February 2008 - KICTANet

Row Erupts Over Financing of Teams Cable Deal
by Dorcas Muthoni 21 Feb '08

21 Feb '08

We all want the best for TEAMS. Any Comments ?? ........... the $80 million East African Marine System project - popularly known as Teams - under which the government is to construct a 1,500-kilometre submarine cable between Mombasa and Fujaira in the United Arab Emirates, continues to be dogged by controversy. A new row has erupted over the manner in which the financing of the cable has been arranged. Apparently, the government had delayed in meeting the conditions agreed by the contractors, Messrs Alacatel Lucent of France, which was awarded the tender to build the cable in October last year. ...More >> http://allafrica.com/stories/200802191072.html?viewall=1 -- Muthoni My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/ -------------------------------------------- Mahatma Gandhi once said:- First they ignore you, Then they laugh at you, Then they fight you, AND THEN YOU WIN!!!

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[Fwd: [AfrICANN-discuss] Judge Shuts Down Web Site Specializing in Leaks --- This is pretty interesting!]
by alice 20 Feb '08

20 Feb '08

February 20, 2008 Judge Shuts Down Web Site Specializing in Leaks By ADAM LIPTAK and BRAD STONE http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/us/20wiki.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=s… In a move that legal experts said could present a major test of First Amendment rights in the Internet era, a federal judge in San Francisco on Friday ordered the disabling of a Web site devoted to disclosing confidential information. The site, Wikileaks.org, invites people to post leaked materials with the goal of discouraging "unethical behavior" by corporations and governments. It has posted documents said to show the rules of engagement for American troops in Iraq, a military manual for the operation of the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and other evidence of what it has called corporate waste and wrongdoing. The case in San Francisco was brought by a Cayman Islands bank, Julius Baer Bank and Trust. In court papers, the bank said that "a disgruntled ex-employee who has engaged in a harassment and terror campaign" provided stolen documents to Wikileaks in violation of a confidentiality agreement and banking laws. According to Wikileaks, "the documents allegedly reveal secret Julius Baer trust structures used for asset hiding, money laundering and tax evasion." On Friday, Judge Jeffrey S. White of Federal District Court in San Francisco granted a permanent injunction ordering Dynadot, the site's domain name registrar, to disable the Wikileaks.org domain name. The order had the effect of locking the front door to the site — a largely ineffectual action that kept back doors to the site, and several copies of it, available to sophisticated Web users who knew where to look. Domain registrars like Dynadot, Register.com and GoDaddy .com provide domain names — the Web addresses users type into browsers — to Web site operators for a monthly fee. Judge White ordered Dynadot to disable the Wikileaks.org address and "lock" it to prevent the organization from transferring the name to another registrar. The feebleness of the action suggests that the bank, and the judge, did not understand how the domain system works, or how quickly Web communities will move to counter actions they see as hostile to free speech online. The site itself could still be accessed at its Internet Protocol address (http://88.80.13.160/) — the unique number that specifies a Web site's location on the Internet. Wikileaks also maintained "mirror sites," or copies usually produced to ensure against failures and this kind of legal action. Some sites were registered in Belgium (http://wikileaks.be/) Germany (http://wikileaks.de) and the Christmas Islands (http://wikileaks.cx) through domain registrars other than Dynadot, and so were not affected by the injunction. Fans of the site and its mission rushed to publicize those alternate addresses this week. They have also distributed copies of the bank information on their own sites and via peer-to-peer file sharing networks. In a separate order, also issued on Friday, Judge White ordered Wikileaks to stop distributing the bank documents. The second order, which the judge called an amended temporary restraining order, did not refer to the permanent injunction but may have been an effort to narrow it. Lawyers for the bank and Dynadot did not respond to requests for comment. Judge White has scheduled a hearing in the case for Feb. 29. In a statement on its site, Wikileaks compared Judge White's orders to ones eventually overturned by the United States Supreme Court in the Pentagon Papers case in 1971. In that case, the federal government sought to enjoin publication by The New York Times and The Washington Post of a secret history of the Vietnam War. "The Wikileaks injunction is the equivalent of forcing The Times's printers to print blank pages and its power company to turn off press power," the site said, referring to the order that sought to disable the entire site. The site said it was founded by dissidents in China and journalists, mathematicians and computer specialists in the United States, Taiwan, Europe, Australia and South Africa. Its goal, it said, is to develop "an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis." Judge White's order disabling the entire site "is clearly not constitutional," said David Ardia, the director of the Citizen Media Law Project at Harvard Law School. "There is no justification under the First Amendment for shutting down an entire Web site." The narrower order, forbidding the dissemination of the disputed documents, is a more classic prior restraint on publication. Such orders are disfavored under the First Amendment and almost never survive appellate scrutiny. Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company _______________________________________________ AfrICANN mailing list AfrICANN(a)afrinic.net https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann

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Small medium Size Symposium -March 22, 2008-Mentors (Ms.Nyokabi)
by Jose' 19 Feb '08

19 Feb '08

Greetings, As the symposium draws closer,more professionals are comming on board on the mentorship clinic tent that will see enterpreneurs get new direction this comming year. below find Ms.Nyokabi's profile who has maximised on marketing. FORTUNE/STATE DEPARTMENT INTERNATIONAL WOMEN LEADERS MENTORING PARTNERSHIP At the International level Ms Nyokabi, the MSS CEOs extraordinary entrepreneurship and business acumen saw her selected by the US State Department to represent Kenya in a U.S. Government-sponsored program dubbed the Fortune/State Department International Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership. This business leadership & mentoring program running from April 29th through May 27th 2007, placed selected emerging businesswomen from the global arena in a mentoring program with Fortune's most acclaimed women leaders in the business world. Ms Nyokabi had the privilege of training under the mentorship of one of Americas most powerful women; Ms. Kathleen Vaughan who is an Executive Vice President at Wells Fargo where she leads one of the many financial services companies for the fortune 500 bank. Wells Fargo is among the 5 top banks in the USA and is the only triple AAA rated bank. The mentorship also provided opportunity to engage with Senators Hilary Clinton and Kay Hutchinson together with Elaine Chao, Secretary, US Department of Labor. Ms Nyokabi further maximized on this important visit to the US to attend a Situational Leadership Conference at the Wells Fargo Conference Centre in San Francisco from 18 to 19th May 2007 designed and developed by Ken Blanchard, the American leadership guru at which she was the only delegate from Africa. The experience therefore gives our business an appreciation of the unique standards of excellence such top-tier business organizations want to achieve and sustain in Africa --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

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Being charged to play radio!?
by nancy bosire 19 Feb '08

19 Feb '08

Hi All, There are people going round asking for a fee of Ksh.1950 so as to allow any one to play music in public e.g companies.. anybody else aware of this? apparently this was on TV yesterday (i did not catch news or had a chance to read the paper). my questions.. which body enacted this? CCK or the ministry of Info Comm ( Hon. Bitange?) is there a site that has the info on how this will work? deadlines, the rates etc etc who will regulate this? -- Sincerely yours, Secretariat Manager Kenya ICT Federation Tel: 020 4440102 Mobile: 0721907995 secretariat(a)kif.or.ke, info(a)kif.or.ke http://www.kif.or.ke "Whatever your mind expects and demands, it will find a way to produce it." - Napoleon Hill Mahatma Gandhi once said:- First they ignore you, Then they laugh at you, Then they fight you, AND THEN YOU WIN!!!

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[Fwd: Re: OHH POLE???-Didn't look like.]
by bitange＠jambo.co.ke 18 Feb '08

18 Feb '08

Dear All, This is unwarranted (below)attack and does not help us to develop a nation called Kenya. ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: Re: OHH POLE???-Didn't look like. From: "Robert Alai" <alai.robert(a)gmail.com> Date: Sat, February 16, 2008 8:12 am To: "John Walubengo" <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> Cc: "alice" <alice(a)apc.org> "Washington Odhiambo" <odhiambo(a)gmail.com> "eve kictanet" <evelyne(a)kictanet.or.ke> "bitange(a)jambo.co.ke" <bitange(a)jambo.co.ke> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- John respect when people are being forcibly circumcised. I worked in the forces and from our own intelligence Kibaki is arming the Kikuyus for a major offensive now. We have pictures and facts about this and videos of confessions. Kenya cant and wont be the same with the kind of attitude which Bitange is creating while we know that people aare being killed for not being Kikuyus. I dont have two months in forums John. I run kaziafrika fforum which has more than 5700 active members. I run jamboforums.com which iss the public watchdog for Tanzania and has 5 million hits in one month. Jamboforum is credited with revealing the Richmond scandal, Buzwagi scandal, BOT scandal, and many others. I have experiece of 6 years in UN hostile zones including and not limited to DRC, Rwanda, Burundi and Mozambique. Guys dont lick the ass of people like Bitange just because they are PSs. I personnaly wrote to my former boss who is Ban Ki Moon and sent the pics and also copied the humanitarian head who is Holmes. I believe that Kibaki and his cohorts like Ndemo are buying time to butcher Kenyans. All routes in Nairobi which matatus operat in have now see the ressurgence of Mungikis in the name of touts. These people are preparing to strike. I have witnessed in one of the routes Mungikis slashing people with razor blades. It a new attack which is ccoming up. People are now being attacked wwith razor blades and not Pangas as before. Guys lets be serrious lakini tafadhalini tusilambe tako la Ndemo. Alai On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 4:06 PM, John Walubengo <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Robert, > > I dont know you. You dont know me, but probably by virtue > of being a moderator of the KICTAnet list I have had to > endure your 'tantrums'. I actually dont know how all this > started but all I can say is that I see you are hurting and > probably you should avoid writing/posting until you get > your cool. > > Anger is a bad partner when combined with the written word. > Infact the things you say are easily forgotten but those > you write remain forever. In my brief online life, I have > learnt never to scribble when am worked up. What I do is > to scribble, save it and review the content 12hrs later. > Most of the times, I make changes that pass the same > message in a more diplomatic and positive manner. > > And that's really what the KICTAnet list is asking of > members. Diplomacy. Try to say things with respect just as > you would in real life. > > walu. > --- Robert Alai <alai.robert(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > Alice > > > > So thats what they taught you in school? Thats what you > > do at CCK? Hey you > > are simle failure to Kenyans. You believe in solving a > > problem by running > > away from it? Let me teach you abou lists and forums. I > > see your Masters > > degree is not coming handy here. > > > > Alai > > > > On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 8:35 AM, Robert Alai > > <alai.robert(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > Alice > > > > > > Did it touch you? Who again did you warn. Do you see > > like you are cutting > > > my oxygen when you ban me? Ban, kwani? If Wainaina > > brings politics know that > > > I will answer him politically and threats from you or > > Ndemo wont scare me. > > > Kenyans know the truth and thinking that ogre mentality > > will scare me from > > > saying what it is as it is then you are in for a > > suprise. By the way how > > > important is KICTANET? > > > > > > Alice, you are just behaving like Michuki who was > > Bitange's boss. Thinking > > > that killing the messenger will stop people from > > getting the truth. Hell NO. > > > KTN and Standard are more stronger than ever and with > > or without government > > > lincenses we watch it in Kisumu through sattelite. > > > > > > Shame on you and your stooge, Ndemo. > > > > > > Alai > > > unedited > > > > > > On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 8:27 AM, alice <alice(a)apc.org> > > wrote: > > > > > > > Dear Robert... > > > > > > > > This is a warning to you. Respect KICTAnet mailing > > list rules especially > > > > these ones: > > > > > > > > *WHAT KINDS OF THINGS ARE INAPPROPRIATE FOR THE > > LISTSERV?** *The > > > > listserv should *not* be used at this time for > > personal > > > > advertising of services or the advertisement of > > services available > > > > from someone else. Please do *not* send updates > > of your addresses > > > > or other personal contact details to the > > listserv. Greetings to > > > > your friends, etc only flood mailboxes and > > should *not *be done > > > > through the listserv. Gender inappropriate or > > other references > > > > that may be offensive to some groups or > > individuals should not be > > > > posted, of course. > > > > * *Mailing list manners you must mind*: Don't send > > rude, political, > > > > tribal and offensive e-mails or postings. * Be > > polite - virtual > > > > members are real not a cyberspace dunderheads > > with no feelings.* > > > > Watch your words - We can't see your face, and > > the emotions in > > > > words can get misinterpreted.* Kick the bad > > language - People are > > > > listening.* Laws are laws - What's real in the > > real world are the > > > > same in cyberspace. Be ethical in your posting, > > don't lie, > > > > plagiarize, or deliberately do harm to another > > KICTANet forum user. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > if you repeat these offences we shall ban you from > > this list. > > > > > > > > regards > > > > > > > > alice munyua > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -------- Original Message -------- > > > > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Kenya: The Media is > > Not Innocent > > > > Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:51:59 +0300 > > > > From: Robert Alai <alai.robert(a)gmail.com> > > > > To: alice(a)apc.org > > > > CC: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions > > <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > > > > References: > > > > > > > <fb2c60220802130416x356f9e9ap82debaf42c1e8407(a)mail.gmail.com> > > > > <453375.42402.qm(a)web36201.mail.mud.yahoo.com> > > > > > > > <21ca13ee0802130755if502766jfafb1e0376853656(a)mail.gmail.com> > > > > > > > <fb2c60220802140803l3b7d322meef08c0bcd42964c(a)mail.gmail.com> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Wainaina > > > > This is funny. On one hand you are describing how > > KTN/Standard did > > > > incite the public and ignore the fact that All Royal > > Media outlets > > > > including RamogiFM, Kameme, and KBC have gone to > > become Kikuyu > > > > chauvinist and not ready to protect the interest of > > Kenya. On another > > > > hand you claim ho the current Kenyan problem is > > political. *THE PROBLEM > > > > IS NOT POLITICAL BUT ETHNIC. *I have just come from a > > tour which took me > > > > from Tigoni, Juja, Nyeri, Naivasha, Eldoret, Kisumu, > > Yala and Busia. I > > > > travelled with the IDPs and listened and cried of > > what I heard. Kenyans > > > > are being denied their rights because they are not > > Kikuyu. I have the > > > > word of MPs and confirmed with IOM that the > > government explicitly > > > > informed the Redcross and IOM not to serve some > > communities. I have > > > > horror tales of women whose husbands were hacked with > > pangas inside > > > > Tigoni police station and the police couldnt save > > because they are not > > > > Kikuyu. I have talked to Abbas of IOM of how > > different Redcross is > > > > treating IDPs. kikuyu IDPs are treated with all care > > and others ignored. > > > > I personally snatched blankets from Pamela who is the > > regional redcross > > > > manager in Kisumu when she refused to give them to > > mothers and chidren I > > > > transported from tigoni and naivasha. I brought 17 > > buses and called > > > > redcross and informed them of my mission. I had a > > meeting with Dr Simiyu > > > > and Abbas Guled and they agreed to prepare the > > ground. After a whole day > > > > travel I got redcross not ready and when they saw the > > buses is when they > > > > started cutting the mbogas and meat. We handed over 4 > > children whose > > > > mother was admitted to Agha khan with serious illness > > and redcross took > > > > the children to a police station in Siaya. > > > > Kenyan problem is tribal and not political. We cannot > > have one tribe > > > > running roughshod and even the religious leaders from > > Kikuyu preaching > > > > the Kikuyu superiority. We cannot have one tribe > > killing and maiming > > > > Kenyans while claiming there is a genocide against > > Kikuyus. No Kikuyu > > > > was killed in Kisumu. Infact they were protected and > > even I have Mwangi, > > > > and Kuria who are my friends living and working in > > Kisumu even now when > > > > they cant work anywhere else. But Kibaki is ordering > > NGOs not to serve > > > > non Kikuyus. Kikuyus enjoy greater access to loans > > and even humanitarian > > > > assistance. Go to Kondele in Kisumu where the Kikuyu > > IDPs are housed. > > > > You will find that there is a bigger difference with > > Moi stadium where > > > > redcross dont want to even put basic facilities > > forcing the local > > > > community in Kisumu to house the IDPs at St Stephens. > > > > kenyans, these theories of Bitange and Wainaina only > > works for the few > > > > they serve. Bitange was key in selling 51percent > > shares of Telkom Kenya > > > > to the french consortium at 26 Billion Ksh. Before > > that the government > > > > cleared a debt of 69 billion. if 51% shares were sold > > at 26 it menas > > > > that Telkom Kenya was just worht 52 Billion. Why > > settle a debt of 69 > > > > billion? What is the mathematics here? telkom Kenya > > was worthless? Shame > > > > on you Bitange. Only people who dont know your inner > > dealings will > > > === message truncated === > > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > Be a better friend, newshound, and > know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. > http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ > > -- --------------------------------- www.kazi-africa.com polls2007.blogspot.com ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. --------------------------------------------- "easy access to the world" ---------------------------------------------- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. --------------------------------------------- "easy access to the world"

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Is Big Brother watching us?
by Miano Njoka 18 Feb '08

18 Feb '08

A while back, the government announced that it would prosecute anyone sending hate messages via SMS. Safaricom's CEO mentioned in a post to this list that they were working on a filtering system to stop hate messages, pornography, etc. Are these actions right? Is Big Brother (in George Orwell's 1984) watching us? I guess valid arguments can be made both for and against the government invading its citizens privacy in the interest of national security, what I'd like to know is, are these actions legal? Are there laws in Kenya to protect the right to privacy? Are communication companies bound by law to protect their customers information? Are these laws, if any, enforced? Miano Njoka.

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The Truth about Telkom
by Victor Maloi 18 Feb '08

18 Feb '08

The truth about Telkom I worked for Telkom Kenya, I know Telkom's problems from the 1980's, I knew Telkom players but last week's e-mail in this forum directed at Dr. Bitange Ndemo regarding Telkom (see the last paras of the e-mail) was purely a smear campaign. I have not met Ndemo in person but the day I meet him, I will hug him for playing part in saving this National asset. Throughout the 1980's my cousins from the Rift Valley blundered the giant telco. Nine thousand of their kin with barely standard seven certificates were employed to hang around corridors. At one point there were ten tea girls in the MD's office. Managers built magnificent real estate properties in Nairobi using the resources from Telkom. The state corporation owed everybody including KRA and employee pension fund. At one time KRA was owed 30 billion. When Alai implies that the Government used 69 billion to restructure then sold 51% of the corporation for 26 billion as rip off, he only shows us how naïve he is. Did he expect the French to retire the debts? In my view this Alai man is being used to cover up things in Telkom. Remember in the run up to the election ODM opposed the sale. Now the truth has come out. My cousins did not want anybody to unravel the blunder of public resources they had stolen. They used some of this resource to oil the ODM campaign. This the same money the Kauleis are using to pay militias in the Rift Valley. For sometime now my cousins tightly kept the secrets at Telkom and were jittery when one of theirs Munsonic was bundled out and later Kirei. To date these cousins of mine still hold the corporation at ransom having created small companies with long term contracts with the corporation. The link between these people and Alai's people was clearly articulated in a rift valley FM station by a Mr. Sang. He called the Luos the "Bridge" the Kikuyu the "weeds" the Kisiis and Luhyias "madoadoa". The Bridge was to be used to bring them to the Promised Land. The one in which most us were dubbed that we were part of the larger Kalenjin. Today we suffer in Transmara where the Kalenjin are threatening to take even our local leadership. You guess what happened to the weeds and madoadoas. This brings me to a conclusion that Alai is not alone although he may me working foolishly not knowing that he is being used as a stepping stone. We eagerly await for the Truth Commission to bring all this out before we start attacking people who may not have been party to the destruction of Telkom and other state corporations. Victor Alai's e-mail Wainaina This is funny. On one hand you are describing how KTN/Standard did incite the public and ignore the fact that All Royal Media outlets including RamogiFM, Kameme, and KBC have gone to become Kikuyu chauvinist and not ready to protect the interest of Kenya. On another hand you claim ho the current Kenyan problem is political. *THE PROBLEM IS NOT POLITICAL BUT ETHNIC. *I have just come from a tour which took me from Tigoni, Juja, Nyeri, Naivasha, Eldoret, Kisumu, Yala and Busia. I travelled with the IDPs and listened and cried of what I heard. Kenyans are being denied their rights because they are not Kikuyu. I have the word of MPs and confirmed with IOM that the government explicitly informed the Redcross and IOM not to serve some communities. I have horror tales of women whose husbands were hacked with pangas inside Tigoni police station and the police couldnt save because they are not Kikuyu. I have talked to Abbas of IOM of how different Redcross is treating IDPs. kikuyu IDPs are treated with all care and others ignored. I personally snatched blankets from Pamela who is the regional redcross manager in Kisumu when she refused to give them to mothers and chidren I transported from tigoni and naivasha. I brought 17 buses and called redcross and informed them of my mission. I had a meeting with Dr Simiyu and Abbas Guled and they agreed to prepare the ground. After a whole day travel I got redcross not ready and when they saw the buses is when they started cutting the mbogas and meat. We handed over 4 children whose mother was admitted to Agha khan with serious illness and redcross took the children to a police station in Siaya. Kenyan problem is tribal and not political. We cannot have one tribe running roughshod and even the religious leaders from Kikuyu preaching the Kikuyu superiority. We cannot have one tribe killing and maiming Kenyans while claiming there is a genocide against Kikuyus. No Kikuyu was killed in Kisumu. Infact they were protected and even I have Mwangi, and Kuria who are my friends living and working in Kisumu even now when they cant work anywhere else. But Kibaki is ordering NGOs not to serve non Kikuyus. Kikuyus enjoy greater access to loans and even humanitarian assistance. Go to Kondele in Kisumu where the Kikuyu IDPs are housed. You will find that there is a bigger difference with Moi stadium where redcross dont want to even put basic facilities forcing the local community in Kisumu to house the IDPs at St Stephens. kenyans, these theories of Bitange and Wainaina only works for the few they serve. Bitange was key in selling 51percent shares of Telkom Kenya to the french consortium at 26 Billion Ksh. Before that the government cleared a debt of 69 billion. if 51% shares were sold at 26 it menas that Telkom Kenya was just worht 52 Billion. Why settle a debt of 69 billion? What is the mathematics here? telkom Kenya was worthless? Shame on you Bitange. Only people who dont know your inner dealings will respect what you say. You really like to please masters and never acts proffesionaly. Alai

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Re: [kictanet] Fibre Optic Cables
by Eric Osiakwan 17 Feb '08

17 Feb '08

Nothing against all the big guns establishing in Kenya but what about a long term objective of building our own version of Akamai,googles, Limelights etc. Dont forget the real winners in the knowledge era are those who produce their own not use others. So our long term objective should be to have our own alongside others because it is a free market economy. Eric here ---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: Michuki Mwangi <michuki(a)swiftkenya.com> Reply-To: michuki(a)swiftkenya.com Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2008 08:14:04 +0300 > > >bitange(a)jambo.co.ke wrote: >> Good news is that Etisalat (our partners in Teams) in conjunction with >> Akamai are building an Internet Point of Presence (POP) in Fujaira thus >> eliminating long distance needs for Internet in this region. > >The long term objective should be to have the likes of Akamai, Limelight >and google collocating their nodes in Kenya. This will essentially keep >at least 50% of our Internet traffic local. > >Regards, > >Michuki. > >_______________________________________________ >kictanet mailing list >kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke >http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > >This message was sent to: eric(a)afrispa.org >Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/eric%40afrispa.org > -- Eric M.K Osiakwan Executive Secretary AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org) Tel: + 233.21.258800 Fax: + 233.21.258811 Cell: + 233.244.386792 Handle: eosiakwan Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/ Slang: "Tomorrow Now" --

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Kenya: The Media is Not Innocent
by alice 16 Feb '08

16 Feb '08

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=41049 KENYA: The Media Is Not Innocent Kwamboka Oyaro *NAIROBI, Feb 2 (IPS) - The media was partly blamed for the Rwandan genocide 14 years ago which left nearly one million people dead in 100 days. "Kill the Inkotanyi [cockroaches]!" a local radio station urged its listeners at the time. * "30 Days in Words and Pictures: Media Response in Kenya During the Election Crisis" -- a workshop organised here last week by California-based media advocacy group Internews -- enabled media professionals to conduct a "self-audit" of the role local media played in the post-election violence. The audit revealed that media -- especially vernacular radio stations -- might be partly to blame for the on-going violence sparked off by the announcement of Mwai Kibaki as winner of the Dec. 27 elections. The violence has reportedly claimed over 1,000 lives and displaced some 250,000 people since the December election. David Ochami, a commissioner with the Media Council of Kenya, told IPS that long before the elections were held, vernacular radio stations had ignited ethnic consciousness among the listeners "making them support leaders from their own tribe and harbour bad feelings about people from other communities." "The ethnic hate our radio station was propagating about those from outside the community was unbelievable. I can’t repeat any of those expressions at this forum," said a journalist with a vernacular radio station. "The unfortunate thing is we let these callers speak vile and laughed about it." "We took sides in the issue and we became subjective, forgetting our professional tenet of objectivity and neutrality. In fact, this polarization was so bad in the newsrooms that some broadcast journalists refused to cover or read news that wasn’t favourable to the candidate or party they supported," said a journalist. In fact, leading up to the elections the local media conveyed inflammatory campaign messages as advertisers’ announcements. "Both print and broadcast media put money ahead of responsibility by accepting and conveying paid-for hate material," Mildred Baraza, a Nairobi- based journalist told IPS. "This could have incited the audience, and when they got a chance they avenged as a result of the pre-election messages," she said. Redemtor Atieno, another Nairobi-based journalist who also helped to organise the workshop, is confident that the media’s biased reporting contributed to the mayhem in the country. "Professionalism was thrown to the dogs as tribe and partisanship carried the day. We failed our audience by conveying interests of politicians without questioning the impact of our stories," Atieno told IPS. Participants at the workshop also blamed media owners for playing a major role in encouraging the violence. "They had vested interests in either camp of the political divide," a reporter with Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) said, adding that he and his colleagues wanted to tell the real story but they couldn’t because the stories could portray the government in a bad light. "We had beautiful clips and stories from the field, but we went back to the newsroom knowing that the story would never be used," he said. Even privately owned media owners who backed different political parties had a hand in the stories that were carried. If it was about the party they supported, they exaggerated the story and generally depicted the opponents in negative ways. "The media organizations refrained from telling the world the truth about what was happening," Ochami told IPS. "There has been a tendency of portraying the Kenyan crisis as a problem between two ethnic groups -- where one [Kibaki’s Kikuyu] is victimized by another [opposition leader Raila Odinga’s Luo]. Any other story on the contrary is downplayed or ignored," Ochami explained. There are those who believe the media is innocent and the violence currently rocking the country was bound to happen anyway -- that historical economic inequalities among the Kenyan communities had to boil over at some point in time. "The public vented long bottled-up anger. It was meant to explode whether the media encouraged it or not," said a journalist at the workshop. "Many people voted last year for change and it was a protest vote against years of inequalities. When they realized this would not happen when Kibaki was declared winner, they exploded." Mitch Odera the moderator of the workshop and media consultant said one of the causes of Kenya’s unrest is the immaturity of its democracy. "There hasn’t been competitive democracy in our country. That is our problem," Odera told the participants at the workshop. The government was also blamed for the chaos because it slapped a blanket ban on live broadcasters soon after violence broke out in the country. "The ban did not extend to international media including the Internet which many Kenyans accessed and spread the word. This led to skewed information and hence panic and more destruction and deaths," said one journalist from the electronic media. The Editors Guild -- an organization of editors from all media organizations -- went to court this week to challenge the ban on broadcasters. Participants at the workshop also heard the first hand experiences of journalists who covered the post election violence. Practioners complained about threats to their lives and complained that they felt segregated from the rest of the country. As the workshop was taking place participants were well aware that several political writers and analysts had received death threats for writing stories that were viewed as unfavourable towards the government. (END/2008)

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Re: [kictanet] Media
by bitange＠jambo.co.ke 15 Feb '08

15 Feb '08

Dear Ms. Karretts-Makau, Perhaps I should start by thanking you and Edith. In all honesty, we want an evaluation that will attract ownership from all stakeholders. That is why we want distinguished members of the media fraternity plus a few others from organizations with high moral ground to conduct it. A lot has been writen in this forum but it is only you two who bothered to provide some guidelines. We shall ensure that the committee gets your comments and hopefully at the end of it all, we'll all be happy. Asante sana and have a great weekend. > I trust then that we can leave it in your capable hands to at least ensure > that the task force consider that structure and the format of the > questions > and that they reflect international standards in evaluation procedures. > > Permit me to reiterate Edith's comments: > > > âThe four internationally recognized evaluation standards: > > 1. Utility - who are the intended users? The evaluation should serve > the information needs of intended users, who should be defined from > the > outset. > 2. Feasibility - it should be realistic, prudent, diplomatic and > frugal. > 3. Propriety - it should be conducted legally, ethically and with due > regard for the welfare of those involved in the evaluation, as well as > those affected by its results. > 4. Accuracy - it will reveal and convey technically adequate > information about the features that determine the worth or merit of > the > subject being evaluated. > > Lastly, the purpose would need to be clear is it? "on improving rather > than > on proving, on understanding rather than on reporting, and on creating > knowledge for action/policy change rather than on taking > credit/punishing." > > > On 15/2/08 4:55 PM, "bitange(a)jambo.co.ke" <bitange(a)jambo.co.ke> wrote: > >> The format of the questions will be decided by the task force. >> >> Ndemo >> >> >> Sent from my BlackBerryÂ® >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Monica Kerretts-Makau <mkmakau(a)yahoo.co.uk> >> >> Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:02:07 >> To:<bitange(a)jambo.co.ke> >> Cc:'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions' <kict ---------------------------------------------- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. --------------------------------------------- "easy access to the world"

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