November 2011 - KICTANet

Re: [kictanet] Korea - Dr Ndemo for Presidency!
by bitange＠jambo.co.ke 15 Nov '11

15 Nov '11

Alice, It is more complicated than simply picking on the ideological choice. Usually it is how the politics of any state interacts with the economy that an ideology is born. If you recall, in communism, the state controlled the economy. That is how we referred to that as planned economies, that is the politicians decided what to do with state productive resources. Communism died 1989 and burried in Germany. Capitalism however has been more dynamic. Its originators thought that there must be a separation between the economy and politics like we do in Church and State. Thus the development of the private sector. In 1930 recession, Roosevelt slightly changed it by introducing welfare in cases where the resources do not trickle to the bottom. He feared there would a revolt in favour of Communism since it promised equality. In the 80's came Reagan and Thatcher who were basically anti-government and started to deregulate arguing that the businessmen know better. This was a powerful movement and indeed most countries abandoned regulation even on the financial markets. New financial instruments emerged. Instead of asset backed securities we got leveraged securities (means that you take your mortgage and use it as security to get more money). This came down crashing as evidenced by Lehman Brothers. Obama stepped in and changed the history of Capitalism by rescuing the failing banks. We are now in a vacum and the practices that created the problem permiated to our part of the world. We need to maintain a strong regulatory regime otherwise we get into serious problems. We are still going to experience problems since our currency is linked to the fragile Euro. What you will never be told by Europeans is that by embrasing Laissers Faire economics the economic fundermentals were wrong. The Greek people for example started to retire at 50 with good pension. One in three Greeks is a civil servant and the few in Private sector have strong Unions. Essentially they produced nothing to back up their good life and they borrowed to maintain it. As we stand today things are getting worse in Europe. Rating agencies have put France on Notice. Italy if it falls, we shall all suffer. China which has lots of Money keeps on manipulating their currency but if consumption of their goods fall especially in the US, they will suffer. Back to ideology. The Chinese have a modified version of Communism/capitalism. Some thinkers ask if such a model is good. If you go by Maslaw's hierachy of needs, this model will not last. You are going to see people demand for some rights. In Sweden they have a social democracy where the state takes care of social services like education and health care. In this model you are heavily taxed up to 50% of your income. So if Africa were to find a quick solution to fast tracking development, we need to adopt one of the Newly Industrialized economies of Asia but we must give up some rights. Singapore and Korea had benevolent dictators. If you understand McGregor's theory of X and Y. Africa falls in the X category for some time. We are attempting to both economic and political reforms at the same time. It has never happened anywhere except india and the reason why India will take longer to be like China or Korea. You now understand that both the state and private sector have failed capitalism. Whatever that emerges Capitalism will never be the same again. This why we need to chart our own way. Be it social democracy or modified capitalism. The politico-economic direction must be understood by those who vote because they provide the corrective mechanism. That is why Kaletsky stated "politicians are corrupt, banks are greedy, businessmen are incompetent and voters are stupid". We therefore need an ideology. Imagine if God dropped $100 trillion in Kenya. Shall we become developed? The answer is NO. Sometimes back while at the University we got a pay rise back dated to one year before. I was Chairman of Department then. The University was deserted. Most of my colleagues went to drink and forgot to teach. Most were suddenly generous and others became arrogant. This lasted only as long as the resource lasted. These were PhDs behaving this way. What will happen with the ordinary citizen. I still ask my self: Can we leapfrog in Development? Ndemo. ------Original Message------ From: Alice Munyua Sender: kictanet-bounces+bitange=jambo.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke To: Chief Oladukun Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Korea - Dr Ndemo for Presidency! Sent: Nov 14, 2011 1:42 PM Dear P.S Ndemo, You note that we have adopted nonsensical ideologies, did we have a choice? Many have have argued that we have often lacked the socio-economic organisation to transform and develop into advanced economies and that's the reason why we seem to continuously adopt foreign ideologies and depend on industrialised countries. Countries like Korea seem to have certain attributes that have enabled them to adapt more easily to "development" from having a more educated/skilled labour force, technologically advanced, but the most important factor seems to be their (authoritarian) leadership, who are more ideologically committed to socio-economic progress and development. The Korean experience raise's the old questions regarding the relationship between socio-economic development and regime type. So could the challenge and a our biggest problem be corrupt politicians and stupid voters? And perhaps it is time to move towards de-ideologisation having experienced the failure of previous "adopted" ideologies in solving our unique challenges and crises and let us hope that it will be sustainable. Best Alice On 14/11/2011 16:06, bitange(a)jambo.co.ke wrote: Muraya, Let it be clear that as we fight corruption, we are not the only corrupt. I am reading Capitalism 4.0 and Kaletsky argues that "politicians are corrupt, banks are greedy and voters are stupid". If you have followed the financial crisis in both US and Europe, you cannot believe the level of corruption. I am looking forward to see what TI reports. Although I support the idea that we should fight our own corruption war, it is absurd to be characterized as corrupt yet we see what is happening. We need to understand these new forms of corruption as they impact on us. The volatility of our shilling is a reaction to the financial crisis elsewhere. If we were to leave everything to the dictates of economics, our shilling will highly be valued. The continued currency manipulation by some countries will destabilize Africa. What you are seeing is a failure of La Sent from my BlackBerry®

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PCK Plot sale
by robert yawe 15 Nov '11

15 Nov '11

Dr. Ndemo, I would to request that we have a discussion on the forum about your support of the sale of the PCK plot to Bharti Airtel as I find it difficult to reconcile your stand on transparency and the support of the sale. Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

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Bid to cancel broadcast licences halted
by alice＠apc.org 15 Nov '11

15 Nov '11

Another long delay to implementing some of the very good provisions of the KCA amendment act. ----------------------- Bid to cancel broadcast licences halted By PAUL JUMA pjuma(a)ke.nationmedia.comPosted Monday, November 14 2011 at 22:30 The government has been blocked from cancelling broadcast licences or interfering with frequencies pending determination of a case by media owners. The High Court on Monday granted the interim injunction after the Media Owners Association (MOA) filed an application and a constitutional petition against the government. (Read: Kenyan broadcasters have only days to apply for new licences) Following the order, the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) cannot cancel, suspend, restrict or interfere with media licences, frequencies, broadcasting spectrums and services before determination of MOA's suit. The court also set the matter for a hearing on Wednesday and directed the MOA to serve the Attorney General, the CCK and the Ministry of Information. The three are the respondents in the application. The media owners sprung into action after the government issued a press release last Thursday warning that no entity would be allowed to broadcast without a licence, beginning Wednesday. A day later, CCK issued a further public notice that it would repossess some frequencies currently being held by the media owners. The MOA argues that action by CCK is unlawful and unreasonable. Repossess frequencies According to the MOA lawyer, Mr Issa Mansur, the CCK had threatened to repossess the frequencies before discussions, on the implementation of the Constitution and establishment of an Independent Broadcasting Authority, were conducted. Share This Story Share MOA chairman Samuel Kamau Macharia, in a statement to court, also accuses the CCK of issuing the notice when media owners and the Attorney General were still consulting on draft Bills to implement Article 34 of the Constitution. Article 34 guarantees the freedom of the media. It also provides that Parliament shall enact a law creating an independent body to set media standards and monitor compliance with those standards. The MOA says that it had met the Attorney General, on October 17, and discussed those provisions. They were still waiting for another meeting, to be convened by the AG to discuss the draft Bills, when the CCK placed the notice of cancellation of licenses, Mr Macharia says. Any action by CCK at this stage would be unlawful and unreasonable, he has told the court. The MOA argues that the Ministry of Information has the constitutional mandate of ensuring that the government's Media and Broadcasting policies are in accord with the Constitution. The ministry's mandate is also to ensure that the Government does not overstep its mandate in regulation of media and broadcasting services. The MOA's constitutional petition is seeking some declarations and interpretation of Article 34. The association wants the court to declare that the two notices by the CCK are null and void. It also wants the court to declare that media freedom under Article 34 have been infringed and threatened. The MOA is also seeking a declaration that the Article envisages an Independent Broadcasting Authority free from government, political interests and commercial interests. It has also applied for a permanent injunction stopping the ministry and CCK from interfering with its members' licenses. http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Bid+to+cancel+broadcast+licences+halted/-/1056…

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THREATS TO JOURNALISTS AND NEWS SOURCES OVER KTN EXPOSE
by Grace Githaiga 15 Nov '11

15 Nov '11

THREATS TO JOURNALISTS AND NEWS SOURCES OVER KTN EXPOSE by Kenya National Commision on Human Rights on Monday, November 14, 2011 Over the last few days, the Kenya Television Network (KTN) has run a series titled “Paruwanja ya Mihadarati” on the cocaine haul of 2004 and deaths deemed to be related to it. Since the series was broadcast, it has come to the attention of KNCHR that the two journalists who produced the story, Mohamed Ali and Dennis Onsarigo, and some of their sources have expressed fear for their lives. Similar concerns have been received from the public who watched the series. Subsequently, the police spokesman, Mr Eric Kiraithe, issued a statement in which he termed the exposé a falsehood. KNCHR and Article 19 would like to state the following: Articles 33, 34 and 35 of the Constitution guarantee freedom of expression, freedom of the media, and access to information. Any attempts to water down the constitutional guarantees on these freedoms must be condemned, resisted and opposed by all law-abiding citizens and organisations. Any threats to journalists (or their sources) in the course of their legitimate activities are illegal, criminal and tantamount to clawing back on the progress made to secure fundamental freedoms in the new constitutional dispensation. When MPs raised concerns over the KTN exposé in Parliament last week, the Assistant Minister for Internal Security and Provincial Administration, Mr Orwa Ojode, responded by saying a team had been set up to investigate the handling of the 2004 cocaine haul, its storage and disposal. It is unclear what the composition of the team is, the terms of reference, its deadline, or to whom it will give their report. For credibility, these must be clarified. The predicament of the KTN journalists and their sources raises related concerns about witness protection. The media’s watchdog role is critical for public access to information that would otherwise be impossible to get. Information thus obtained enables the public to better participate in national development and to hold leaders and institutions accountable. The role of the media in enriching public discourse must not be frustrated or sacrificed at the altar of narrow personal interests. The drug menace at the Coast (and indeed other parts of the country) remains a challenge to law enforcement officers, the provincial administration, and other institutions like NACADA. Concerted efforts must be put in place to stop drug trafficking, drug abuse and related vices to protect the youth from harm and danger. Finally, we welcome the signing of the Independent Policing Oversight Bill which now becomes the Independent Policing Oversight Act. The Act, signed by President Kibaki last Friday, provides for greater public participation in the work of the police than before. It is hoped that the implementation of the Act will enhance trust, accountability and transparency, potentially reducing suspicion between the police and the public whom they serve and from whose taxes the police are paid. Signed: Florence Simbiri-Jaoko KNCHR CHAIRPERSON Henry Maina DIRECTOR, ARTICLE 19 KENYA/EASTERN AFRICA ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have the strength to survive, you have the power to succeed. Life is all about choices we make depending upon the situation we are in. Go forth and rule the World!

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DotAfrica RFP
by Dandjinou Pierre 14 Nov '11

14 Nov '11

Fyi, This was sent out by the Africa Union Commission Apologies for cross posting.. Pierre Dandjinou

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Lets all move to remote parts of Africa - The laptops are coming :)
by Agosta Liko 13 Nov '11

13 Nov '11

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/11/the-sods-must-be-crazy-olpc-to-… The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project has devised a bizarre plan for deploying its new XO-3 tablet. The organization plans to drop the touchscreen computers from helicopters near remote villages in developing countries. The devices will then be abandoned and left for the villagers to find, distribute, support, and use on their own. OLPC founder Nicholas Negroponte is optimistic that the portable devices—which will be stocked with electronic books—will empower children to learn to read without any external support or instruction. The strange scheme reflects the OLPC project’s roots in constructivist education theory, which emphasizes self-directed learning. The OLPC project was originally founded to produce low-cost education-focused laptops for children. The organization planned to sell the devices in bulk to governments in developing countries, which would then distribute them in classrooms. The plan was to leverage economy of scale in manufacturing to bring the costs down, making the laptop cheap enough that governments would be able to supply one to every child. Although the ambitious project sold several million laptops, it fell far short of its lofty goals and has been on life support for the past few years. In addition to fundamental logistical<http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2008/01/olpc-angering-donors-give-1-ge…>and technical failures, OLPC also suffered from internal friction<http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2008/04/negroponte-developers-at-odds-…>, ideological conflicts<http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2008/04/exodus-of-key-figures-from-olp…>, and poor management<http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2008/03/olpc-project-looks-for-new-lea…>. OLPC was forced to downsize half its staff<http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/01/g1g1-failure-and-reduced-sp…>and discontinue its software platform<http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2009/01/olpc-downsizes-half-of-its-sta…>in 2009 (a separate organization called Sugar Labs was founded to pick up where OLPC left off on the software) after its second give-one-get-one fundraiser fell through the floor. After the staff cuts, OLPC dropped its plan to produce a dual-touchscreen laptop and instead decided to focus on tablets. The organization showed off glossy concept art of an impossibly thin XO-3 tablet at the end of 2009. Last year, it announced a partnership<http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/05/olpc-partners-with-marvell-gets…>with hardware component maker Marvell. OLPC pragmatically chose to adopt Marvell’s off-the-shelf reference design instead of trying to pursue the unrealistic form factor that was shown in the original XO-3 mockups. The tablets that Negroponte intends to fling from helicopters are based on that Marvell design, but with a few enhancements, such as solar powered batteries that will allow them to be used in regions without access to electricity. It’s not clear yet if the organization was able to successfully meet its target $75 production price. Negroponte described the helicopter drop plan at the Open Mobile Summit event in San Francisco. According to a PC Magazine report<http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2395763,00.asp#fbid=yj2DHk4jyPG>, he compared the project to the classic 1980 film, *The Gods Must Be Crazy*, which depicted how an isolated tribe in the Kalahari Desert might react to discovering a Coca-Cola bottle that fell from an airplane. “We’ll take tablets and drop them out of helicopters into villages that have no electricity and school, then go aback a year later and see if the kids can read,” Negroponte told The Register<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/02/negroponte_tablet_airdrops/>. He reportedly cited Professor Sugata Mitra’s Hole in the Wall<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HiWEL>experiment as the basis for his belief that dropping the tablets will encourage self-directed literacy. Among the major challenges that the OLPC project was never able to fully overcome during its laptop days were supporting the hardware in the field and providing teachers with the proper training and educational material. In light of the cost and difficulty of tackling those issues, it’s not hard to see why the eccentric stealth drop approach looks appealing to Negroponte. The obvious downside, however, is the sheer improbability that a majority of the dropped devices will ever serve their intended function. It seems unlikely that Negroponte will find governments that are willing to fund such an odd boondoggle, though Marvell has provided some financial backing<http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2010/10/olpc-gets-56-million-from-m…>. Perhaps somebody needs to air drop Negroponte a healthy dose of common sense to go with his change-the-world ambitions.

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Re: [kictanet] kictanet Digest, Vol 54, Issue 37(Linking higher education and economic development)
by Titus Ngeno 13 Nov '11

13 Nov '11

All, The Grand Jewel of South Korea economic development is their Education which is comparable to Finland's Schools Success. Education in South Korea is viewed as being crucial for success and competition is consequently very heated and fierce. As Dr Ndemo eluted the success of South Korean government mandated high-speed Internet capacity as a top national mission - and put $60 billion in its budget to make sure it worked. Clyde Prestowitz once said --Some think of South Korea as a developing country - an "Asian tiger" defended by 30,000 U.S. troops and locked in a tense standoff with its counterpart to the North. Its worth saying; If students get an immersion experience overseas, they will be able to put their concerns in perspective and create a framework for future learning about the world. Moreso, cooperative education and training is the long-term answer for improving our workers' ability to adjust to the realities of the 21st century's marketplace. Why Are Finland's Schools Successful? http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/Why-Are-Finlands-Schools-Succes… http://www.khanacademy.org/ http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/23/technology/sal_khan_academy.fortune/index.h… ( I would encaurage KIE to adapt Khanacademy) Some links that maybe of interest: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2062465,00.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_South_Korea http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8601207.stm http://asiasociety.org/education/learning-world/international-benchmarking -----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+titus.ngeno=ebix.com(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+titus.ngeno=ebix.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2011 8:48 AM To: Titus Ngeno Subject: kictanet Digest, Vol 54, Issue 37 Send kictanet mailing list submissions to kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke You can reach the person managing the list at kictanet-owner(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of kictanet digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: Korea (bitange(a)jambo.co.ke) 2. Re: Korea (waudo siganga) 3. Re: Korea (James Mbugua) 4. Re: Korea (william janak) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2011 17:19:04 +0300 (EAT) From: bitange(a)jambo.co.ke To: "robert yawe" <robertyawe(a)yahoo.co.uk> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Korea Message-ID: <665e1e72fe39e3f255acca41d95903f7.squirrel(a)mail.jambo.co.ke> Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1 I arrived in Korea yesterday for a Global e-Government conference. ITU ranks Korea as number one in ICT diffusion. From the airport you see people walk through with an e-passport using biometrics. The New Incheon airport is 70 Kms west of Seoul, the capital and largest city of South Korea with some 11 million inhabitants. It is one of the largest and busiest airports in the world actually the world's fourth busiest airport by cargo traffic, and the world's eighth busiest airport in terms of international passengers in 2010. Korea is about 99,000 sq Kms or one half of the Rift Valley Province of Kenya with a population of 50 million and a GDP of $1 trillion (Kenya's GDP is about $35 billion). In the 60's it was largely a donor recipient country with a GDP less than that of Kenya and more than 60% of its population below poverty. They have turned tables to be a member of the OECD and a donor country over a short period. For many years it mostly depended on the USA as its largest trade partner but over a time they focused their energies on the Asian Markets. Its trade with China, USA and Japan in 2010 figures stands at %190, $98 and $90 billion respectively. They import a great deal of food and the reason why we should not lease our land but use it to improve on our economic growth. A Kg of meat here is $100 imported from Canada and Brazil. I asked our Ambassador why we cannot sell our meat here. He says we do not meat their standards. This should not be a problem since we have broadband in most parts of the country that we can keep pace with the rest of the world in keeping the records especially those required by various standrds organization. Back to Korea. ICTs are also deployed along the highways making it easier to go through the toll stations and collecting all the revenues. You can get data from government at every hour. You can for example know the number of children born in a day throughtout the country. There is CCTV practically everywhere. Crime is approaching zero. There is an over supply of affordable public transport via the rail and bus system all clean and on time. If you choose to drive on your own, you are taxed at every new turn you make. The tax from the polluters who cannot use public transport is used to subsidize the energy efficient public tranportation. Every child after high school has to go through the Military thus instilling the discipline required in this competitive world. Because of such discipline, they do everything very fast. We were literaly running behind our hosts to catch up with them. In the Newspapers there is a Bank executive who has committed suicide because he gave questionable loans to friends. He killed himself for shaming his family and that he may not have any friends. My experience here confirms much of what we have been saying in this forum. The problem is how to inculcate such high levels of ethical standards as well as feeling of shame. Regards Ndemo. ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Tue, 08 Nov 2011 17:20:00 +0300 From: "waudo siganga" <emailsignet(a)mailcan.com> To: bitange(a)jambo.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Korea Message-ID: <1320762000.28344.140660996213045(a)webmail.messagingengine.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Great to hear of your experiences Bw. PS. I hope Kenyans do not take to suicide after questionable deals otherwise there may be no-one left in the country (light touch)! Waudo On Tuesday, November 08, 2011 5:19 PM, bitange(a)jambo.co.ke wrote: > I arrived in Korea yesterday for a Global e-Government conference. > ITU ranks Korea as number one in ICT diffusion. From the airport you > see people walk through with an e-passport using biometrics. The New > Incheon airport is 70 Kms west of Seoul, the capital and largest city > of South Korea with some 11 million inhabitants. It is one of the > largest and busiest airports in the world actually the world's fourth > busiest airport by cargo traffic, and the world's eighth busiest > airport in terms of international passengers in 2010. > > Korea is about 99,000 sq Kms or one half of the Rift Valley Province > of Kenya with a population of 50 million and a GDP of $1 trillion > (Kenya's GDP is about $35 billion). In the 60's it was largely a > donor recipient country with a GDP less than that of Kenya and more > than 60% of its population below poverty. They have turned tables to > be a member of the OECD and a donor country over a short period. > > For many years it mostly depended on the USA as its largest trade > partner but over a time they focused their energies on the Asian > Markets. Its trade with China, USA and Japan in 2010 figures stands > at %190, $98 and > $90 billion respectively. They import a great deal of food and the > reason why we should not lease our land but use it to improve on our > economic growth. A Kg of meat here is $100 imported from Canada and > Brazil. > > I asked our Ambassador why we cannot sell our meat here. He says we > do not meat their standards. This should not be a problem since we > have broadband in most parts of the country that we can keep pace with > the rest of the world in keeping the records especially those required > by various standrds organization. > > Back to Korea. ICTs are also deployed along the highways making it > easier to go through the toll stations and collecting all the > revenues. You can get data from government at every hour. You can > for example know the number of children born in a day throughtout the > country. There is CCTV practically everywhere. Crime is approaching > zero. > > There is an over supply of affordable public transport via the rail > and bus system all clean and on time. If you choose to drive on your > own, you are taxed at every new turn you make. The tax from the > polluters who cannot use public transport is used to subsidize the > energy efficient public tranportation. > > Every child after high school has to go through the Military thus > instilling the discipline required in this competitive world. Because > of such discipline, they do everything very fast. We were literaly > running behind our hosts to catch up with them. In the Newspapers > there is a Bank executive who has committed suicide because he gave > questionable loans to friends. He killed himself for shaming his > family and that he may not have any friends. > > My experience here confirms much of what we have been saying in this > forum. The problem is how to inculcate such high levels of ethical > standards as well as feeling of shame. > > > Regards > > > Ndemo. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/emailsignet%40mai > lcan.com > > The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder > platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT > policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for > reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled > growth and development. > > KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors > online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and > bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, > respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications. > ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2011 17:34:53 +0300 From: James Mbugua <jgmbugua(a)gmail.com> To: bitange(a)jambo.co.ke Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Korea Message-ID: <CAAp8a6zJNJC7mVp1PNT-LZhCNidxHtHeYYrZ31UouSiO4FX7Jg(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" PS That is enlightening stuff. Please also check out the last mile solutions. As I have always told you, I think government should build the fiber to the home with an allocation from the national budget the same way we allocate money for roads. Private sector can't do it and where they do, they will charge an arm and a leg to "recoup investments." They key lesson to be learnt also from those observations is productivity per capita. Kenyans are hard workers but we have inefficient production systems. The amount a Chinese or Korean worker produces in an hour is probably what a Kenyan worker will take a day or two to produce. We must think of ways of improving productivity. Manual labourers must not be allowed to hold this economy hostage with their abysmal production levels and loud, unreasonable politics. If you haven't guessed by now which manual labourers I speak of, think Atwoli and his tea pickers who won't allow mechanization at the farms and the dock workers who won't allow efforts to make the Port of Mombasa more efficient. Economic development theories dictate that mechanization takes place to free up manual labourers to move into other economic sectors. We must look seriously at our level of productivity if we are to develop to Korea's level. James Mbugua On Tue, Nov 8, 2011 at 5:19 PM, <bitange(a)jambo.co.ke> wrote: > I arrived in Korea yesterday for a Global e-Government conference. > ITU ranks Korea as number one in ICT diffusion. From the airport you > see people walk through with an e-passport using biometrics. The New > Incheon airport is 70 Kms west of Seoul, the capital and largest city > of South Korea with some 11 million inhabitants. It is one of the > largest and busiest airports in the world actually the world's fourth > busiest airport by cargo traffic, and the world's eighth busiest > airport in terms of international passengers in 2010. > > Korea is about 99,000 sq Kms or one half of the Rift Valley Province > of Kenya with a population of 50 million and a GDP of $1 trillion > (Kenya's GDP is about $35 billion). In the 60's it was largely a > donor recipient country with a GDP less than that of Kenya and more > than 60% of its population below poverty. They have turned tables to > be a member of the OECD and a donor country over a short period. > > For many years it mostly depended on the USA as its largest trade > partner but over a time they focused their energies on the Asian > Markets. Its trade with China, USA and Japan in 2010 figures stands > at %190, $98 and > $90 billion respectively. They import a great deal of food and the > reason why we should not lease our land but use it to improve on our > economic growth. A Kg of meat here is $100 imported from Canada and Brazil. > > I asked our Ambassador why we cannot sell our meat here. He says we > do not meat their standards. This should not be a problem since we > have broadband in most parts of the country that we can keep pace with > the rest of the world in keeping the records especially those required > by various standrds organization. > > Back to Korea. ICTs are also deployed along the highways making it > easier to go through the toll stations and collecting all the > revenues. You can get data from government at every hour. You can > for example know the number of children born in a day throughtout the > country. There is CCTV practically everywhere. Crime is approaching zero. > > There is an over supply of affordable public transport via the rail > and bus system all clean and on time. If you choose to drive on your > own, you are taxed at every new turn you make. The tax from the > polluters who cannot use public transport is used to subsidize the > energy efficient public tranportation. > > Every child after high school has to go through the Military thus > instilling the discipline required in this competitive world. Because > of such discipline, they do everything very fast. We were literaly > running behind our hosts to catch up with them. In the Newspapers > there is a Bank executive who has committed suicide because he gave > questionable loans to friends. He killed himself for shaming his > family and that he may not have any friends. > > My experience here confirms much of what we have been saying in this > forum. The problem is how to inculcate such high levels of ethical > standards as well as feeling of shame. > > > Regards > > > Ndemo. > > > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jgmbugua%40gmail. > com > > The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder > platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT > policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for > reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development. > > KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors > online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and > bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, > respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications. >

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How to fix public transport
by Rad! 11 Nov '11

11 Nov '11

Good people, I have just run across an analysis of how to fix the public transport sector that encourages quite some food for thought. Such are the things that we need to fix for Vision 2030 to have a chance of working http://sufuriaeconomics.blogspot.com/2011/11/sufuria-solutions-smooth-matat…

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Vacancy Announcement :Software Developer
by Cecilia Matanga 11 Nov '11

11 Nov '11

Dear All Please see attached announcement. We would be grateful if you could circulate it further within your circles Regards -- Cecilia Matanga- Manike Programme Officer Africa i-Parliaments Action Plan UNDESA Nairobi - Kenya Mobile : +254-718568154 Telephone : +254-20-374 9892/3 Fax : +254-20-374 9894

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Fw:CATCHING UP WITH KOREA
by charles nduati 10 Nov '11

10 Nov '11

Hi Listers, Indeed Bwana Ndemo has captured the South Korea advancement so dramatically. Have a look at the forwarded videos showing the latest humanoid robot from Honda which they said they will deploy in the next nuclear disaster and know how its almost impossible for Kenya to catch up. Daktari Ndemo if you are still in South Korea find out the secret Regards Charles CHARLES N. NDUATI GENERAL MANAGER JKUAT ENTERPRISES LTD JOMO KENYATTA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY JUJA MAIN CAMPUS, THIKA P. O. BOX 79324-00200 NAIROBI, KENYA TEL: 254-067-52420 OR 254-067-52711 FAX: 254-067-52438 MOBILE:254-722728815 EMIAL:charlesnduati2002@yahoo.co.uk,cnduati@gmail.com,bm@jkuates.jkuat.ac.ke www.jkuat.ac.ke ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: "bm(a)jkuates.jkuat.ac.ke" <bm(a)jkuates.jkuat.ac.ke> To: charlesnduati2002(a)yahoo.co.uk Sent: Wednesday, 9 November 2011, 15:15 Subject: ASIMO TV - ASIMO in a home here - - - - - - - - Click the link below or copy and paste into your browser window http://asimo.honda.com/asimotv/default.aspx?txtCatID=0&txtCategory=New+ASIM…

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