October 2012 - KICTANet

Fwd:Defamatory Blog Publication by Moses Kuria & Demand For Apology
by Grace Mutung'u (Bomu) 20 Apr '17

20 Apr '17

Dear all, the suit between Muite & Others versus Moses Kuria, which I understand is proceeding to court, should be a very interesting one to watch. Hopefully it shall give some insights on content control vs freedom of expression. See below. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Ngunjiri <ngunjiri(a)kikuyusforchange.com> Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:05:07 +0300 Subject: {K4c} Defamatory Blog Publication by Moses Kuria & Demand For Apology To: KC4 <kikuyusforchange(a)googlegroups.com> This will most probably interest some of us, and help all of us be careful about what we write on our blogs. --- Ngunjiri [image: Issa & Co Advocates] Our Ref: M/058/001/L**** **** Tuesday, October 4, 2011**** **** Moses Kuria**** P. O. Box 1838-00200 ‘*Advance copy by email*’**** *NAIROBI***** **** Dear Sir,**** **** *RE: DEFAMATORY PUBLICATION ***** ------------------------------ We have been instructed by our clients, Wambugu Ngunjiri, Paul Muite, Ndung’u Wainaina, Maina Kiai and Hassan Omar.**** **** Our instructions are that you published in your widely read blog the following words of and concerning our clients.**** **** *‘I have said Ocampo has no case. All he has are fake witnesses coached by Hassan Omar, Wambugu Ngunjiri, Paul Muite, Ndungu Wainaina, Njonjo Mue and Maina Kiai.’***** **** Your insinuations are unfounded and baseless and our clients’ professional respective standings, characters and reputations have been severely tarnished by your publication.**** **** Our instructions are to demand a retraction, an apology and an admission of liability on your part for the publication of the defamatory words. This we hereby do. We shall address the issue of the damages payable to our clients upon receipt of your apology and admission.**** **** *NOTE* that if you do not publish an apology and retraction on your blog within the next *Seven (7) Days* of the receipt of this letter we shall proceed to the law for redress at your risk as to costs. **** **** Yours faithfully,**** *ISSA & COMPANY ADVOCATES***** **** **** *MANSUR M. ISSA***** **** cc. Clients**** **** *Issa & Co Advocates* <info(a)issadvocates.co.ke>**** ------------------------------ 5th Floor, City House, Wabera Street P.O. Box *24210 - 00100*, Nairobi, Kenya *ph*: *+ 254 20 340 150 · * *fx*: *+ 254 20 340 151* *em*: *info(a)issadvocates.co.ke · ***** ------------------------------ *CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:* This email and any attachments may contain information that is confidential, legally privileged and protected by law. Access by the intended recipient is authorized. Any liability (in negligence or otherwise) arising from any third party acting, or refraining from acting, or any information contained in this email is hereby excluded. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediatelyand do not disclose the contents to any other person, use it for any purpose or store or copy the information in any medium.**** -- --- Fear makes men act even against their own interests- changing them from men of reason to blubbering fools. -- Grace L.N. Mutung'u (Bomu) Kenya Skype: gracebomu Twitter: GraceMutung'u (Bomu)

20 39

Digital to Analog Conversion
by robert yawe 19 Jun '15

19 Jun '15

Hi, When the migration from analog to digital was initially raised fear was put into the public on how there would be no option but to throw away our analog TV sets and replace them with Digital. Now that digital transmission is finally here we need to look at how to make the migration as painless as possible while at the same time we do not disenfranchise any citizens. It has been mentioned that there are over 1 million TV sets in Kenya today, that means 1 million digital to analog converters will be required over the next 2-3 years. I believe this is a great opportunity for us to go into the electronic assembly business, I would like to propose that we 1st increase duty on converters from the current 35% to 250% so as to discourage the importation of the converters. Then exempt from duty and vat all assembly stations, test equipment and components for anyone who sets up a converter assembly plant, with a 3 year tax holiday. If you setup the plant more than 200 kilometers from Nairobi or Mombasa you receive an addition 2 years tax holiday. I believe this will sort out the issue of substandard converters and will also provide an opportunity for us to develop our electronic devices assembly skills. If you make a net profit of 1,000/- there is a clean 875,000,000/- to be made, close to what the government is spending on purchase of the Malili farm. This is assuming a standard device, there is still a market for those who want high end devices with recording, tuners, USB ports, etc which would mean that the returns could be much higher than projected above. So will we move away from juts being importers and retailers or do we have what it takes to do some value add? Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

16 24

Music Piracy in Kenya - Government can Help
by Bernard Kioko [Bernsoft Interactive Limited] 23 Mar '15

23 Mar '15

Bwana Daktari, The music industry in Kenya is unable to grow. Companies like mine and individuals are investing money in creating music but the same cannot be commercialized effectively. One of the main problems is organized piracy. Take for example the website WAPKID.COM, this website provides almost every Kenyan song FREE FOR DOWNLOAD. The website at the moment lists the following as popular tags - meaning these are the artists whose content is currently heavily being downloaded. I understand that this website is offering pirated content because Music works that is owned and copyright administered by myself is being offered for FREE here - the total investment I made for the songs on offer is Ksh. 5million over the last 2 years and now I have no way to recover my investment by sales since consumers can opt for free. John De Mathew - Nimwamenyire Muno Wangari Wa Kabera - Aciari Redsun - Shika Glasi Sam Kinuthia - Muiritu Wa Gikomba Onyi Papa Jey - Migingo Dhi Muigai Njoroge - Muti Utari Matunda Kamaru - Nairobi Iraguo Ki Kamande Wa Kioi - Kapusi Kakwa Salim - Kanyina Kanini Kamande Wa Kioi - Githukia Tombo It's possible that these artists and many more don't actually know that this exists BUT millions of Kenyans are downloading the music and who is benefiting? The Network Operators who charge money based on the data downloads. Infact, at one point, one of the mobile operators even sent SMS advertisements to their subscribers urging them to access content from WapKid.com As an industry, we are bleeding and desperately in need of government support to stop this organized piracy that is benefiting local and international organization at the expense of our content and therefore killing and local development of content. As we seek your assistance, we are also doing something on our part. We will be meeting next week Wednesday 3rd October 3pm at Panafric as a music industry (Record labels, Kenya Copyright Board and Music Copyright Society of Kenya) to discuss and work out strategies that can help us especially in creating a clear licensing framework. We will also be announcing an Anti-Piracy Campaign called "iCareforMusic" whose aim is to educate the consumer on the benefits of getting music from licensed partners. We believe that either the government or the courts can issue an order blocking WAPKID.COM, MP3RAID.COM and any other website offering local music from being accessed and this is fairly easy at the ISP level. Before we take to the court route, we wish to seek a diplomatic route first. If we can stop this organized piracy, investing in a song would be worth it for the Artist, the Record Label and/or the music publisher. And in overall, KRA would collect tax from all of us. Everybody wins! Who knows, it would be even worth having a music studio at Konza City. Bwana PS, how can you assist our music industry? Kind regards Bernard Kioko Chief Executive Officer, Bernsoft

14 35

GSMA: Calls will remain high between African countries
by Grace Githaiga 02 May '14

02 May '14

GSMA: Calls will remain high between African countries By Rebecca Wanjiku, Computerworld Kenya 29 Sep, 2011 The cost of telephone calls between African countries is likely to remain high and international call volumes will drop with the introduction of taxes, according to a report from the GSM Association. Senegal, Ghana, Congo Brazaville and Gabon have introduced taxes on incoming international calls, leading to higher costs for users and reduced revenue and call volumes for mobile operators. The taxes are also likely to reduce foreign direct investments because the costs of operating businesses such as call centers will probably go up. "The tax takes the form of an imposed fixed price that operators must charge for international inbound termination, of which the government takes a set amount," said the report, issued on the sidelines of the U.N. Internet Governance Forum in Nairobi. A private party measures international inbound minutes terminated by operators and bills them accordingly, it said. While the taxes are different in the four countries, the affect on the operators has been the same. In Senegal, call prices rose by 50 percent. In Ghana, prices rose by 58 percent while inbound traffic fell by 12 percent in the six months after the tax was introduced. In Congo Brazaville, the price of inbound calls rose by 111 percent while the volume fell by 36 percent. In Gabon, prices rose by 82 percent when the tax was introduced in August 2011. The report questioned the benefit of the tax on economies, given that half the money collected is shared with the third-party company that monitors the calls. "The main objective of this taxation is to raise revenues for governments, in this case by taxing users calling from abroad into the country, however, the government transfers approximately 50 percent of the revenue from the tax to the external call monitoring party," the report said. "This leakage should be taken into account when assessing the effectiveness and net benefit of this tax." The report projects that other African countries are likely to reciprocate by raising the cost of inbound calls. In Congo Brazaville, an operator reported that an operator in another African country raised call termination charges by 30 percent. while in Senegal, an operator reported that nine operators in other African countries raised rates by 23 to 80 percent, making the call costs very high. The GSMA further noted that many operators are not making profits because the cost of other services and maintaining rural telecoms infrastructure is high. In supporting its case to remove telecommunication taxes, the GSMA released another report that highlights the benefits that Kenya has gained since it zero-rated mobile handsets in June 2009. This year, the mobile communications industry will contribute US$300 million to the GDP and a further $100 million from intangible benefits to Kenyan consumers. The industry also employs 250,000 people in Kenya. "Since June 2009 when the tax was removed, handset purchases have increased by more than 200 percent and penetration rates have increased substantially from 50 percent to 70 percent, this successful policy confirms that consumption taxes can have a significant impact on consumer behavior in Kenya," said the report. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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!

28 52

Draft National ICT Masterplan
by Paul Kukubo 06 Jun '13

06 Jun '13

Listers The Kenya ICT Board wishes to invite comments towards the completion of the Kenya ICT Masterplan 2012-2017 being developed on bhealf of the Ministry of Information and Communication. The link to view the draft can be found here. We shall also be finalizing a Facebook page to receive comments on the same. http://www.scribd.com/doc/110892993/Kenya-ICT-Masterplan-2012-2017-For-Revi… We propose to open this out for comment for 10 days after which we shall commence the process of editing and finalisation. This review process follows several review forums where the summary masterplan has been presented to various stakeholders for comment including workshops, conferences. We welcome comments and proposals through this forum in order to enrich and complete this process. Regards CEO Paul Kukubo Kenya ICT Board -- Paul Kukubo Chief Executive Officer, Kenya ICT Board PO Box 27150 - 00100 Nairobi, Kenya 12th Floor, Teleposta Towers Koinange Street Tel +254 20 2089061, +254 20 2211960 Fax: +254 20 2211962 website: www.ict.go.ke local content project: www.tandaa.co.ke, www.facebook.com/tandaakenya twitter:@tandaaKENYA BPO Project: www. doitinkenya.co.ke Digital Villages Project: www.pasha.co.ke personal contacts _______________ Cell: + 254 717 180001 skype: kukubopaul googletalk: pkukubo personal blog: www.paulkukubo.co.ke personal twitter: @pkukubo ____________________ Vision: Kenya becomes a top ten global ICT hub Mission: To champion and actively enable Kenya to adopt and exploit ICT, through promotion of partnerships, investments and infrastructure growth for socio economic enrichment

9 14

Commodity Exchange System - Revisited
by robert yawe 21 Feb '13

21 Feb '13

Hi Listers, About 9 month ago (human gestation period) I mentioned the need for developers to start looking into the development of a futures exchange system and as always is with the village madman I was dismissed. On Wednesday 8th June 2011 the Capital Markets Authority advertised for a futures exchange system, rfp is open to both international and local vendors. Regards Hi, The National Cereals and Produce Board together with the East African Grain Council are working towards the creation of a commodity exchange to trade futures. This process is at an advanced stage which begun with a process called warehouse receipting and currently Equity Bank offers credit against the receipts. What does this have to do with us in the IT field? When the Nairobi Stock Exchange tendered for the automated trading system (ATS) and more recently for the Broker Back-office System no local IT company made it past the 1st round. The fact that companies like Virtual City are winning international awards for systems development and others like PesaPal are receiving large direct foreign investments means that we do have the skills to develop world class solutions. This is an appeal to all ICT experts in the country to prepare ourselves to make sure that the grain exchange system is locally developed and we stop being spectators in our own country. I know it is said that a prophet is never recognised in his own town, it is time we made this phrase redundant. NCPB and others are already shopping overseas for a solution so be warned that time is not in our hands and if we are to have an impact we need to move quickly. The proposed system is supposed to provide a trading platform, depository system, GIS for land information, settlement system, warehouse management, weather monitoring and seed planting information system (acreage, seed type, fertiliser, etc). Lets get off our high horses and put a together a world class solution for a local problem. No tears after the horse has bolted. Useful links http://dn.nationmedia.com/DN/DN/2010/09/03/ArticleHtmls/03_09_2010_030_014.… http://allafrica.com/stories/200904271171.html http://www.ratin.net/mainfeature.asp?id=40 http://www.monitor.co.ug/Business/Smart%20Money/-/688614/899436/-/bypmdxz/-… http://www.unctad.info/upload/SUC/LusakaWorkshop/WarehouseServicesKenya.pdf Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696 _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: robertyawe(a)yahoo.co.uk Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/robertyawe%40yahoo.co.…

7 8

Digital TV migration postponement
by robert yawe 04 Dec '12

04 Dec '12

Hi, It was with shock and dismay that I watched the CCK director general lie to the public on a mass broadcast on the reasons for the postponement of the cutoff to digital. He said the reason was that the cost of decoders was still too high for the common mwanainchi, he then proceed to lie by saying that the average price was currently Kes. 6,500/-, yet the price for the StarTimes decoder is 3,499/- and that of GoTV is Kes. 3,999/-. When I was in school many years ago the formula for calculating average was the sum of the numbers divided by the number of numbers (3,499 + 3,999)/2 = 3,749/- so which formula was the DG using? What has incensed me more is that none of the members of the press has taken up the issue instead they have "liked" and "shared" the comments as if they where gospel truth. Regards PS. Have an analog Christmas Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

14 26

SAP and Kenya ICT Board Partner on Skills Develeopment
by Paul Kukubo 21 Nov '12

21 Nov '12

Kenyan Government and SAP to expand skill set of local graduates Training aims at improving youth employability in the country’s robust ICT sector and is inline with vision 2030 Nairobi 20th September, 2012…The government of Kenya through the Kenya ICT Board and SAP has today announced a partnership that will see 100 bright but underprivileged studentsundergo training to become certified SAP Software engineers. Dubbed “SAP Skills for Africa”, the Programme commits to deliver professional training and certification to Kenyan university graduates. The programme will seek to substantially improve the employability of young, bright university graduatesand equally deliver on the government’s mandate to promote digital inclusion, to forge Kenya as an ICT hub for Africa and drive ICT skills development. “The SAP partnership is key in equipping our young professionals with high end ICT skills that are on demand in the Kenya and the wider East African Market. This effort provides amuch needed skillset for graduates who would otherwise not have had the privilege to be exposed to this specific set of world class skills", said Kenya ICT Board CEO, Paul Kukubo. The Kenya ICT Board and SAP are in partnership to deliver the latest skills and knowledge to the students. The Kenya ICTBoard will provide classrooms with necessary computer infrastructure and will be charged with the overall management of the programme that will take place at the Multi Media University, whereas SAP will provide instructors, training material and educational systems. Delivery of this programme will include the provision of certified instructors, training material and case studies withSAP‘s largest investment being the waiver of any costs related to the programme for the students; a significant financial investment. Modules of study for this period will be focused on best business practices and SAP skills in financial and managerial accounting, sales and distribution, procurement, human capital management, database and technology, system administration and also around business reporting. “The SAP Skills for Africa programme aims at ensuring that each and every university graduate is equipped with the skills necessary to enter the job market and not only gain economic stability and prosperity but also to be able to plough back into the ecosystem”, said Pfungwa Serima,CEO Africa, SAP By working proactively with the government bodies and with its customers, SAP has taken the lead to deliver the opportunity for students to receive additional practical skills, business and system knowledge that will better equip them for today’s jobmarket, thereby increasing their possibilities of employment. The programme builds upon the knowledge students gained in their undergraduate studies and provides them with hands-on experience in working with the world’s leading business software applications company. SAP training will delivervaluable skills on software use, best business practices and processes that will greatly benefit the trainees and theorganizations where they work in future. “This initiative perfectly fits into the MMU agenda of producing graduates who are immediately ready to be productive in the industry upon graduation, over the years inadequate skilling of our graduates has been a chief cause of high employment costs, causing our graduates to hop from one job to the other. If we can churn 100 all rounded graduates annually, we shall have arrested this by providing a bigger talent pool for employers to choose from, said Prof. Walter Oyawa, Principal Multimedia University SAP is committed to ensure that upon the graduation from this programme, students also receive a chance to put the acquired knowledge into practical use in the real work environment. For this purpose SAP has started to work with its customers and partners to ensure the maximum number of internships for the graduates, which will further solidify their acquired knowledge. Editor’s Notes: About SAP The world’s market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 195,000 customers (includes customers from the acquisition of SuccessFactors) to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com About Kenya ICT Board The Kenya ICT Board’s mandate and objectives are based on advising the Kenyan government on all relevant matters pertaining to the development and promotion of ICT industries in the country. In addition, the Kenya ICT Board provides government and other stakeholders with skills, capacity and funding for ICT projects in order to rapidly and innovatively transform Kenya through promotion of ICT for socio-economic development. About the Multi Media University Founded in 1948 as Kenya College Communication Technology, MMU became a constituent College of JKUAT in 2008.With a student population of about 3,000,MMU is a Public University College mandated to provide training in Engineering, Information Technology, Media and Business related courses. Due to its rich history as a Technology College under Telkom Kenya, Multimedia University has the benefit and experience of working with the ICT industry in order to expose its students beyond the classroom theory and principles of technology. -- Paul Kukubo Chief Executive Officer, Kenya ICT Board PO Box 27150 - 00100 Nairobi, Kenya 12th Floor, Teleposta Towers Koinange Street Tel +254 20 2089061, +254 20 2211960 Fax: +254 20 2211962 website: www.ict.go.ke local content project: www.tandaa.co.ke, www.facebook.com/tandaakenya twitter:@tandaaKENYA BPO Project: www. doitinkenya.co.ke Digital Villages Project: www.pasha.co.ke personal contacts _______________ Cell: + 254 717 180001 skype: kukubopaul googletalk: pkukubo personal blog: www.paulkukubo.co.ke personal twitter: @pkukubo ____________________ Vision: Kenya becomes a top ten global ICT hub Mission: To champion and actively enable Kenya to adopt and exploit ICT, through promotion of partnerships, investments and infrastructure growth for socio economic enrichment

9 8

EAIGF Report
by Grace Githaiga 09 Nov '12

09 Nov '12

ListersPlease find attached the EAIGF report. Have a great weekend.RgdsGG

5 7

Hate text messages/KICA Section 29
by Grace Githaiga 07 Nov '12

07 Nov '12

Good morning Listers I would like to thank Jane, Barrack and Topista for views expressed on yesterday's topic Shooting the messenger. They did express the need to place some level of responsibility on both the source of the content and the host platform. Further they underscored the need to have a good information system that operates under a sound policy framework if it is to be useful to society. Today we look at Section 29 of the KICA (improper use of system) http://www.cck.go.ke/regulations/downloads/KenyaInformation-Communications-… that is increasingly being used as a basis for criminal charges for users of technology based platforms. See example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q7VmsYNsqE 29. A person who by means of a licensed telecommunication system— (a) sends a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character; or (b) sends a message that he knows to be false for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety to another person commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty thousand shillings, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to both. Could misuse of an information system also be used to charge intermediaries? Would this call for the training of the Kenya Police, DPP and Judiciary so that they understand the issues as they litigate and make rulings? Listers, lets hear your views. Further, please feel free to go back to yesterday's thread on shooting the messenger if you would like to contribute. Have a wonderful day RgdsGG

19 60