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Pivot East Finalists Announced - Call for Mentors
by John Kieti 02 May '12

02 May '12

Hello People, You may be aware that on June 5th and 6th there will be the Pivot East Mobile Applications Pitching Conference at Ole Sereni. Top 25 companies from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda will be pitching their mobile based solutions to investors, corporates and other stakeholders. The 25 finalists in 5 categories have been announced here - http://pivoteast.com/blog/2012/04/pivot-east-competition-finalists-announce… Some of you might be interested in taking part as mentors to the finalists in the remaining weeks culminating to the conference. The contestants vary in experience and business skills. Mentorship sessions are being organized for more experienced tech-entrepreneurs and business/IT executives in the industry to share insights with the contestants. Pivot East organizers are able to link you up with any of the contestants for mentorship sessions that could last 20-45 minutes at your convenience between 7th and 27th may. If you are interested in this opportunity, kindly contact the organizers on the email address pivot(a)mlab.co.ke for more details. Best regards -- My Blog - www.gmeltdown.com ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' The ordinary just won't do

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Re: [kictanet] The Size of this Elephant (from my blog)
by Paul Kukubo 02 May '12

02 May '12

Alex. Agreed. An omission on my part and indeed everyone should be copied. For the record, I am keen to know what you were told, but hold the view that the spirit of this discussion is about how to develop a certain class of IT enterrpise. A discussion whose time has come. Asante. Paul Kukubo CEO, Kenya ICT Board On Tuesday, May 1, 2012, Alex Gakuru wrote: > Paul, > > I prefer public responses to public discussions to remain as such, > maintaining the same spheres of intended audiences i.e. as policy opposed > to the practice of public responses in certain tones 'compensated' through > private messages in a different tone, unless the parties publicly agreed to > take their conversation off list. > > Alex > > On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 10:08 PM, Paul Kukubo <paulkukubo(a)ict.go.ke<javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', 'paulkukubo(a)ict.go.ke');> > > wrote: > >> Alex >> >> Don't mean to be dismissive. On the contrary, I am curious as anyone else >> on this. >> >> While that is going on, we must keep our eyes on the wider issues that >> merit the discussions we have been undertaking. >> >> Asante. >> >> Sent from my iPad >> >> On May 1, 2012, at 9:55 PM, Alex Gakuru <gakuru(a)gmail.com<javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', 'gakuru(a)gmail.com');>> >> wrote: >> >> On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 9:34 PM, Paul Kukubo <pkukubo(a)ict.go.ke<javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', 'pkukubo(a)ict.go.ke');> >> > wrote: >> >>> >>> As for the #140Friday debate, if you care to share what you heard, I'd >>> be happy to understand what the conspiracy was about. It would not change >>> the substantive arguments in any way. >>> >> >> I notice you forgot to include my message on the same on this forward. >> But as stated, received that information in confidence therefore not at >> liberty to share. Curious you immediately dismiss it as "consipracy" so >> quickly? Shouldn't we be patient and wait to see how that one unfolds? >> >> regards, >> >> >> >> > -- 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

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Re: [kictanet] The Size of this Elephant (from my blog)
by Paul Kukubo 01 May '12

01 May '12

Alex Thanks for your response. It was interesting. And indeed, I may have changed the metaphor from Elephant to Bull, but I'm assured it is well understood. An important clarification for worth communicating here. IT projects are rarely just about the technical software, hardware piece. Most substantial public sector, and indeed most IT projects in general are rarely just about buying a software or hardware. They are about transforming a business process to work more efficiently to achieve a service or business outcome. This therefore requires skill sets in business analysis, business process transformation, change management and project management. The role of the head of IT, commonly referred to as the chief information officer or CIO is to develop the enterprise architecture. Meaning how the how organizations information flow is structured to support the business. How accounting systems will work with sales systems for example. How the sales system will support multiple locations, how stock management can be optimized so that there is less holding of expansive stocks. The core IT piece Is crucial but comes only when that the puzzle is understood. This is the world in which large scale consulting firms live and this is the value that their clients seek. This is where the large IT contracts swim around globally. In fact most outsourcing is done to farm out the basic IT parts to companies that can understand this while leaving the main organization to focus on value addition. Our discussions with the local IT players have included sensitization of IT service providers to the wider opportunity. Many already play in this space. some of the techies may well be service providers to these larger organizations as part of the value chain of service provision. Ocassionaly the task may boil down to a simple IT talk that can be sourced directly to a techie. This is rare and would not usually be a high value transaction. The rule of thumb is the more strategic it is, the higher its shilling value. Sometimes just designing a change and process program is worth much more than the actual IT deployment. As for the #140Friday debate, if you care to share what you heard, I'd be happy to understand what the conspiracy was about. It would not change the substantive arguments in any way. These discussion are important and thanks for keeping them alive. Asante Paul Kukubo CEO Kenya ICT Board. On Monday, April 30, 2012, Alex Gakuru wrote: > Hi, > > Firstly, I confess opposition to your phrase "The elephant is big and fat > and has to be eaten a piece at a time.." > to avoid encouraging rampant "elephants eating" wiping out the jumbo and > killing tourism forex earnings. "Turkwel" is a baby elephant my ICANN NCSG > colleagues adopted after visiting a Nairobi animal orphage during 2010 > ICANN meeting held at Nairobi. But I trust that your message solely and > innocently intended to illustrate the size of Kshs 1.2 trillion current > government budget as cake big enough for everyone to have a slice of it. > appreciated! > > - - - - <snip>- - - - > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Alex Gakuru <gakuru(a)gmail.com <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', > 'gakuru(a)gmail.com');>> > Date: Fri, Apr 1, 2011 at 12:29 PM > Subject: Re: Offtopic: Fwd: Thank you for renewing your fostering of > Turkwel. > To: William Drake <william.drake(a)graduateinstitute.ch <javascript:_e({}, > 'cvml', 'william.drake(a)graduateinstitute.ch');>> > Cc: NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS(a)listserv.syr.edu <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', > 'NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS(a)listserv.syr.edu');> > > > I have just written an email to the Kenya Wildlife Service ( > http://www.kws.org/) requesting them to declare the individual a *persona > non grata* in all of our wildlife parks. > regards, > > On Fri, Apr 1, 2011 at 11:32 AM, Alex Gakuru <gakuru(a)gmail.com<javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', 'gakuru(a)gmail.com');> > > wrote: > >> >> On Fri, Apr 1, 2011 at 10:23 AM, William Drake < >> william.drake(a)graduateinstitute.ch <javascript:_e({}, 'cvml', >> 'william.drake(a)graduateinstitute.ch');>> >> >> Bob Parsons, chief executive of the market-leading domain name registrar >>> Go Daddy, has come to blows with animal-rights organisation PETA (People >>> for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), after he shot an African elephant >>> and posted the video online. >>> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/03/31/bob_parsons_gets_peta_gong_for_kill… >>> >> >> Despicable! Posturing as "a kind white man" on a safari (in Zimbabwe!), >> accompanies by a camera crew out to save Africans from starvation since >> their maize crops are being ruined by elephants. An in the process feed >> them with tasty elephant meat - incidentally which he reports was not >> enough for all "the villagers." Would his plan on eradicating African >> hunger then not mean killing all the elephants for meat? Did he eat the >> meat he so proudly hunted? >> >> Or maybe lately there just wasn't "enough" savagely entertaining African >> content at GoDaddy, therefore he decided to spur it up ostensibly "while on >> holiday in Africa"? >> >> While at it, what has the multi-millionaire done to save his >> countless starving Americans , starting at his own neighbourhood? >> >> This video's message is deliberately meant to covey a message even bigger >> than the Jumbo this savagely act achieved. >> >> upset, >> >> Alex >> > - - - - <snap>- - - - > > Be that as it may, > > There are two sides to the local participation story: - > > a) the advocates genuinely desirous to have their fair share of the > taxes revenue cake for (ICT) products services rendered to the GoK > > b) Corruption agents schemes plotting to perpetrate fraudulent > acquisition of public taxes revenues > > The first is a legitimate cause while the second is evil that must never > be entertained, regardless of whether the Kenyan resides here or is in the > Diaspora. > > Core problems include the lack of good faith in the procurement system. > Business persons and individuals pop up claiming “local” while actually > fronting foreign firms interests adding to government's problems. > Procurement officers collude with suppliers to favour some over others, > contrary to (Section 34 of the) Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2005. > You may recall when 3,000 were all sacked? “Minimalist” tender information > publishing. Unrelated obstacles to erected to block local participation. > > We can achieve (a) the good local ICT stakeholders cause and eradicate > (b) corruption cancer by: - > > 1) Transparently publishing ALL government ICT systems requirements at a > designated website and calling upon systems/services providers to > demonstrate small-scale but working prototypes. Contract proactive > http://www.gov.mu/portal/sites/eprocurement/ilsv.jsp with our reactive > “post event” reportage http://www.ppoa.go.ke/ (publishing standard > documents, reports and reviews) > > 2) Using ISO 12207-2008 Standard break down the systems into modules and > may tender them separately, after all, the Internet “network of networks” > success proves that no system alone is ever complete. > > 3) Remove weird requirements for locals to participate on such tenders, > such as, “demonstrate 5 years experience developing similar systems..” > “audited accounts for X years” etc. How would a recent sharp Computer > Science graduate with only a laptop and working ever participate? > > 4) Separately tendered modules spread capacity/capability risks and spurs > competitive achievement record for local services providers shielding > government from historical projects implementation failures. > > 5) Kenya needs a very firm and clear Public-Private Partnership legal > framework that governs every such project. Recall my recent ke-users post, > “...Had the good fortune to learn "how" Scalpel legislation governing PPP > See: http://www.icrc.gov.ng/?cat=36 Hats off to the good work by ICRC! > [Save the website www.icrc.gov.ng]” > > 6) Need to avoid "affirmative action" abuses witnessed in certain > countries where powerful politicians' children (and their outfits) are > awarded hefty government contracts indirect briberies fronted as promoting > local firms. Cognisant that those qualified ought not be punished simply > because their parent is a politician. (The last time I checked did not find > engaging in politics classified as criminal:-) > > In short, we have to avoid trying to address a procurement system and > processes problem through activities and/or events. > > my two cents contribution to the discussion. > > Regards, > > Alex > > On Sun, Apr 29, 2012 at 9:35 PM, Alex Gakuru <gakuru(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > Hi Paul, > > This is heavy stuff. I'll try to respond tomorrow, if I can. > > Alex > > On Sun, Apr 29, 2012 at 9:22 PM, Paul Kukubo <pkukubo(a)ict.go.ke> wrote: > > Listers > > I thought id share from my latest blog post (www.paulkukubo.co.ke) I > have pasted the entire piece here. > > The size of this Elephant. > > The recent #140friday twitter and off twitter debate was centred around a > simple and important theme. If the Kenya Government procurement ecosystem > developed a preferential orientation towards local firms, the result would > be that we would develop greater capability. It was argued by some that the > government seemed to indicate an inclination towards foreign big name > firms. Whereas the facts don’t necessarily support the claim, I doubt > anyone would argue with the basic premise of the argument. Local businesses > should benefit from tax based projects. > > I offer some discussion points that may guide the continuing discussion. > > How do we turn preferential advantage into true national capacity? The > recent procurement of seats from the Prisons department for the national > assembly is a welcome effort by any measure. Without the benefit of detail, > one hopes that the process has created capacity for the Prisons department > to be competitive in furniture making regionally and even become a net > exporter. One hopes they have worked with some of the best furniture > designers locally and created synergies that can be replicated. One hopes > that the low cost of prison labour has also been value added by developing > prisoners who can become great furniture makers once they leave. Use of > materials is important. Have we used woods plastics, composites that wee > sourced from locally sustainable sources. Parliaments are important > national symbols in so many ways. They must represent the best of our > national collective aspiration. How they look and feel is important to our > national psyche. We can draw parrellels here for ICT. > 2. Sometimes,even the government does not necessarily know what it does > not know and is often seeking to know what it should know first, before > seeking answers. The whole area of drilling down from service objectives to > architecting an ICT solution can be daunting. For example, we need to have > a simple, easy to use lands information management system so that Kenyans > can search for land titles. One issue that may arise here is that only 30% > of Kenyan land mass has been adjudicated, and surveyed and provided with > title. Your ancestral land may not be under title yet. So how is a lands > system relaxant just yet for you, some may argue. Another issue might be > that the lands ministry collectes substantial revenue in fees and rates > that has to be remitted to the treasury every year. The same department > then has to go back to treasury to seek finance for a new system to support > its operations. Treasury has myriads of pressing priorities. The Kenya ICT > Board proposes a system that allows a private sector partner to provide a > system and recover its revenue from the collected fees. The issue becomes > one of structuring the deal so that the best in class partner can be found > and government is guaranteed of improved revenue whilst having a system > that can carry us to the next generation. Many systems in government can be > delivered like this. The task and the system goes beyond the technology > implementati > > -- 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

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Fwd: Africa ICT Alliance - AfICTA Launched (Press Release)
by waudo siganga 01 May '12

01 May '12

FYI ----- Original message ----- From: Timmy Ambali <[1]pm(a)aficta.org> To: "Adrian Schofield " <[2]Adrian.Schofield(a)wits.ac.za>, Dr Jimson Olufuye <[3]jolufuye(a)kontemporary.net>, "Eng. Tarek Abdel Monem" <[4]tarek(a)projecta-eg.com>, "Mr Faouzi ZAGHBIB " <[5]faouzi.zaghbib(a)r2i.com.tn>, "Mr Poncelet Ileleji " <[6]pileleji(a)ymca.gm>, Mr Waudo Siganga <[7]emailsignet(a)mailcan.com> Cc: "Adetola SOGBESAN " <[8]tola(a)chacesystems.com>, "Engr Titi Omo-Ettu " <[9]titi(a)titiomoettu.com>, "Lanre Ajayi " <[10]lanre(a)pinet.com.ng>, "Prof (Mrs) Adenike Osofisan " <[11]nikeosofisan(a)gmail.com> Subject: Africa ICT Alliance - AfICTA Launched (Press Release) Date: Tue, 1 May 2012 15:57:26 +0100 Dear All, It is my pleasure to inform you that Africa ICT Alliance (AfICTA) was launched May 1, 2012. AfICTA is a private sector led alliance of ICT Associations, multinational corporations and organizations with the responsibility of enabling our continent to meet the social and economic growth challenges of the 21^st Century and bringing stakeholders together to achieve the mutual goals of our region through effective cooperation, advocacy and leadership. Please follow the link below to read the Press Release statement. [12]http://aficta.org/index.php/media/press-release Thank you. Best Regards, afictalogo Timmy Ambali Programme Manager Africa ICT Alliance (AfICTA) Url: [13]http://www.aficta.org Email: [14]info(a)aficta.org Skype: aficta Twitter: @aficta This email is for the exclusive recipient/s and it may contain confidential materials. If you have received it and it is not meant for you, please alert me [15]pm(a)aficta.org or discard at once. Thank you. References 1. mailto:[email protected] 2. mailto:[email protected] 3. mailto:[email protected] 4. mailto:[email protected] 5. mailto:[email protected] 6. mailto:[email protected] 7. mailto:[email protected] 8. mailto:[email protected] 9. mailto:[email protected] 10. mailto:[email protected] 11. mailto:[email protected] 12. http://aficta.org/index.php/media/press-release 13. http://www.aficta.org/ 14. mailto:[email protected] 15. mailto:[email protected]

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Re: [kictanet] IF CCK CHOOSES TO MONITOR INTERNET TRAFFIC, WILL IT ALSO MANAGE TO BLOCK TORRENTS THAT CONSUME BANDWIDTH?
by Michelle Tongo 01 May '12

01 May '12

On 1 May 2012 14:30, Michelle Tongo <shivumich89(a)gmail.com> wrote: > @peter: > thats a good insight. > > First and foremost do you think CCk will be able to monitor internet > traffic? i mean , do they have the resources to do so? > > whats your opinion? > > > On 1 May 2012 14:18, Peter Wakaba <peterwakaba(a)gmail.com> wrote: > >> first, torrents evolve. Will CCK evolve as fast? I dont think so. ( THEY >> WILL END UP STUCK WITH EXPENSIVE/OBSOLTE SOFTWARE/ HARDWARE) >> Second, torrent clients are not generic, so will CCK be able to pin down >> all the different types? I dont know. >> Third, in the west they have decided to take down the largest pirates >> (read TIM dot Com and Newzealand). But even then, with Napster down, >> Megaupload gone... i still have thousands of peers seeding from every >> torrent i download. >> >> Its only a matter of time before someone else come up with something that >> makes torrents obsolete. rather than blockading the media owners should be >> thinking disruptive techonology, something that makes torrents irrelevant. >> >> My two cents. >> > > > > -- > *Regards,* > *Michelle T.* > *Cell: +254-734-695-532* > * > * > > -- *Regards,* *Michelle T.* *Cell: +254-734-695-532* * *

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CCK releases 2nd Quarter ICT sector statistics for 2011/2012
by Wambua, Christopher 01 May '12

01 May '12

CCK releases 2nd quarter ICT sector statistics for 2011/2012 <http://www.cck.go.ke/news/2012/ICT_Sector_statistics.html> The number of Internet subscribers in Kenya increased by 13.48 percent from 5.42 million to 6.15 million between September 1 and December 31 last year. During the same period, the estimated number of Internet users rose to 17.38 million up from 14.30 million, representing an increase of 21.55 per cent. According to the CCK 2nd Quarter ICT Sector Statistics for 2011/2012 released today, broadband subscriptions increased to 131,829, posting a 4.14% growth from the previous period. Of the total Internet subscribers in the country, broadband subscription represented only 2.14 per cent. Meanwhile, the total mobile traffic declined to 6.70 billion minutes from 7.09 billion recorded in the previous quarter. This represented a 5.5 per cent drop in voice traffic. Similarly, Minutes of Use (MoU) per subscriber per month declined to 79.9 down from 89.3 recorded in the previous quarter (i.e. July to September 2011), posting a 10.53 per cent decrease. The number of SMS per subscriber per month also declined from 17.42 in September 2011 to 10.42 SMS by the end December 2011, representing a decline of 38.52 percent. The report further indicates that the number of mobile subscribers increased to 28.08 million up from 26.49 million recorded during the previous period, posting an increase of 5.99%. Mobile penetration increased to 71.3 percent during the same period from 67.2 per cent recorded during the first quarter. The total local letters sent over the same period declined by 4.75 per cent from 20.57 million in the previous quarter to 19.59 million. Click here to view the full http://www.cck.go.ke/resc/downloads/SECTOR_STATISTICS_REPORT_Q2_2011-12. pdf Christopher Wambua Ag. Manager/Communications Communications Commission of Kenya P.O. Box 14448, NAIROBI 00800 KENYA

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DEADLY THIKA ROAD - WHO IS LISTENING?
by Edith Adera 30 Apr '12

30 Apr '12

Listers, One may ask, why talk about roads on an ICT list? As a vision 2030 project like Konza City, I thought it's important to bring to our attention the dangers of cutting corners...I hope this will NOT happen with Konza city. I would like to address this note to Mugo Kibati as Director of V2030. On Friday, amidst the pounding rain, I ventured out on Thika road (for the first time, since the super highway was done)....I've been avoiding the road like a plague given the grisly stories I hear about thika road. But this time, it was out of necessity. I've seen the dazzling roads of south Africa, Dubai, the US, Japan...you name it....so in my mind I thought a "slip road" would be the standard slip road it ought to be; sign boards would be clear so I know where to go and when to turn off; and that I should NOT expect (NEVER) to find a speed bump smack right in the middle of the highway when I've hit 100+km per hour and enjoying the cruise. We appreciate the development (one should not question that), but can we do things with excellence? First, I was on a lane around Parklands heading towards Thika, when suddenly I noticed on-coming cars flashing, warning me that while I was right to use that lane as a short diversion, I had missed an opening that should have taken me back to the right lane! I promptly took the next left turning to get back to the right lane, luckily I was driving at snail speed. The next encounter was when I suddenly came across a notice board indicating that the road was closed, but it was not clear which one - the one ahead or the one to my right...my sixth sense suggested a take the road on the right, when I did, it happened to be the right one, but yet again, there were cars coming from the right side of that road from behind me and a had a near miss with a speeding country bus...and you know how they zoom! (I understand later another car did not know which route to take at this same spot and crashed the barriers at high speed and the driver was removed from his car unconscious! possibly dead!). My next headache was to find out which slip road to take off Thika road to my destination - I have never seen 90o slip roads....the standard from my lay knowledge is that they are around 350 - 45o - Thika road has 90o slip roads!!! - how do you do that from a highway! Finally, on my way back, I had to make some maneuvers below a bridge to get back onto the road coming back to Nairobi (with huge concrete walls on the side so you can't see other cars coming from all directions) - I've never seen interchanges under a bridge with blind spots and cars coming in all directions! Thika road is a death trap and needs to be sorted out as soon as possible. Summary 1. The slips roads need to be made proper slip roads with clear signs 2. The bumps on the highways should be removed and foot bridges constructed for pedestrians 3. The interchanges, need to be rectified and ensure people moving in different directions do so without meeting cars coming in the opposite directions (at a blind spot with concrete walls - the Museum area is a classic example) - do 2-3 layers of road even consider underground passages, but for heavens sake don't let ongoing cars meet under a bridge with blind spots. 4. Have proper legible sign boards erected urgently. While the road is under construction and one can dismiss issues raised about Thika road indicating that diversions are just temporary, the main point of my intervention is with the design and its usability in a safe manner. The fact is that Thika road is not safe as it's currently designed - it does not give the impression that it was done by those who have done the roads we see in other countries that work. Mugo, I look forward to hearing from you and trust that you will have discussions with your counterparts at the Ministry of Roads so Kenyans know that something will be done about Thika Road. It is sad that while many Kenyans have complained about this road among themselves, we do not have forums to bring this to the attention of the decision-makers. This is my attempt and I believe we will hear from you. Lets design and implement Konza differently....we must never compromise on standards. Edith (personal opinion)

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Great story on Estonia as an Internet nation
by Paul Kukubo 30 Apr '12

30 Apr '12

In 1995, four years after Estonia <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/estonia> broke free from the USSR, Toomas Hendrik Ilves read a "very Luddite" book by Jeremy Rifkin called The End of Work. "It argued that with greater computerisation there would be fewer jobs," remembered Ilves, then a senior diplomat, now the country's president<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/03/president-ilves-made-estonia>, "which from his point of view was terrible." Ilves and many of his colleagues saw it differently. In a tiny (population: 1.4 million) and newly independent country like Estonia, politicians realised computers could help quickly compensate for both a minuscule workforce and a chronic lack of physical infrastructure. Seventeen years on, the internet<http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/internet> has done more than just help. It is now tightly entwined with Estonia's identity. "For other countries, the internet is just another service, like tap water, or clean streets," said Linnar Viik, a lecturer at the Estonian IT College, a government adviser and a man almost synonymous in Estonia with the rise of the web<http://www.eubusiness.com/europe/estonia/040420021538.qhs3vusx> . "But for young Estonians, the internet is a manifestation of something more than a service – it's a symbol of democracy and freedom." To see why, you just have to go outside. Free Wi-Fi<http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/wifi> is everywhere, and has been for a decade. Viik says you could walk 100 miles – from the pastel-coloured turrets here in medieval Tallinn <http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/tallinn> to the university spires of Tartu – and never lose internet connection. "We realised that if the government was going to use the internet, the internet had to be available to everybody," Viik said. "So we built a huge network of public internet access points for people who couldn't afford them at home." The country took a similar approach to education. By 1997, thanks to a campaign led in part by Ilves, a staggering 97% of Estonian schools already had internet <http://www.tiigrihype.ee/?op=body&id=45>. Now 42 Estonian services are now managed mainly through the internet. Last year, 94% of tax returns were made online, usually within five minutes. You can vote on your laptop <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6407269.stm> (at the last election, Ilves did it from Macedonia) and sign legal documents on a smartphone. Cabinet meetings have been paperless since 2000. Doctors only issue prescriptions electronically, while in the main cities you can pay by text for bus tickets, parking, and – in some cases – a pint of beer. Not bad for country where, two decades ago, half the population had no phone line <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3603943.stm>. Central to the Estonian project is the ID card, introduced in 2002. Nine in 10 Estonians have one, and – by slotting it into their computer – citizens can use their card to vote online, transfer money and access all the information the state has on them. "There's nothing on the ID card itself, because that could be dangerous if you lost it," says Katrin Pärgmäe, who is in charge of public awareness at RIA, the country's internet authority <http://www.ria.ee/en>. "It only gives you access to the database if you type in the right code." You can also present the card at the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. On public transport, it doubles as a ticket. Many people also have special ID chips on their mobile sim cards that allow them to pay people by text. To a British audience, the ID card will have a whiff of Big Brother. But many Estonians argue the opposite: that it allows them to keep tabs on the state, rather than the other way round. "You'd think, given our history, we'd have a problem with it," said Ilves, in an oblique reference to the days when the KGB had an office down a cobbled street in central Tallinn. "But I feel much more secure with a digital ID. If anyone goes into my files, they're flagged. Whereas if my files – which would exist anyway – were made of paper, no one would know who was looking at them." Every Estonian can see who has visited their data, and they can challenge any suspicious behaviour. In one famous case, a policewoman was caught accessing information about her boyfriend. During a recent election campaign, a candidate was swiftly punished for accessing personal information about would-be constituents. "I don't know what the idiot was thinking," said Viik. "You can't hide." To an outsider, it is not immediately clear why Estonia took to the internet so much faster than its Baltic cousins, Latvia and Lithuania. All three won independence at the same time. All three needed quick ways of revamping their ailing infrastructure. But to Estonians, the reason is simple. Estonia has a sizeable Russian-speaking minority, but the country's ethnic Estonian majority feel Nordic, rather than Slavic or eastern European. In the early 90s, this meant they looked to tech-happy Scandinavia for both inspiration and investment. Those Finnish and Swedish businesses that did invest expected their Estonian counterparts to communicate by email rather than fax. And pretty soon it was the newcomers who were leading the way. "I remember when one of our banks was bought by a Swedish one, they came over and said: 'And now we're going to teach you how to do computer banking'," recalled Ilves. "And we said, 'well, you might want to look at what we're actually doing with computer banking ourselves.'" At the last count, 99% of Estonian bank transfers were online. It helped that many politicians in the early 90s were unusually quick to "get" the internet. "The people in power after the collapse of the Soviet Union were really young," said Jaan Tallinn, the co-founder of Skype, the Estonian internet telephone company, and a co-developer of file-sharingwebsite Kazaa <http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/15/www.kazaa.com>. "They knew what was going on." Mart Laar was 32 when he became prime minister in 1992. Ilves is slightly older, but had learned to code as a child, growing up in exile in the US. "I thought if I can do it, anyone can," he said in his strong New Jersey accent. "I was completely at ease with computers." The internet was also seen as a buffer to Russia<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/russia> . "We were afraid that Russian armies might take down the TV tower, the central radio station, or newspaper press," said Viik. "Three addresses shut down, and we would have been disconnected from the rest of the world. "But the internet would still work – and so we realised that this would be a great way of keeping in touch with the world in case of emergency." Ironically, when an attack did finally come, it came via the internet – and promptly disconnected Estonia from the rest of the world. In 2007, the government infuriated its Russian-speaking minority by moving a Soviet war memorial from central Tallinn to a cemetery on the city's outskirts. Violence flared on the streets, and later reached the internet. The first cyberattack was simplistic, and easily dealt with: thousands of unknown individuals bombarding government, media and banking websites with "denial of service" (DoS) attacks. "It was like an internet riot," said Hillar Aarelaid, who led Estonia's response, at the time. But what started as an emotional backlash soon became a far larger, longer and better co-ordinated assault on Estonia's very being. It lasted three weeks and could only be contained by restricting internet traffic in and out of the country. It was, in effect, a cybersiege. "This is how a lot of myths were created," remembered Pärgmäe. "Those outside the country couldn't access Estonian websites, but they didn't realise that people inside still could." Rumours circulated about the collapse of the Estonian online banking system, and how people were struggling to buy groceries. "But actually the longest downtime for a bank's website was just one and a half hours." The debacle had two positive effects. First: Nato founded a cyberwarfare thinktank in Estonia<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative_Cyber_Defence_Centre_of_Excellence>, to learn from the experience. Second: the government set up the Cyber Defence League<https://www.eesti.ee/eng/riigikaitse/eesti_kaitsejoud/kaitsevagi>, a network of 100 volunteers from the cybersector who, among other roles, will form – a kind of territorial army during future strife. "Traditionally in western countries," said Ilves, "you've had a weekend-warrior thing where volunteers run off into the woods and do target practice. In Estonia, we have a unit of IT people from banks, software companies who in their spare time for one day a week work on cyber issues." This kind of collaboration between private and public sectors was also central to Estonian innovation in the 90s, Viik claims. "The government started several IT programmes as a catalyst," he said. "But only in a few was it the main sponsor. From the early days, government philosophy was not to hire programmers, but to use the services of private companies, which in turn increased the competitiveness of the Estonian IT sector." Case in point: the ID card. "It's private companies who developed and manage the service – and who can now export their new-found competencies to other countries." Viik argues that this benefits both the private sector and the state, who otherwise would not have the resources for ID card technology. But some think the overlap between occasionally threatens Estonia's open internet. For many years, each Estonian citizen had the right to a free domain name. As in the UK, they could not register top-level domain names – but they could bag a ".pri.ee" site, similar to a ".co.uk" site in Britain. In 2010, that changed: the government outsourced the responsibility of allocating domain names to private registrars. The pri.ee domains were abolished, and individuals were instead given the right to top-level ".ee" websites. The only catch was a £15 price-tag – one of the highest rates in Europe<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/europe-news> . Many academics and high-profile techies were outraged<http://kogukond.org/in-english/>, and some founded a pressure group – the Estonian Internet Community (EIC) – that campaigns to give ordinary citizens more of a say in how Estonia's internet is run. After public outcry, a new set of free domain-names - era.ee - were introduced. More generally, it is feared that the same politicians who had such enlightened attitudes to the internet in the 90s may be starting to lose their progressive edge. "They're still in power," said Jaan Tallinn, "but I'm not sure they still understand what's going on. Technology keeps progressing. Young people follow the curve. But as they get older they get inertia, and they start deviating from that curve." Ilves himself is fairly critical of parts of Acta<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement>, the hugely controversial international agreement that opponents fear will curtail the rights of individual internet users. But there is a perception that other politicians could be doing more to oppose its introduction. "It's difficult because it's actually an EU agreement," admitted Jaagup Irve, a PhD student at the Tallinn University of Technology, and an EIC board member. "But the government isn't doing enough to stop Acta<http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/acta> ." Viik says that among politicians of all stripes there has always been "a silent consensus" about the importance of the internet. For many years, Estonians could expect whomever they elected to have the best interests of the internet at heart. But Irve thinks the public can no longer be so complacent. "People think a government is like a smart missile: the thing practically flies itself," he argued. "But today it's more like a bomb that we have to guide. We have to guide the government, and that's what the internet society has woken up to." *• Explore the seven-day special series on the Battle for the internet<http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/series/battle-for-the-internet> * • This article was amended on 17 April 2012 to clarify details of the registration and selling of domain names. -- 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

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The Size of this Elephant (from my blog)
by Paul Kukubo 29 Apr '12

29 Apr '12

Listers I thought id share from my latest blog post (www.paulkukubo.co.ke) I have pasted the entire piece here. The size of this Elephant. The recent #140friday twitter and off twitter debate was centred around a simple and important theme. If the Kenya Government procurement ecosystem developed a preferential orientation towards local firms, the result would be that we would develop greater capability. It was argued by some that the government seemed to indicate an inclination towards foreign big name firms. Whereas the facts don’t necessarily support the claim, I doubt anyone would argue with the basic premise of the argument. Local businesses should benefit from tax based projects. I offer some discussion points that may guide the continuing discussion. How do we turn preferential advantage into true national capacity? The recent procurement of seats from the Prisons department for the national assembly is a welcome effort by any measure. Without the benefit of detail, one hopes that the process has created capacity for the Prisons department to be competitive in furniture making regionally and even become a net exporter. One hopes they have worked with some of the best furniture designers locally and created synergies that can be replicated. One hopes that the low cost of prison labour has also been value added by developing prisoners who can become great furniture makers once they leave. Use of materials is important. Have we used woods plastics, composites that wee sourced from locally sustainable sources. Parliaments are important national symbols in so many ways. They must represent the best of our national collective aspiration. How they look and feel is important to our national psyche. We can draw parrellels here for ICT. 2. Sometimes,even the government does not necessarily know what it does not know and is often seeking to know what it should know first, before seeking answers. The whole area of drilling down from service objectives to architecting an ICT solution can be daunting. For example, we need to have a simple, easy to use lands information management system so that Kenyans can search for land titles. One issue that may arise here is that only 30% of Kenyan land mass has been adjudicated, and surveyed and provided with title. Your ancestral land may not be under title yet. So how is a lands system relaxant just yet for you, some may argue. Another issue might be that the lands ministry collectes substantial revenue in fees and rates that has to be remitted to the treasury every year. The same department then has to go back to treasury to seek finance for a new system to support its operations. Treasury has myriads of pressing priorities. The Kenya ICT Board proposes a system that allows a private sector partner to provide a system and recover its revenue from the collected fees. The issue becomes one of structuring the deal so that the best in class partner can be found and government is guaranteed of improved revenue whilst having a system that can carry us to the next generation. Many systems in government can be delivered like this. The task and the system goes beyond the technology implementation to change management, capacity and capability development. Indeed the systems and processes will need to change to accommodate this need. The partner in question must therefore have capability to underwrite this massive task. 3. There is great public sensitivity around this subject of local capability. I choose to use capability instead of capacity, because capacity may imply the potential given the right mix of circumstances, whearas capability would mean the collective experience. Telling private sector that certain capability does not exist locally even when it might be true, raises huge emotion and rightly so. What does one mean? How dare one? The intended service outcomes occasioned by the new constitution are huge. 47 counties that must replicate central government capability in the management of their affairs. The experience with local governments provides lessons about how comes this can be. Do elected officials make good administrators?, Do counties as autonomous entities have the structural capacity to manage their affairs? ICT offers interesting options here. We can share critical systems across counties reducing the need to duplicate say financial and HR systems and indeed people. Is the private sector in the. Idle of this conversation? 4. The past experience on major ICT projects as projected in mainstream media has been less about the intended service outcomes and more around the procurement. In the past there may have been substantial capital made out of over specified, created for self gain ICT projects. This has changed, but the private sector appetite by some may of have. Obfuscate the issue, create a project that no one really understands, make money and run is common in many economies in the world. The onus is on us all to create a new confidence in this space. A new governance contract which says we ad committed to right priorities. The private sector especially can do this by collectively aligning to national priorities. 5. National capacity building is mostly a discussion about what talent I’d needed from the universities. Some major changes are in the offing here with both task forces of government education reform. The issue is that the building local companies that have capability is a continuous process involving planting the right seeds in school, developing talent, allowing the right ecosystem to thrive in terms of capital and talent flows, business and market access, the right local and international partnering, national incentives systems. And most of all time. Like we say in Swahili, nothing is better that experience and we must eat salt. Lazma tule chumvi. The responsibility of Institutions like the Kenya ICT Board therefore is to ensure we stay in touch with the sector intimately enough to understand their pressing issues and work with other government agencies to direct critical concerns as they emerge. Another responsibility is to help the private sector understand the public sector better in meeting their needs. Having said that, the public sector pie is very big. And there is much hard work done to make public efficient and effective. Indeed looking at the presentation made by the the PS Ministry of Information and Communications, the ICT Secretary, and various permanent secretaries, government directors and state corporation CEOs during 4th Connected Kenya Summit recently, one can attest to this. A true partnership between public and private sector is emerging through consultation and this must be encouraged. The elephant is big and fat and has to be eaten a piece at a time.. Asante 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

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Multistakeholder Advisory Group for IGF 2012 Announced
by Muchiri Nyaggah 29 Apr '12

29 Apr '12

Listers, I'm glad to see Judith Okite representing Kenya on the MAG. Great stuff. http://www.intgovforum.org/cms/component/content/article/114-preparatory-pr… Kind regards, Muchiri Nyaggah | PRINCIPAL PARTNER @muchiri Cell: +254 722 506400 eGovernance, Healthcare, ICT and Financial Services Innovation for Africa SEMACRAFT CONSULTING PARTNERS Nairobi, Kenya. www.semacraft.com | www.semacraft.com/blog twitter: @semacraft

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