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The battle to control the Internet rages on as some countries push to have Internet governance fall under the United Nations (UN). Countries like Russia, China and India are at the forefront to have the UN granted the mandate to run the Internet. The United States of America is currently enjoying the dominance in running the Internet space through bodies like ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) which co-ordinates codes and numbering systems and deciding on new Internet addresses. The US feels the current Internet regulations are working effectively and any proposals for change will create  “greater regulatory burdens on the international telecom sector”.

After enduring the pain of the Zimbabwe 2008 election violence residents of my constituency are yet to see the “change” we were promised by our Honorable Member of Parliament (MP). With an overwhelming victory in 2008 people thought real change had come. Like any other urban areas in Zimbabwe where poor service delivery is now the order of the day, Chitungwiza South constituency’s woes have been worsened by the recent Typhoid outbreak. Still reeling under the effects of the 2008 Cholera outbreak residents in my constituency thought our Honorable MP was going to do a noble thing by using funds he received from government under Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to sink more boreholes. Living in a town where rusty and slimy drops of water trickling from the tap are received with loud cheers and ululation doesn’t require a rocket scientist to figure out that a crisis is looming.

Water rationing is increasing by each day.

Children now spend most of their time helping parents to queue for water at the few boreholes donated by UNICEF. I wonder if our Honorable Member of Parliament is still living in Chitungwiza for him to understand these problems? I guess he also can’t feel the effects of bumps on most of the pot and ditch-hole riddled roads in this constituency because he was allocated a four-wheel drive truck by the government.  As a school headmaster and a former mayor for the town these problems should not be new to him.  Where and when he consulted residents on how to use CDF funds boggles the mind because the only time our Hon MP was seen addressing a public meeting was during a tour of the town by high-ranking officials from his party.

With nothing to write home about as a success story, it’s a pity that legislators like these would seek another term in office. Prepare to choose another career, or go on pension because the time for cheap politicking is over and your time is up Hon MP.

The art of reading starts with a habit and every habit has a trigger. Reading helps people understand life and it teaches you how to write. Most great writers were inspired to write through reading. For writers, reading is one of the most important tools.

Writing is a skill, which one masters through practice. It gets better through writing a lot and reading widely. During a Food for Thought session at the US Public Affairs Section in Harare visiting award-winning authors from America shared some reading and writing experiences with young and upcoming writers in Zimbabwe. In order to encourage young writers to read, the visiting authors urged young authors to be broad minded. The authors from University of Iowa’s International Writing Program (IWP) are in the country to facilitate writing and capacity-building seminars with Zimbabwean writers.

UN Human Rights Council Resolution (A/HRC/20/L.13, July 5, 2012)  “affirms the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online, in particular freedom of expression, which is applicable regardless of frontiers and through any media of one’s choice, in accordance with articles 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. “

Most governments and private companies are increasingly violating this resolution by perpetrating human rights violations online, either through content censoring, intimidation, denying access to information and selling individual’s private data. The reason why the Internet grew so fast is based on the fact that the libertarian engineers who created it thought governments were not going to control it. Currently Africa has an Internet penetration rate of 57 percent and it is predicted that by the year 2020 every African will have a mobile phone.

The recent Arab spring really caught most governments off guard in terms of realizing the power of Internet. As technology moves fast authoritarian governments are now investing a lot in trying to control the Internet rather than making the service available to every citizen. Governments are now using all methods of censorship in trying to limit freedom of expression on the Internet. The recent story of an Ethiopian blogger who was sentenced to 18 years in prison is just one example of how governments are working to suppress independent voices. The rise in Internet censorship calls for urgent action to broaden the constituencies involved in the promotion of human rights including media, communication, and human rights actors.

Civil society has a role to play through engaging governments to ensure that the same rights that people have offline are also protected online, in particular freedom of expression, which is being constantly violated. Liberalized telecommunications markets also play an important role through the provision of affordable Internet to people. Competition, independent ownership of infrastructure and liberalized telecommunications markets should be promoted to ensure an open, affordable and net neutrality.

Members of civil society, donor agencies and government representatives from various countries converged in Nairobi, Kenya to discuss ways to make the Internet free under the discussion topic “Who Controls the Internet.” Civil society representatives were mainly from African countries and the Kubatana Trust of Zimbabwe was part of the workshop. Global Partners and Associates organized the workshop with support from the Kenya Human Rights Commission, Ford Foundation and Association for Progressive Communication (APC).

Internet as a tool to democratize free speech has come under attack and surveillance especially from authoritarian governments. The race to control the Internet by governments under the disguise of protecting public interest and national security has made civil society realize the need to shape the Internet environment nationally, regionally and globally.

In order to shape the Internet environment delegates at the workshop shared ideas on how to engage governments in policy formulation, which addresses human rights online. The need to sensitize Parliaments was also seen as an effective in making policy makers aware of the changing and demanding environment of the Internet thereby helping them when crafting Internet friendly policies.

The launching of the Freedom Online Coalition in December last year was seen as positive step towards the direction of protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms online. The Netherlands government representative at the workshop explained briefly about how the Freedom Online Coalition works by highlighting that the Coalition is made up of 17 countries across the world committed to promoting Internet freedom. At the launch last year the Coalition also pledged to provide greater support for cyber activists and bloggers under threat. As part of this effort, the United States and the Netherlands committed funds to a new Digital Defenders partnership. Currently the Netherlands government is working in Kenya on a program to make Internet free in that country.

Civil society representatives collaborated on a shared statement covering issues discussed in the three-day workshop covering effective strategies to use across the continent and what other stakeholders can do in the shaping of the Internet environment.