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Fwd: [afnog] NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2019 JONATHAN B. POSTEL SERVICE AWARD NOW OPEN
by Barrack Otieno 07 Jul '19

07 Jul '19

Listers, This is for your information and action. Best Regards ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Betel Hailu <hailu(a)isoc.org> Date: Wed, May 8, 2019 at 10:13 AM Subject: [afnog] NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2019 JONATHAN B. POSTEL SERVICE AWARD NOW OPEN To: afnog(a)afnog.org <afnog(a)afnog.org> Hi everyone- Each year, the Internet Society awards the Jonathan B. Postel Service Award to an individual or an organization that has made outstanding contributions in service to the data communications community. The award committee places particular emphasis on candidates who have supported and enabled others in addition to their own specific actions. Nominations may be submitted by self-nomination or by a third party. The deadline for nominations is *15 May 2019*. For more information, see: https://www.internetsociety.org/postel Thank you, *Betel Hailu *| *Communications Coordinator – Africa Regional Bureau *|* Internet Society* skype: betty.hailu | *www.InternetSociety.org <http://www.InternetSociety.org> *| *Follow Us * [image: iption: Macintosh HD:Users:betelhailu:Desktop:facebook.png] <https://www.facebook.com/ISOCAfrica>[image: iption: Macintosh HD:Users:betelhailu:Desktop:twitter.png] <https://twitter.com/ISOC_Africa> _______________________________________________ afnog mailing list https://www.afnog.org/mailman/listinfo/afnog -- Barrack O. Otieno +254721325277 +254733206359 Skype: barrack.otieno PGP ID: 0x2611D86A

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Crowd Sourced Citizen Report Cards + strategic inefficiency is what creates a large number jobs
by Jimmy Gitonga 07 Jul '19

07 Jul '19

This is what I think about the two issues. We need Citizen Report Cards. We need to find a way to do this by crowd sourcing not just the information, but the funding as well. At some point, Kenyans who are wealthy enough to offer patronage to citizen worthy causes and projects. This is the same for the seed funding required to develop local, indigenous ideas that have a potential to benefit all of us. The first obstacle we must get rid of is the “get rich quick” mentality in the “startup" fad. Sadly, we are mostly suspicious of one another in this country so few are willing to give money to a visibly worthy cause because the said startup entrepreneurs will probably line their pockets and not succeed in fulfilling the “social contract”. But if we went past these small issues, we can build web portals that visualise a lot of public data such as the KNBS census and household data. I did some work with Mzalendo Trust where a report was done on the Women representatives in the 11th Parliament. It was released as an infographic that really was a score card - http://info.mzalendo.com/media_root/file_archive/WP-Contributions_11th_Parl… <http://info.mzalendo.com/media_root/file_archive/WP-Contributions_11th_Parl…>. We did some research on what the baseline issues should be in the counties these women represent. We found the Kenya Socio-economic Atlas invaluable - https://www.kenya-atlas.org/ <https://www.kenya-atlas.org/>. We were able to see that Kenya should really be divided around its climatic predispositions and state funding should flow with these conditions in mind. I asked myself, why can’t the Kenya Atlas be made interactive and up-to-date? As it is, it is a fantastic source of data for socio-economic policy development. After talking to the program manager at CETRAD and remembering some conversations with a commissioner at the Commission on Revenue Allocation, I think that this is a worthwhile thing to pursue. This then informs and frames the issue of strategic inefficiency. Just by looking at the Kenya Atlas, one could quickly understand why sugar cane growing in Kenya will never be sustainable compared to the COMESA region. The inefficiencies in the sugar sector do keep a lot of farmers busy but these jobs are not sustainable. We have a lot of the information and most of the tools that we can use to make Kenya strategically efficient in this region for our benefit. If sugar from Sudan and maize from Malawi are cheaper to buy than to grow and the fact that we have a larger source of educated human resource and are leading in financial services means we have things we can trade in with our neighbours, to our benefit. The cheap and unnecessary political animosity we seem to encourage with our COMESA exemptions would be dissipated. These types of information can be disseminated as Citizen Report Cards with the added benefit of civic education that would result from discussions around the reports. After the Women Representatives report card, Parliamentarians began using the Mzalendo score cards in their re-election material. Best Regards, Jimmy Gitonga Web Software Design and Development LinkedIn: Jimmy Gitonga | Twitter: @Afrowave ______________________________________ Web: afroshok.com <http://afroshok.com/> > Indeed, Crowd Sourced Citizen Report Cards could lead to increased public sector accountability. Currently this gap is being filled by Twitter, in a crude way, but the potential is clear.? > > How do you see the PPP arrangement with MSMEs looking like conceptually? Hopefully not to be financially sustained by Government, keeping in mind the reality of cartels / MNC lobbyists / tenderpreneurs who will quickly hijack it, establish themselves as gatekeepers and turn it into a rent seeking charade? > I am of the view that the data should be provided for free to anyone (e.g. via secure government APIs) and MSMEs should find their own ways of "monetizing" it by creating innovative value-add propositions e.g. unique methods of analysis to yield forensic or predictive insights, independent content publishing or journalism. > > Crowd funding via voluntary donations could also come into play to provide additional financial sustenance and maximize public ownership/goodwill around the initiative. > > The open model will keep cartels away because there is real work and real value creation involved with no "assured income" and no gatekeepers to collect rent. Incidentally, these difficulties will attract real entrepreneurs, so it's a great way of screening. > > I think the idea (or different flavors of it) is worth piloting e.g. at a progressive County or Ministry (perhaps in partnership with a local University or TVET institution). Let's see what happens, now that the idea is in the public domain. Great potential for creating new jobs and for inspiring an R&D culture that focuses on solving real-world problems. > > Have a great evening! > > Brgds,Patrick. > > Patrick A. M. Maina[Cross-domain Innovator | Public Policy Analyst - Indigenous Innovations] > > On Fri, May 3, 2019 at 5:13 PM Patrick A. M. Maina <pmaina2000(a)yahoo.com <mailto:pmaina2000@yahoo.com>> wrote: > > Noted Muraya & thanks for clarifying. > True. Public projects should have public oversight unless there are clear compelling reasons, in public interest, to the contrary. > So, if I understand you correctly, the role of MSMEs would be to: > 1. Create public information web portals and keep them updated regularly. > 2. Collect accurate updates on government projects (e.g. go to project sites take photos and conduct contractor interviews every month; also collect data from relevant agencies) and update the data to the portal. > 3. Conduct analyses on data and publish fairly objective scorecard/dashboard reports for all eligible government projects.? > Is that similar to what you had in mind?? > What would the SME business model look like to avoid a rent-seeking type arrangement that in itself would be subject to corruption (which would turn the whole idea into a big mess)? > Though I support the idea of initial seed capital from gov, I think the SMEs would have to sustain themselves independently afterwards for it to make sense e.g. through ads or some indirect synergies where the portal adds value to their core business. > New Media businesses (independent publishers) for example might use this to boost their traffic/engagement (and advertising revenues). > Govenment could spice it up by creating a whistleblower bounty program where people who help identify corruption are paid x% of funds recovered (a graduated scale can be used, with hard capping). There would of course be need for smart rules to ensure the bounty program itself is not turned by cartels into a racket to fleece the gov. > I think you're on to something... > Brgds,Patrick.

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Fixing Africa's zig zag investment ecosystem
by Eric M K Osiakwan 07 Jul '19

07 Jul '19

https://www.africa.com/fixing-africas-zig-zag-investment-ecosystem/ <https://www.africa.com/fixing-africas-zig-zag-investment-ecosystem/> Eric here

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draft_declaration_of_principles_on_freedom_of_expression_in_africa_eng.pdf
by Lydia gachungi 07 Jul '19

07 Jul '19

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Public Consultation on the Draft Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa
by Lydia gachungi 07 Jul '19

07 Jul '19

Public Consultation on the Draft Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa The Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa (the Special Rapporteur), one of the special mechanisms of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Commission), is undertaking an initiative to revise the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa (the Declaration), which was adopted during the 32nd Ordinary Session in October 2002. This initiative is being undertaken in pursuance of Resolutions 362, 350 and 222 of the African Commission, which mandated the Special Rapporteur, in conjunction with State Parties, civil society and other stakeholders, to revise and/or expand the Declaration to cover freedom of expression and access to information issues that may have been only part-included or not included at all in the Declaration, including by taking account of developments in the internet age. The draft Declaration on Principles of Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa (Draft Declaration) has been developed under the leadership of the Special Rapporteur. As part of the consultative process, the Special Rapporteur invites all state and non-state stakeholders to forward their inputs on the draft Declaration, by close of business on 01 July 2019. The Draft Declaration can be found using the link above, to the English, French and Portuguese versions. Contributions should be sent to the Secretariat of the African Commission on the following email address: au-banjul(a)africa-union.org. Done in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, 30 April 2019 http://www.achpr.org/news/2019/04/d375/

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Go big or Go Home: Money Matters
by Mbugua Njihia 07 Jul '19

07 Jul '19

Sometimes, deep pockets are needed to power through long-term opportunities; providing runway and capital for physical infrastructure and ‘plumbing’ before technology can stitch it all together - http://www.mbuguanjihia.com/business/gobigorgohome.html *Regards,* Mbugua Njihia ᐧ

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Fwd: [AfrICANN-discuss] Alert: Phishing Scam Email From "sales@icann.org"
by Barrack Otieno 07 Jul '19

07 Jul '19

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Yaovi Atohoun <yaovi.atohoun(a)icann.org> Date: Sun, 5 May 2019 21:13:33 +0000 Subject: [AfrICANN-discuss] Alert: Phishing Scam Email From "sales(a)icann.org" To: AfrICANN Community List <africann(a)afrinic.net> Hello everyone / Bonjour à tous EN: Please read more at https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2019-05-02-en FR : Alerte hameçonnage : escroquerie par message électronique depuis « sales(a)icann.org ». Plus d’information à https://www.icann.org/news/announcement-2-2019-05-02-fr Thanks / Merci -- Yaovi Atohoun Stakeholder Engagement and Operations Manager- Africa; ICANN Tel. +229 66015649/65209067 www.icann.org -- Barrack O. Otieno +254721325277 +254733206359 Skype: barrack.otieno PGP ID: 0x2611D86A

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Twitter Kenya, Twitter Policy/Support
by Mutemi wa Kiama 07 Jul '19

07 Jul '19

Dear all, Are there individuals who work for Twitter Public Policy or Twitter Support on this list? Warm regards, Edwin Kiama Thoughts become things... choose the good ones! *-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------* *Social Justice & Social Accountability Entrepreneur, Facilitator, Movements' Coach, Human Rights Defender, * *#DevolutionIsRevolution Champion* *The Wanjiku Agenda Kenya Foundation (WAKenya)*Ordinary, fearless Kenyans. Sauti Ya Wanjiku Social Movement www.sautiyawanjiku.com https://www.facebook.com/wanjikurevolutionkenya https://twitter.com/WanjikuRevolt https://plus.google.com/u/1/+WanjikuMapinduzi/posts http://www.scribd.com/wmkenya "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." *~Margaret Mead*

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Fwd: Invitation to join the Africa Youth IGF session planning working group
by Keith Andere 07 Jul '19

07 Jul '19

Dear Listers, This might of interest to some of you. Regards, Keith. ---------- Forwarded message --------- From:SILLAH Kawsu <kawsu.sillah(a)gmail.com> Date: Thu, 2 May 2019, 22:47 Subject: Invitation to join the Africa Youth IGF session planning working group To: KAWSU ESSA SILLAH <kawsu.sillah(a)gmail.com> Cc: Keith Andere <kephand(a)gmail.com> Dear All, I am transmitting this message on behalf of my colleague Mr. Keith Andere, Youth Representative at African Internet Governance Forum <https://afigf.africa/>'s Multi Advisory Group <https://afigf.africa/sites/default/files/2018/Composition%20of%20African%20…> (AfIGF MAG) for 2019-2020. Mr. Andere is currently working on planning the Youth session at upcoming 8th session of African Internet Governance Forum to be held in September 2019 in a location to be determined. Accordingly, Mr. Andere is inviting young people active in the field of ICT/Internet policy related discussions to join the African YouthIGF Working Group. Interested candidates should be between the age of 18-35, and resident in African continent. To join, register your details from this link HERE. <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L-XdZ_A1221TrMzzkZ35vU0e1jCb0Ts7KZv…> Also to a WhatsApp Group. Find link HERE. <https://chat.whatsapp.com/BFHCoywlZOM1kT2KY0rfoT> Kind regards, Kawsu <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L-XdZ_A1221TrMzzkZ35vU0e1jCb0Ts7KZv…> -- Best Regards, [image: --]SILLAH Kawsu [image: https://]about.me/ksillah Website <http://www.auyc.org/> | Twitter <https://twitter.com/AYCommission> | Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/AYCommission/> | LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/company/african-youth-commission/about/> M/WhatsApp: +2209865300 Skype: profkawsu

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[strategic inefficiency is what creates a large number jobs] Jobs fall to 6 year low despite GDP "boom".
by Patrick A. M. Maina 07 Jul '19

07 Jul '19

Dear listers, In order to create jobs, the government should move away from policies that focus on increasing efficiency to those that are strategically inefficient. Examples: 1. SMEs, e. g. cottage industries, are inefficient - compared to larger factories, but they can create exponentially more jobs with less tax breaks. Most SMEs also spend all their revenues in Kenya, while promoting other dependent MSMEs.. unlike large corporations which tend to move funds abroad for different reasons (tax, asset protection, hedging, dividends etc). 2. We always see donors (especially, I believe, WB & IMF if I recall correctly) always pushing govt to redirect expenditure from recurrent/wages to "development"/infrastructure (clearly in their own interest as assets can be securitized for their own peace of mind, and more debt can be incurred in dev projects). So they push developing countries to reduce manpower in critical strategic sectors of the economy (less teachers, doctors etc) or to pay below-market wages. What is the impact of such financial efficiency measures? Do they not care that the employees they keep asking to be retrenched are real people with families? Do they not care that manpower reduction means our children get the worst teacher:pupil or doctor:patient or police:civillian ratios? Such recommendations lead to massive hidden costs downstream that cannot be attributed (e.g. low quality education, poor healthcare, increased insecurity due to overloaded+underpaid workers). It just looks like we have endless problems of incompetence but it is not by accident... we follow "weaponised advice", designed to keeps us poor. Efficiency efforts should be limited to enabling high impact service delivery (optimized processes) not financial efficiency. Government should find ways/tactical excuses to ignore callous and unethical requests/pressures for cold blooded fiscal efficiency. Public sector Performance Contract targets need to be linked to a basket of grassroots metrics that reflect the general quality of life for the ordinary population (besides GDP, Inflation, NSE Index & exchange rate). This can be presented in dashboard format on eCitizen so that wanjiku can see what is happening, hold officials to account for not delivering and be motivated to support such initiatives (but the data must be *real* to avoid risk of future backlash). Our "missing middle" problem (i.e. a tiny middleclass) needs to be addressdd. It exists because government incentives for business have focused mainly on Micro enterprises which are too inefficient to be sustainable, and large corporations that are too efficient to fill the jobs gap (and too demanding - always asking for endless concessions just to maintain status quo). If you track current incentives given to large corporations and account for all outflows and hidden costs (many of these corporations are the architects of grand corruption in the country) - you will see a MASSIVE NET LOSS / WEALTH EXTRACTION directly attributable to corporate activities (e.g. encouraging harphazard spending, lobbying for bad laws or poor incentives).. despite the appearance of "gains" on simplistic paper reports that ignore the full impact. A thriving middle class (people who are not rich and not poor - with ability to buy a car, spend regularly on mid-level leisure and even save for luxury spending) is what ends poverty and drives a strong economy. Small and Medium-sized Enterprises SME are the key to a thriving middle class and rapid, large scale jobs creation. They tend to lean towards formality, will often have more educated founders, are inefficient because of scale - but not overly so as to be unsustainable like Micro enterprises, and a few will have potential to grow into mega corporations. De-risked MSEs are what attracts high quality FDI in the form of venture capital. So rather than pitch tax breaks to global investors, the government should pitch de-risked high potential small enterprises (the way Israel and some EU countries are doing) whose business model has been proven in order to attract capital to scale up the businesses. The reality of Tax incentives to big corporations is that they only cannibalize the treasury - and these same corporations will do everything they can to minimize local expenditure (even furniture is imported yet we have skilled carpenters), and extract wealth in all manner of ways (e.g. transfer pricing). Most jobs offered by large factories are low level, while skilled jobs (r&d, conceptualization, design, development) will be outsourced with the (false) excuse that Kenyans are not competent. In reality they just want to prevent HIGH VALUE KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER so that locals don't build indigenous alternatives. I know some of the things I write are not supposed to be said because it will spoil some lucrative plunder parties.. but I alsonknow many of you know what I am saying is TRUE because you have seen it being done, heard about it or (God forbid) participated in it . This habit of taming monsters by feeding them with our kids is becoming too much and has to be called out for what it is. The youth are our children. It is our duty to create an enabling ecosystem framework that attracts opportunities and truly rewards them for innovation. We need a Kenyan Steve Jobs or Bill Gates who own their own companies - rather than have them and their ideas gobbled up by monopolistic dinosaur corporations that want to suppress their enterpreneurial dreams supressed in order to delay, the next wave of disruptive innovations. We need hundreds of winning case studies - not tens of mostly foreign owned startups (not that it's a bad thing to have foreign ownership, the key thing is that, given our history of suppressed esteem, our youth desperately need role models they can relate to so that they can start BELIEVING in themselves). We can't just tell youth to be job creators.. that's like telling a starving person to go find food. If they knew how - or where, they would not be starving. The REAL reason we tell the youth to employ themselves - yet we have not created an enabling framework - is because they have caught us napping and we want to deflect responsibility. "We" means anyone over 35 years old whether in privage sector or Government. Our parents didn't give us a gift to keep (the opportunities we enjoyed), they gave us a BATON to pass on in a long term RELAY RACE. Did you drop your baton (I did too)? Pick it up. Ignore the naysayers. Start running. Link: https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/news/Formal-jobs-fall-to-6-year-low-des… Warmest regards,Patrick. Patrick A. M. Maina[Cross-domain Innovator | Public Policy Analyst - Indigenous Innovations]

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