December 2011 - KICTANet

Preventing Land Ownership Fraud by "Crowd-Sourcing" information
by Thomas Kibui 07 Dec '11

07 Dec '11

Dear Listers, I am not sure if this has been discussed here or better still if it has been implemented somewhere but I will go ahead and talk abt it.... We have a constitution and land laws that are being flouted by corrupt officials entrusted with enforcing them for material gain. For instance if you do a search for a piece of registered land, and you get a search results duly signed and stamped by the registrar of lands at that office then the information there is in binding and should also BIND the government who is the final authority in land governance because the buyer commits his/her funds to a purchase based on the information given at the registry. We have very MANUAL registries where documents are stored in files in a library like setup and the core of those registries is a binder that holds the so called "green cards". One could liken the green card to the primary key in a DB. Due to the physical / manual methods used to change information on these paper documents and the fact that they have to be "physically" accessed, removed, edited and returned, they create a loop-hole for unscrupulous lands officials to change the content thus destroying the written history associated with a parcel of land and consequently depriving the real owners of their property / inheritance. A simple solution would be to digitize the registry .. but as you can imagine there would be a lot of resistance from the Lands officials because that completely takes away their source of corrupt funds. I know it will eventually be digitized BUT what can we do in the interim ... between now and the time that the registries will eventually be digitized ... ? Land does not move... its is people who do the moving... One can never fail to get the history of a piece of land from the surrounding neighbourhood and this is one of the "social" searches that one is advised to do when considering the purchase of a parcel somewhere. So why can't we tap into this free source of information as a way of counter checking the already tampered information which exists in local land registries I was thinking that using the technology available today we could create a free online database or use one of the existing social media sites to create an online "Land Search" resource where everyday ordinary Kenyans can check the "social" status and history of a parcel , correlate it with the information from the registry before making a decision to purchase.. The information from this DB or Social Media site will not be "legally" binding BUT it will raise red flags prevent the fraud considerably given that most land fraud cartels use deception and mis-information of "Government held information" to convince their victims. To populate it, I am thinking in the lines of "crowd-sourcing" this information and if possible tie it in on Google maps just like in www.ushahidi.com. This way , the database can show a piece of land as Red, Amber or Green depending its social history eg, - who initially owned it, - was it inherited properly, - was there a dispute, - are there wives or children who were dis-inherited who might come out of the wood-work after the purchase . Mapping it directly on google maps will alow the would be buyer to do a GPS search of sorts when he or she is "viewing" physically on the ground . This will also prevent the other form of fraud where the victim is shown a parcel which is not the one on the purported papers. There are other uses for such a database .. If YOU owns a piece of land somewhere, you can also flag it as RED to prevent fraudsters selling it with out your knowledge and fleecing an innocent victim out there. Look at it like putting a legal Caution of Caveat Emptor on a registered property etc etc This idea has its CONS .. Malicious relatives, mpango was kando husbands/wives, neighbours etc can stop you from selling or getting a bank loan from your genuine land by flagging it red or mis-informing the public about it. etc Now I am basically a Network / Security guy and I have never written a line of code so I can't tell you how this can be implemented "technically" otherwise it would be online as we speak .... But having seen the destruction peoples dreams and hard earned money in the demolition of structures in Syokimau and Eastleigh .. I can't just sympathize with the victims and stop there ... They were conned yet some were holding "genuine" papers from the government they trusted as the most trusted land ownership authority. I believe that there is something that can be done to prevent it and I am throwing this to the listers to build on and if possible .. IMPLEMENT it.. I am open to contribute wherever I can. PS: Since the framework for Ushahidi.com. already exists, maybe Ory and his team could assist .. karibu ...

3 2

Local Kenyan Content on the Internet
by Brian Munyao Longwe 07 Dec '11

07 Dec '11

I must say that I have been truly amazed at finding the "Kulahappy" series of videos on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/kulahappy . This is great local content, taking a humorous look at rural and urban life, and also in local languages too. They seem to have a pretty regular release schedule for the various episodes. The Kamba versions "Mukamba Kivindyo" have really cracked me up - very authentic and typical village scenarios. Brian

6 10

2063 - Kenya @ 100 Essay and Short Story Contest
by Matunda Nyanchama 07 Dec '11

07 Dec '11

Friends See press release from our sister business; it is almost a coincidence that we have my friend Mugo Kibati joining the discussions here. 4 ways you can participate - sponsor, contestant, judge/reviewer or advertiser: send your inquiry to kenya2063(a)nsemia.com. Kindly cascade this including the attached flyer. ---------------------------------------------------------- Nsemia Inc. Publishers announces 2063: Kenya @ 100 Short Story and Essay Contest that will run in the months of December 2011 and January 2012. The contest intends to task writers’ imagination and thought to paint a picture of the country at 100 years of age. Predicting the future has its dangers, but writers are encouraged to take creative license and imagine the journey to the 100th birthday of the country: its socio-economics, politics/freedoms, urban/rural society, pastoral/farming/working life, the family, relationships, marriage, divorce, births, deaths, child/ health care,, education system, science/research/technology/inventions; the young/old, name it! Think of how Kenya would have changed and the society that it would become. Writers are free to choose their style of presentation (persuasive, comparative, descriptive, narrative or otherwise) dictated by scenes, events, places, personalities, conditions and the like. Writers’ aim is to tell an interesting, logical story that grips readers’ attention. Preference will be given to short stories and essays that are believable with high creative elements, readable, and able to hold the interest of the reader; stories that paint a comprehensive picture the state of life of the time. The awards for the winning five essays are $1000, $750, $500, $250 and $100, respectively. In addition the top five winners will be offered publishing contracts for book length versions of their essays and short stories. The next 20 essays will be published an anthology 2063: Kenya at 100 Perspectives. We are actively seeking sponsors to broaden the award categories as such more awards will be announced as we get respective sponsors. The contest report will be published as a book of between 100 and 150 pages, featuring the top 25 contestant profiles and abstracts of their short stories and essays. Other report content will include a historical background of Kenya and developments to date, highlighting major milestones in the making of the Kenyan nation. Further, the report will have short history the Kenyan literary scene and ongoing trends; and opinions on the future of Kenyan literature in the face of globalization. A few chosen works from the Kenyan literary scene and (where relevant) from outside the country will be featured. There is limited advertising space for entities wishing to advertise in the contest report. Opportunities for participation include being a sponsor, a contestant or a judge/reviewer. Proposed categories for sponsorship include Top Female Contestant; Top Contestant Under 18 ; Top Urban Contestant; Top Urban Contestant Over 18 ; Top Contestant from rural Kenya; Top Contestant from the Diaspora ; Top Contestant from the Diaspora under 18; Top Male Contestant over 65 years and Top Female Contestant Over 65 years; Top Contestant on the subject of the girl child Interested parties can get further information, including contest rules, sponsorship information, advertising and entry form from kenya2063(a)nsemia.com. The contest closes on January 31st, 2012. - 30 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matunda Nyanchama, PhD, CISSP; mnyanchama(a)aganoconsulting.com Agano Consulting Inc.; www.aganoconsulting.com; Twitter: nmatunda; Skype: okiambe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Be prepared to face ICT Security failures & know how to respond when they happen! Call: +1-888-587-1150 or info(a)aganoconsulting.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk I have a workstation…" - Anonymous ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This e-mail, including attachments, may be privileged and may contain confidential or proprietary information intended only for the addressee(s). Any other distribution, copying, use, or disclosure is unauthorized and strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and permanently delete the message, including any attachments, without making a copy. Thank you.

1 0

Internet "Kadonye" charges
by robert yawe 07 Dec '11

07 Dec '11

Hi, I am one of the those very fortunate people who rarely buy Internet access by the bandwidth or minute as I enjoy a flat rate unlimited access whether at home or in the office. Today morning I needed to use one of the dongle devices as I needed to work off-site at one of my few clients who do not have dedicated internet access. I loaded airtime on the device and proceeded to purchase a bundle, within 3 minutes of launching my browser (all 12 tabs) I noticed that I had already utilised 1.2 MB @ a rate of Kes. 0.83/- per MB. Note that I was yet to do any useful work as I waited for my desktop to settle. As you might have guessed, by the time I was ready to do some serious income generating work the bundle was over. It is now clear to me why so many of our youth who should be making productive use of the Internet are stuck to using only facebook because the costs for access are either subsidised or free which reduces an entire generation to a single web site. The kadonye economy definitely transcends to technology products at which rate the technology divide is not narrowing any time soon. I assume that the cost of bandwidth is mainly related to the international leg therefore is it possible to have a bundle that allows you unlimited access to local sites. Such a model would encourage the development and hosting of content locally. KENET could set-up peering with educational sites across the world whose access would be treated as local and our students would be able to benefit from the Internet. Please accommodate this rant from an occasional dongle user. Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

5 9

LTE & the frequencies debate
by John Gitau 07 Dec '11

07 Dec '11

Over at the EANOG <http://www.thirdworldnetworkers.com/2011/11/east-african-network-operators-…> (http://orion.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/eanog) we had an uninformed debate on LTE and its frequency allocation. I believe most of the issues that came up can be better answered on this list. 1: How will the LTE spectrum be allocated? The media had alot to say some time back. What's valid, whats not? http://allafrica.com/stories/201109060017.html http://www.intomobile.com/2010/11/23/kenya-lte/ (just a few examples I picked out) 2: Is the millitary still using/holding onto the 2.6GHz? 3: Apart from mobile operators, who else is or should be interested in LTE and why? 4: Would someone with this information be open to a seating with us at the IHUB at our next meeting for an open Q&A. 5: How far into the process of freeing up the necessary frequencies are we? I'm sure more questions will come up but for now I believe we are more curious about no:1 because it raises questions like: if a consortium will be formed, how will maintenance and general network management be done? Gitau

3 2

Re: [kictanet] [Skunkworks] <OT> : No Electricity, No Fuel, No Cooking gas! I need my hot coffee or need some answers.....
by alice＠apc.org 06 Dec '11

06 Dec '11

Very frustrating frequent blackouts, rain or no rain. Bumper sticker doing rounds 'kenya hakuna matata, hakuna maji, hakuna stima, hakuna gas' Best Alice -----Original Message----- From: aki <aki275(a)gmail.com> Sender: skunkworks-bounces(a)lists.my.co.ke Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 08:17:12 To: Skunkworks forum<skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke> Reply-To: Skunkworks Mailing List <skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke> Subject: [Skunkworks] <OT> : No Electricity, No Fuel, No Cooking gas! I need my hot coffee or need some answers..... _______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks(a)lists.my.co.ke ------------ List info, subscribe/unsubscribe http://orion.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke

16 25

Re: [kictanet] [Skunkworks] <OT> : No Electricity, No Fuel, No Cooking gas! I need my hot coffee or need some answers..
by Matunda Nyanchama 06 Dec '11

06 Dec '11

On these problems, one young man of 20 years of age, Justus Siage, wrote a long letter of complaints and "advice" to the Prime Minister. We published it as a book duly termed"Letter to the Prime Minister" by Justus Siage; check it in bookshops in Nairobi. Even our own young generation knows the solution to our problems; we just need leadership to make it happen. Back to my quiet corner as we await topics on ICT. Kind regards. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matunda Nyanchama, PhD, CISSP; mnyanchama(a)aganoconsulting.com Agano Consulting Inc.; www.aganoconsulting.com; Twitter: nmatunda; Skype: okiambe ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Be prepared to face ICT Security failures & know how to respond when they happen! Call: +1-888-587-1150 or info(a)aganoconsulting.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk I have a workstation…" - Anonymous ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This e-mail, including attachments, may be privileged and may contain confidential or proprietary information intended only for the addressee(s). Any other distribution, copying, use, or disclosure is unauthorized and strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and permanently delete the message, including any attachments, without making a copy. Thank you. ________________________________ From: "kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke" <kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> To: mnyanchama(a)aganoconsulting.com Sent: Tuesday, December 6, 2011 6:47 AM Subject: kictanet Digest, Vol 55, Issue 24 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: [Skunkworks] <OT> : No Electricity, No Fuel, No Cooking gas! I need my hot coffee or need some answers..... (Dennis Kioko) 2. Re: Why It's Wrong For Kenya To Try Pac ifying Angry Bashir (Andrea Bohnstedt) 3. Re: Why It?s Wrong For Kenya To Try Pac ifying Angry Bashir (Andrea Bohnstedt) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2011 14:02:21 +0300 From: Dennis Kioko <dmbuvi(a)gmail.com> To: "S.M. Muraya" <murigi.muraya(a)gmail.com> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] [Skunkworks] <OT> : No Electricity, No Fuel, No Cooking gas! I need my hot coffee or need some answers..... Message-ID: <CADfbAQS3SqwzyesRujXAwsDU_PCx6=ebYxNUq4Q0T-vSD++vRQ(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" In Africa we want change, but few understand the cost of change and are willing to pay for it. Change demands more, the same way freedom demands more responsibility. As for Kenya Power, isn't it weird that we all complain, but it is only the island of Jersey that is concerned with how a Kenyan Parastatal was managed in the past ?

1 0

Open Data: United States and India to build an open government platform, the U.S. team has deposited open source code
by Flavio Zeni 06 Dec '11

06 Dec '11

If you have not read it already United States and India to build an open government platform<http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/12/05/datagov-goes-global#.Tt5EeXfxRPA.…>, the U.S. team has deposited open source code<http://www.data.gov/opengovplatform>

1 0

Re: [kictanet] Why It’s Wrong For Kenya To Try Pacifying Angry Bashir
by Dennis Kioko 06 Dec '11

06 Dec '11

Also note that Eritrea recently escaped sanctions as Western firms exploiting minerals in the country would be affected -- with Regards: blog.denniskioko.com <http://www.denniskioko.com/>

1 0

Re: [kictanet] We certainly need divine intervention
by Barrack Otieno 05 Dec '11

05 Dec '11

Listers, I have refrained from complaining despite the inflation and heavy rainfall that has caused havoc despite being a blessing when looked from another perspective. This afternoon i drive into a basement parking in one of the cities shopping malls, clearly the guys at the entrance seem to be aware that there is no space but alas i am allowed to drive in and drive around, on realising there is no space i choose to drive out and behold, i am asked to pay? pay for what i enquire?, the attendant calmly tells me that it is is the way the system is configured even though she agrees that since i didn't find a slot i am not supposed to pay, this is the second time i am having issues with www.kaps.co.ke and i hope the two Consumer watchdogs are taking note, this is plain dishonesty why should a consumer pay for a service not rendered even hawkers will tell you kuangalia ni bure (seeing is free), worse still where is this form of injustice configured in your systems? I wonder how much Kenyans could be losing through what i have observed today anyway Justice be our shield and defender. Have a great week! -- Barrack O. Otieno +254721325277 +254-20-2498789 Skype: barrack.otieno

3 3