January 2010 - KICTANet

Electronic Voting Plan on Track is this another White elephant in the offing ?
by Barrack Otieno 05 Jan '10

05 Jan '10

Listers, Looking at the daily Nation on Page 6, i can see the IIEC has embarked on an e-voting project. Having studied the subject, i learnt that the US failed miserably in the 2000 election which it tried to conduct the electronic way, the election was marred by many irregularities, and as a matter of fact some results were nullified by the courts. The only countries that have succeeded in evoting to an extent are Brazil and India and this is because a Multi stakeholder approach was used to ensure there was voter trust and willingness to use the system, already one of the bidders is crying foul at tendering stage,is this an indicator of more trouble to come. What are your thoughts, this is a matter of National importance if the events of 2007 are anything to go by? -- Barrack O. Otieno Administrative Manager Afriregister Ltd (Ke) P.o.Box 21682 Nairobi 00100 Tel: +254721325277 +254733206359 +254202498789 Riara Road, Bamboo Lane www.afriregister.com www.afriregister.co.ke ICANN accredited registrar. Skype: barrack.otieno

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Question on ICT/BPO Park
by Agosta Liko 05 Jan '10

05 Jan '10

Guys.... I was interviewed the other day about this BPO/ICT park thats suppposed to be built by GOK using World Bank funds ... My question is ... was this a private sector idea or a government idea ? I am told its 70KM's from Nai .... is this true ? And what are your thoughts about the same ? Thanks

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@ 2010 Not Yet Uhuru
by Barrack Otieno 05 Jan '10

05 Jan '10

Distinguished listers, I have read through the comments and still feel it is not yet time to celebrate, what we have simply done in the year 2009 is to build buses (Policies, Infrastructure , Strategies) however Kenyans are still walking on foot and hurting their toes as a result since they havent seen the difference this buses will make in their lives. Many gains have been made but they still don't resonate with the common man for instance *why are accidents still maiming Kenyans whereas we can use ICT's to curb them significantly through* CCTV's and other technologies (refer to Kwa Zulu Natal SA), *why is the corruption index still high whereas we can use ICT's to significantly reduce* *corruption*, *why is access to treatment a challenge whereas telemedicine is a reality,* *why is education expensive whereas e-learning is a reality* we continue to witness Petty fights among stakeholders whereas there are *REAL* issues that must be addressed we need to shun this culture and cooperate if we are to achieve more, if ICT cannot contribute to Socio-economic liberation, *then it is not worth it,* for those who were hitting hard continue with the same spirit mediocrity should not be tolerated, for the Peacemakers, be blessed in the year 2010 and continue with that spirit. -- Barrack O. Otieno Administrative Manager Afriregister Ltd (Ke) P.o.Box 21682 Nairobi 00100 Tel: +254721325277 +254733206359 +254202498789 Riara Road, Bamboo Lane www.afriregister.com www.afriregister.co.ke ICANN accredited registrar. Skype: barrack.otieno

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customer service commitments from service providers
by muriuki mureithi 04 Jan '10

04 Jan '10

After the announcement of KCPE results on 29th , I and I believe many other Kenyans sent sms's through 2228 to get the results without success . for each sums I sent I discharged my obligation and was charged ksh20 to get service. After 5hrs I got responses from 2 sms's but for all the other sms, I never got a response and I have not been refunded the money deducted . Some customer service issues arise; - 1) when is a service deemed to have been rendered by a service provider? Can a service provider delay a response for 5 hrs and claim to have provided a service? - 2)my contract for cellular service is to Safaricom who charged me for all the sms I sent, when I called the customer service I was told the failure belonged to a service provider contracted by KNEC and could I call them. I declined to call them because I have no contractual relations with them. What is the obligation of the cellular operator when they charge on behalf of a third party who does not provide the service? - 3) Examination results by there scale provide the best platform to show that the ICT system have come of age. KCPE was a great platform, KCSE is just round the corner , what went wrong and what strategies are being put in place to avoid such terrible failures in future? Cheers Muriuki Mureithi

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ICANN 2010 @ Nairobi
by Barrack Otieno 04 Jan '10

04 Jan '10

Listers, I just visited http://nbo.icann.org/, there is a small video at the bottom about Kenya which is really Nice, i wish the organisers could place in where it can be viewed easily (strategically), i just noticed over 200 people have registered, good Job organisers, i am sure it will be a great event. Blessings -- Barrack O. Otieno Administrative Manager Afriregister Ltd (Ke) P.o.Box 21682 Nairobi 00100 Tel: +254721325277 +254733206359 +254202498789 Riara Road, Bamboo Lane www.afriregister.com www.afriregister.co.ke ICANN accredited registrar. Skype: barrack.otieno

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Re: [kictanet] KNEC giving candidates, parents a raw deal
by wesley kirinya 04 Jan '10

04 Jan '10

The solutions exists. I briefly listened to a panel on KTN/NTV the morning the results were being released and they seemed to have the solutions. The panel was composed of education experts and people who have researched (and written papers) in the problems plaguing our educational system. The panel said the issue is implementation. If we start going into this implementation issue we will open a can of worms. We would have to start another mail list for education issues! --- On Sun, 1/3/10, DAI <svarrer(a)digitalageinstitute.com> wrote: From: DAI <svarrer(a)digitalageinstitute.com> Subject: Re: [ke-internetusers] Re: [kictanet] KNEC giving candidates, parents a raw deal To: bitange(a)jambo.co.ke, "wesley kirinya" <kiriinya2000(a)yahoo.com> Cc: "Skunk Works" <skunkworks(a)my.co.ke>, "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke>, "ke-users" <ke-internetusers(a)bdix.net> Date: Sunday, January 3, 2010, 3:04 PM Dear Dr. Ndemo, Wesley, Skunk Works and all, We will take up this topic in our January issue 2010 of Digital Age Journal. Our theme is Career, and since the career for almost 100% of humans starts in primary school, I would appreciate if you and others could maybe start analyzing the problem - just right here - then we could maybe have a meeting discussing what we shall do. I am so much in agreement with the statement that citizens complain too much. We as citizens and business owners in Kenya shall promote, strengthen, propose solutions, and put our beard in the drawer together with our own proposals !! I mean - we shall propose solutions, but we shall then also back up our own solutions with action. Churchill said this very clearly: Ask not what the country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country... We shall promote, support, backup our governments positive efforts, instead of electing the wrong politicians and then complain when it goes all wrong. I have a profound attitude in life that if you are dissatisfied with something, then of course you should mention it, but never without taking responsibility for implementing a solution. There is always a way !! If you for some reason end up working with someone who cannot see further than to their own pocket - then just drop working with them... There will always be someone you can work with, who see the light - or whom even are the candle-holders themselves. Look at it from this side here: Yes, there is corruption in Kenya. But darn. There is corruption everywhere in the world. I am from Denmark, one of the so called least corrupt nations. Let me tell you - there is corruption there too !! It has just been hidden much better - thats all. In stead of dwelling on that maybe 20% of your tax revenue goes to corruption - then dwell on that 80% then goes to the right things !!!!! I propose that you send me an e-mail with your name and mobile. Send it to: primaryIT(a)digitalageinstitute.com and sign up for a meeting where we are going to discuss and take the Primary School Education - focused on IT - a step further - and take up that debate. If the contributions are serious, we will print a multi page article about this in our January issue !! I would expect to call the meeting to order on January 18th, 2010 on our location. Write about what you want to contribute with on the meeting. Kind regards Digital Age Institute Ltd. David Svarrer ----- Original Message ----- From: bitange(a)jambo.co.ke To: wesley kirinya Cc: Skunk Works ; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions ; ke-users Sent: Wednesday, December 30, 2009 1:46 PM Subject: Re: [ke-internetusers] Re: [kictanet] KNEC giving candidates, parents a raw deal Dear Wesley, No one should fail an exam because we have nowhere to take them if they passed. Already we have B grade students who are not getting into Universiry. Every year we get similar concerns but no one has ever asked if indeed we need KCPE exams. To date I do not know the objective of this exam. If our promlem just like everybody else is literacy, then we only need the KCSE exams. The assumption here is that by the time someone sits for KCSE, they would be literate and mature enough to consider options. At KCPE level, I am afraid we keep on increasing our illiteracy levels the moment 250,000 fail to proceed further. In my view we all have failed to analyse this problem objectively. Media keeps on reporting but not analysing the problems. Citizens continue to complain and not making proposals to the Government. The KNUT, parents, politicians have subjected the Ministry into crisis mode instead of reforming the sector. KNUT knows that at least one third of teacheers in Primary Public Schools cannot pass or did not pass KCPE. Then we ask why Private Schools perform better? Ndemo. > I'm concerned about the hundreds of thousands of students that will miss > high school. Last year 250,000 missed it. Over a five year period, this > adds up to more than a million, in a country whose population is about 40 > million! > > Out of those who go to high school, only a handful end up in university. > Someone should do a sturdy on the loss to our economy. The government > spends lots on money to educate 250,000 people annually who will not get > to high school. With our current systems, most of these 250,000 will not > get descent employment/stable sources of income. Most of them come from > rural areas, which are the areas that need serious development and skilled > man-power to drive the development. If I opened a branch of my company in > some rural area of Kenya, who will I employ? Even if I employ some people, > they would be threatened by the Mungiki-types (children who join gangs in > order to extort money) > > We need every child in Kenya, willing to go to school, to be able to > archieve at least Diploma level. Without that, we should forget vision > 2030 and competing with India and other Asian countries! The Chinese will > continue building our roads, as Kenyans sweep them with brooms, not even > specialized machines! > > I would like to bring in a different perspective as to the low > performance, which someone mentioned as seriously wrong. What would happen > if most students passed their exams, especially now with record numbers > enrolling in schools? Where will they go? You would have students with B > grades missing high school. That would be a great embrassment to > goverment. > > If money is available to buy fleets of new cars (which dont really add to > our GDP), surely there should be money for better quality of education for > our children (which definately adds to our GDP). > > This is a national disaster. > > O~( > > > --- On Wed, 12/30/09, Akich Kwach <kwach(a)archway-productions.com> wrote: > > From: Akich Kwach <kwach(a)archway-productions.com> > Subject: Re: [kictanet] KNEC giving candidates, parents a raw deal > To: kiriinya2000(a)yahoo.com > Cc: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > Date: Wednesday, December 30, 2009, 9:39 AM > > Gentlemen, > Thanks for sharing your concerns. I would agree with MM and Zachary > because KNEC ought to have known every candidate and parents would be > interested in getting their results at the earliest hour and should have > tested the system's capacity ahead of time. It is sad upto this hour, I > spent on SMS three times and no reply yet. If such trends continue, the > ICT investments might just be a wate of public funds and citizens might > lose faith in the so called e-Govt. I would humbly request the PS, Dr > Bitange and the ICT Board to intervene and find out what transpired at the > KNEC system. > > For the parents who had 2009 candidates, I am concerned with the general > national perfomance taking into account that subjects such as SST where > candidates usually score high marks recorded poor performance, something > is not right somewhere. > > WISHING YOU A HAPPY 2010 > > Akich Kwach > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "mureithi" > <mureithi(a)summitstrategies.co.ke> > To: <kwach(a)archway-productions.com> > Cc: <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Sent: Tuesday, December 29, 2009 6:43 PM > Subject: Re: [kictanet] KNEC giving candidates, parents a raw deal > > >> Thanks barrack >> For the candidate and their family they interacted with the ict system >> and the interface was the sms and the web. We should not hide behind >> huge traffic because the phenomena and the time is known and the >> implications. >> Another terrible failure is that i and many thousands kenyans paid >> upfront to the ict system for a service that was not delivered >> >> >> ____________ >> Muriuki Mureithi >> Summit Strategies Ltd sent from cellphone >> >> ________________ Reply Header ________________ >> Subject: Re: [kictanet] KNEC giving candidates, parents a raw deal >> Author: Barrack Otieno <otieno.barrack(a)gmail.com> >> Date: 29th December 2009 12:51 >> >> MM, >> >> I guess it's a bit premature to blame the System, the problem stems from >> how >> the whole announcement was managed, it was improper for the Ministers >> handlers to say the results would be available on the site immediately >> after >> the speech, with the anxiety that had been going on i'm sure even the >> best >> servers might not have handled the hits, no wonder the systems were >> unable >> to cope, however this serves as a lesson to KNEC, i am sure they will do >> better in 2010. >> >> Happy New Year ! >> >> On 12/29/09, mureithi <mureithi(a)summitstrategies.co.ke> wrote: >>> >>> Zachary >>> This was the great opportunity for the ict system to prove its value to >>> our >>> society. It failed miserably to just serve less than 1 percent of the >>> population and had to walk to schools. Zain however stood tall and 2228 >>> worked. >>> ____________ >>> Muriuki Mureithi >>> Summit Strategies Ltd sent from cellphone >>> >>> ________________ Reply Header ________________ >>> Subject: [kictanet] KNEC giving candidates, parents a raw deal >>> Author: Zachary Ochieng <zzachmbir(a)yahoo.com> >>> Date: 29th December 2009 09:59 >>> >>> >>> Despite the digitisation of exam results by the Kenya National >>> Examinations Council (KNEC) and the Ministry of Education, the platform >>> doesn't seem to be working. My daughter is one of the candidates who >>> sat >>> KCPE in November 2009. But more than two hours after the release of the >>> results by Education minister Sam Ongeri, the KNEC website from where >>> the >>> candidates are supposed to check their results remains down. Worse >>> still, >>> the 2228 no. to which candidates should text their index numbers to get >>> results is also not working but continues to consume airtime to the >>> tune of >>> Ksh 20 per SMS. If this is not a rip off, then I don't know the >>> definition, >>> coming as it does at a time when the ministry is reeling from a theft >>> scandal. >>> >>> One wonders what else the ministry could be hiding. While announcing >>> the >>> top candidates, Ongeri never mentioned the names of their schools. But >>> it is >>> anyone's guess that majority of them are from private schools. Rather >>> than >>> bash the media as he did during the release of the results, Ongeri >>> should >>> tell us what is bedevilling FPE. >>> >>> Can someone please help? MY daughter has refused to take lunch until >>> she >>> gets her results. >>> >>> >>> >>> --- Be the change you want to see in the world. >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> kictanet mailing list >>> kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke >>> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet >>> >>> This message was sent to: mureithi(a)summitstrategies.co.ke >>> Unsubscribe or change your options at >>> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/mureithi%40summitstrat… >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> kictanet mailing list >>> kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke >>> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet >>> >>> This message was sent to: otieno.barrack(a)gmail.com >>> Unsubscribe or change your options at >>> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/otieno.barrack%40gmail… >>> >> >> >> >> -- Barrack O. Otieno >> Administrative Manager >> Afriregister Ltd (Ke) >> P.o.Box 21682 >> Nairobi 00100 >> Tel: >> +254721325277 >> +254733206359 >> +254202498789 >> Riara Road, Bamboo Lane >> www.afriregister.com >> www.afriregister.co.ke >> ICANN accredited registrar. >> Skype: barrack.otieno >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> kictanet mailing list >> kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke >> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet >> >> This message was sent to: kwach(a)archway-productions.com >> Unsubscribe or change your options at >> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/kwach%40archway-produc… > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > This message was sent to: kiriinya2000(a)yahoo.com > Unsubscribe or change your options at > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/kiriinya2000%40yahoo.c… > > > > > ---------------------------------------------- > This message has been scanned for viruses and > dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is > believed to be clean. > --------------------------------------------- > "easy access to the world" > > _______________________________________________ > ke-internetusers mailing list > ke-internetusers(a)bdix.net > http://www.bdix.net/mailman/listinfo/ke-internetusers > ---------------------------------------------- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. --------------------------------------------- "easy access to the world" _______________________________________________ ke-internetusers mailing list ke-internetusers(a)bdix.net http://www.bdix.net/mailman/listinfo/ke-internetusers

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@ 2010 ICT Hall of Fame
by Barrack Otieno 02 Jan '10

02 Jan '10

Distinguished listers Ladies and Gentlemen Happy New Year ! I woke up this morning singing the National Anthem and i want to imagine it will be a great year for this Nation, in particular the words "May we dwell in Unity Peace and Liberty", really tickled my consience. That aside, i attended last years annual ICT awards organised by the Computer Society of Kenya, during the function , the ICT hall of fame was introduced and Messrs George Okado, Engineer James Rege, Njeri Rionge and the Late Dr Juma Aketch were honored, however i noticed a number of eminent persons in the ICT sector and listers were absent for whatever reasons and as a result this brethren (Permit me to use this terminology because of my faith) were not given due recognition. On another note i saw Mr Atwoli making a declaration on TV that some athletes should be given state commendation and it happened, i was surprised because there are men and women who have transformed this nation through technology and have inspired many yet they have not received this state commendation, i need correction if i am wrong. My request is that by the end of this year we need to see names like Michael Joseph MBS, Njeri Rinoge MBS, George Okado, Alex Gakuru, Dr Ndemo, Walu if this means collecting one million signatures then we should start now. this will inspire many Kenyans who are still in school. Let us put aside all sectarian interests an unite in celebrating our very own achievers as opposed to doing them as sideshows which makes the events look ordinary Blessings -- Barrack O. Otieno Administrative Manager Afriregister Ltd (Ke) P.o.Box 21682 Nairobi 00100 Tel: +254721325277 +254733206359 +254202498789 Riara Road, Bamboo Lane www.afriregister.com www.afriregister.co.ke ICANN accredited registrar. Skype: barrack.otieno

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Fwd: Kenyan GIS project with postal data complete!!!!
by warigia bowman 01 Jan '10

01 Jan '10

Dear colleagues Here is some work I did. It is based on raw data provided to me in 2007 by the Ministry of Information, Your comments are welcome. If you use this, please attribute it to me. Rigia ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: warigia bowman <warigia(a)gmail.com> Date: Thu, Apr 10, 2008 at 11:09 AM Subject: Fwd: Kenyan GIS project with postal data complete!!!! To: Steven Levitsky <levitsky(a)wcfia.harvard.edu> Dear Steve Thank you for our talk yesterday. It was very helpful and I learned a lot. Here is my GIS work on Kenya. It is just a nice 'quantitative confirmation' of some of my intuitive insights which we discussed. Please do not circulate the maps, as this is the first time this data has been processed in this way, and I do not want to release them until I can figure out how to publish this in some format. The reason is that people in Africa are not very sensitive to intellectual property and plagiarize pretty freely. I will get you a schedule for my dissertation completion sometime today. Sincerely, Rigia -- Dr. Warigia Bowman Assistant Professor The Department of Public Policy Leadership The University of Mississippi 107 Odom Hall University, MS 38677 URL: http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/leadership/index.html PHONE: 662-915-1904 EMAIL: mwbowman(a)olemiss.edu

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