The Kenya ICT community working with the Chair of Kenya's Parliamentary Committee on Energy, Communication and Information organized  the inaugural EA-IGF for Parliamentarians (EA-IGF4P) that took place on September 9, 2009 at Norfolk hotel in Nairobi, Kenya. The  session hosted by  the Kenya minister for Information and Communication Technology Hon. Samuel Porgishio was held immediately after the 2009 EA-IGF and attracted Members of Parliament from East Africa.

The event inspired by the global Internet Governance Forum (IGF) launched by governments in 2005 as a decision taken by the World Summit on the Information Society to create a forum to address the increasingly complex governance issues relating  to the internet.  The Internet Governance Forum meets annually with the 4th global meeting taking place in Sharm el Sheik in Egypt in November 2009.  Key issues to be addressed include cyber security, universal access to broadband, critical Internet resources among others as well as the legislative, policy and regulatory strategies to harness the benefit of the Internet.

The EA-IGF 2009 that took place for the second year will sought to collate and develop a common position for East Africa for presentation to IGF.  Presently, all the East African countries are meeting at national level to develop a national position which will be discussed on Sept 7-9. The organizers recognise the critical role of Parliament to legislate empowering frameworks to harness the benefits of the Internet. The event is supported by the African Parliamentary Knowledge Network (AKPN).

EA-IGF for Parliamentarians Tentative Programme