how the two regulators can amicably iron out the matter.
“We have to concur in terms of regulations, after the signing of the MoU, we were to do a joint training, this would enable us handle competition cases in the sector together. We are yet to concur in all these,” said Mr Kariuki on phone yesterday.
Mr Wangusi said the regulations are yet to be tabled in Parliament because of the current recess.
The arguments on dominance come at a time when Airtel had succeeded in lobbying Parliament and the ICT ministry to declare Safaricom dominant.
The regulations if passed by Parliament, will aim to punish abusive dominant players in the communications sector.