The
last 15 years has seen Kenya and the African continent as whole make gradual
strides in having its populace achieve tremendous progress in computer literacy,
this is attributable to the governments’ initiative of removing import duty on ICT software’s plus
the presence of over four undersea cables players thus making the same cheaper
to Kenyans as well as attracting foreign investors. The dividends are already
being felt – the emergence of ICT incubators such as the IHUB in Bishop Magua Centre a centre for budding techprenuers, Tech giant IBM is already investing in the countries budding
tech savvy innovators amongst other tech players in the market , the increased
uptake in ICT related courses across the nation
and the hard efforts of the
information Permanent secretary
Bitange Ndemo of driving the
government effort of ensuring that all the 47 counties have fibre optic
connections hence lowering the internet’s costs
and lastly the promise by the current President Uhuru Kenyatta to
provide free laptops to those joining primary schools in January 2014 – all these is meant to spur
economic growth in the country as Kenya tries to move away from trading in
perfect markets to the imperfect markets.
However
it must be illustrious that the surge in the uptake of technology related
courses due to the conducive atmosphere the government is offering is becoming
a breeding ground for externalities that will require both human and technological
mitigations premised on John Elkingtons’ Tripple Bottom Line Approach a term coined in his 1997 book Cannibals with Forks: the
Triple Bottom Line of 21st Century Business where the model advocates for
treating employees right, but furthermore also the community where your
business operates. In this part of the Triple Bottom Line model, business not
only ensures a fair day's work for a fair day's pay; but also reinvesting back
some of its gains into the surrounding community through sponsorships, donation
or projects that go towards the common good such as afforestation, supporting
clean energy initiatives and recycling of waste products . This reinvestment
can usually be written off come tax time as part of business operating
expenses. The human spillover effects of cyber related frauds across the banking,
insurance and all the other related stakeholders that eventually dents their
respective reputational risk, insurance costs and generally the cost of doing business
hence affects investor confidence.
With
over than 9 years experience in the insurance industry i reckon that most
Kenyan blue chip financial organizations in the country are investing a lot in
new markets regionally, fending off foreign competition, product innovations and at the same time falling
prey to the ingenuity of the young tech savvy graduate employees who have knack of understanding their
organizational processes and IT systems and using their technical knowledge to
engage in malpractices, a major part of these perpetrators are young graduates with gross income levels lesser than $500
per month in country with an
estimated GDP - per capita (PPP)
$1,800 (2012 est.)according to the CIA fact book - where the housing sector players charge
exorbitant rental prices and the
mortgage lending institutions charge higher interest rates on credit facilities,
which is detrimental to their income
savings - yet exposed to dealing with
huge sums of money hence the
temptations that eventually crop in their minds , this has forced major banking and micro finance institutions pay higher premium rates for bankers blanket, shares and Fidelity Guarantee Policies to insurance
firms who in turn because of the high claims costs opt to reinsurer these
policies given their liability effects on their balance sheet.
Way
forward for dealing with these cyber crimes will involve top management enroll
for refresher courses in ICT related courses tied to cyber risks and their
mitigation there off as well as the new emerging forms of white collar crimes ,
better crafted Escrow
agreement with the software vendors to safeguard firms against pronounced hacking
malpractices, stricter rules on deregistration of the fraudsters from their
respective professional bodies as well the generational gap issues have to be
addressed that is to say top level management have to nurture these young talents by
co-opting them in their organizational
strategies however , this can only be achieved through better rewards such as better remuneration
that can guarantee them better housing and other benefits such employee share
option schemes - financial firms and the
economy at large ought to come up with policies that will ensure fair employment
practices that are geared towards depolarizing income levels , it must be known income disparities and the cost of one living greatly affects their professional
ethics in service delivery.