- KICTANet - KICTANet

Making the Knowledge Economy Work for Kenya
by Alex Gakuru 29 Mar '08

29 Mar '08

[Apologies for cross posting to consumers, skunkworks kictanet [Apologies for cross posting to consumers, skunkworks kictanet mailing lists. Please circulate to this message to as many who may be interested] Way Forward Technologies and partners are organising a one-day workshop "Making the knowledge economy work for Kenya" scheduled for mid-May 2008 ( Date TBC) at a Nairobi hotel. We shall showcase business implementations of Free and Open Source Software (or FOSS) and provide a discussion platform on issues regarding migration to the platform. We shall have local speakers discuss not only their cost-savings but additional benefits realised from strategic decisions to adopt Open solutions in their organisations operations. There shall be free operating system software given out in addition to selected applications software for cross section of sectors' needs (for example free corporate ERPs, Content Management Systems (CMS), e-learning, and graphics design software to name but just a few) Although primarily targeting the Private Sector, SME and Civil Society Organizations, Public Sector is welcome considering that cost-saving fits their public service agenda as set out in the National ICT Policy. We are aware that whereas Free and Open Source Software (or FOSS) has enabled many organizations, corporates, small business, and individuals save tens of millions of shillings, newcomers to the platform are spoilt for choice over which of the hundreds of thousands of free applications to install; overwhelmed by the abundance and variety of software courtesy of the free software community of developers. Kenya has skunkworks - a technical community network comprising over 500 highly skilled professionals, a growing consumers network approaching 300 members and a business heavy (but inclusive) kictanet communities. Each has much to benefit from participating at this unique workshop and we welcome other interested communities to also join in. We look forward to speakers abstracts on the subject of successful use FOSS for business. During Idlelo 3 meeting held at Dakar, Senegal last week, I gave a presentation on "connecting and sustaining linkages between business and technical communities." Above planned workshop aims at translating the belief into action and it requires your support to reinforce our positioning in the knowledge economy ecosystem even better. Considering that it is not a funded workshop, entrance shall be upon payment of attendance fees of Kshs 5,000/= per person to offset venue and hosting expenses. Corporate sponsorships (for logos to appear on our publicity material such as banners) is set at Kshs 20,000/=. FOSS services providers interested in exhibiting their business solutions pay kshs 20,000/= per exhibition stand. For additional information contact; Alex Gakuru Email: *gakuru(a)gmail.com* Tel: 020-2013393 PS: Comments most welcome (on or off-list) and please circulate this message as widely.

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SAT3 to get a competitor – Infinity set to finalise $865 million financing
by Eric Osiakwan 29 Mar '08

29 Mar '08

SAT3 to get a competitor – Infinity set to finalise $865 million financing In the coming week the Infinity Worldwide Telecom Group of Companies (IWTGC) looks set to finalise the funding of its first phase build for its international fibre route from Portugal to South Africa along the west coast of the continent. Once built, it will be the first independently operated competitor for the incumbent monopoly- controlled SAT3 cable. Russell Southwood looks at what’s involved. A West African bank, a leading institutional investment advisor and European institutional investment advisors are all in the final stages of agreeing an investment package that will come up with the funding for the first stage of the Infinity project. Once agreed, work will start 45-60 days after funding package has been inked. Phase one of the project is estimated to cost US $865 million, of which US$750 million is earmarked for capital Expenditure and the remainder for working capital. This includes funding for sub-sea cable; marine; wet and dry plant; cable stations; licenses; backhaul; and central city PoPs. Tyco International has been chosen as the System Supplier and Infinity and Tyco are ready to execute an ITP that will commit to the marine survey, manufacturing slot, and overall system schedule. Desk Top and Marine Surveys are set to commence in Q2 2008 and the RFS date (commercial operation) for Phase one is planned for Q4 2010. In phase one of the project Infinity will construct a 14,000 kilometre international fiber route along the western coast of continent with direct links into Southern Europe and South Africa. The network will run from Lisbon, Portugal to Cape Town, South Africa with branching units to land in the Sub Saharan coastal countries of Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and Angola. Phase 2 will see Infinity land the cable in additional planned countries in the region including: Canary Islands, Mauritania, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire, Togo, Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome, Gabon, Congo, DRC, and Namibia. Inland routes will also be explored to link in Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso. Significantly Infinity already has an MOU with VSNL (owners of Neotel) for engineering and design support; use of its global infrastructure; network services; and operational support. VSNL’s International Global Network spans across 4 continents and comprises major ownership of 206,356km of terrestrial network fibre and sub-sea cable. Infinity has three other projects racing it to completion (in likely order of arrival): Globacom’s Glo cable which has already reached Dakar, the Infraco/NEPAD Uhurunet project and Mainstreet Technologies’ One project. All cover broadly similar ground. South Africa’s National Treasury declined funding for Infraco’s west coast fibre project (variously described as landing in Fortaleza and Portugal) on concerns about the lack of private sector involvement and as a result, it is in the process of combining forces with NEPAD’s Uhurunet project which will be partly financed by India’s Bharti. Infraco will hold a stakeholders’ meeting on 15 April. Globacom has been extremely secretive about what it is planning to do with its cable and despite having announced that it will land in a long list of West African countries, there is little sign on the ground in several of these countries that licence applications have been made. Eric M.K Osiakwan Executive Secretary AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org) Tel: + 233.21.258800 ext 2031 Fax: + 233.21.258811 Cell: + 233.244.386792 Handle: eosiakwan Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/ Slang: "Tomorrow Now"

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Re: [kictanet] [Skunkworks] CISA, CISM, CISSP, CCSP, ITIL, etc????
by John Walubengo 28 Mar '08

28 Mar '08

--- fyodor <fyodor(a)hushmail.com> wrote: As a side note for John, who's aggressively advertising for the CISA Cert, precisely convince me why I should take a white hat tailored course. Instead of,lets say, attend one of those Black hat Cons where they teach far beyond what you will get in CISA!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~0000~~~~~~ fyodor(a)hushmail.com, CISA,CISM, CISSP, CCSP, ITIL, CoBIT and many others can indeed present challenges to prospective security candidates. What to chose? what to leave? etc. I wouldnt say one is better than the other, because they all have their unique objectives that they try to address in the ICT security market. Its like asking whether a heart surgeon is preferred to a Brain surgeon or to a Physiotherapist or to an Optician. They are all medical practitioners with unique skills that presumes a common undertanding of medicine. So it is with all these Security Certifications, they all offer a common security foundation but with various tangents depending on whether you want to drill down to the 'hands-on' or keep an overall birds-eye view of the IS security status of an organisation. I cannot speak for the other Certifications but for CISA/SM track of certification, they focus on the overall security view of the organisation, sort of the architectural blue-print view of the security status. From this perspective, the CISM/SA holder will actually see the need to hire the hands-on or drill-down hacker-type of techie to seal any technology specific security issues (e.g what a Cisco Certified Security Professionals, CCSP would do)... This is not to imply that CCSP is therefore weaker or cheaper than CISM/SA since the CCSP will have the perrogative to charge an arm and a leg for her skills when called upon by the CISM/SA to provide her services.... Bottom line of the real value of the certification will eventually be dictated by the domestic market conditions i.e. what are the appropriate number of CISMs, CISAs, CCSPs etc that can be absorbed by the Kenyan ICT Security market annually? If we have too many of each, then automatically organisations will begin paying peanuts for their respective services. walu. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

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Verisign to raise .COM fees again
by alice 28 Mar '08

28 Mar '08

Effective October 1, 2008, Verisign's fee for .COM will go up to $6.86. http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSWNAS610320080327 --

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Subject Line: Become CISA or CISM Certified in 2008
by John Walubengo 28 Mar '08

28 Mar '08

Dear All, ISACA has asked me as a proud ISACA credential holder, to pass along this message. We thought you might be interested in joining the ranks of more than 55,000 audit, control and security professionals who already hold the CISA designation, and more than 8,000 information security management professionals who are CISMs. As I have already experienced, certification increase your standing in your organization and makes you highly desirable to potential employers. If you are seeking worldwide recognition for your unique IT audit, assurance or security experience and knowledge and want to distinguish yourself from others in your profession, then it is time to pursue a certification from ISACA. For 30 years, the Certified Information Systems Auditor* (CISA®) credential has been preferred by individuals and organizations around the world. More than 55,000 audit, control and security professionals have achieved this globally accepted standard since 1978. Since 2002, the Certified Information Security Manager® (CISM®) has defined the role of professionals who have information security management responsibilities. ISACA has certified more than 8,000 CISMs to date. Independent surveys by Foote Partners and Certification Magazine have named both CISA and CISM among the highest-paying certifications; each program is also accredited under ISO/IEC 17024 for its credentialing procedures and adherence to rigorous standards of performance. Register online today at www.isaca.org/examreg. Don*t wait and miss the 9 April deadline! For those seeking recognition for IT governance related knowledge and experience, ISACA is now accepting applications for our new credential, Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT* (CGEIT*). It is designed for professionals who have management, advisory and/or assurance responsibilities relating to the governance of IT. For more information on CGEIT and how to earn certification without taking an exam through the grandfathering provision, please visit www.isaca.org/cgeit. Note: Because of the extreme popularity of the CISA and CISM credentials the online registration process accepts payments and is the preferred method for submitting exam registrations. Those who wait until the final deadline date may experience heavy registration volume, and we ask for your patience. Anyone seeking additional information is encouraged to please visit the ISACA web site at www.isaca.org/certification or contact the certification department, call +1.847.660.5660; or e-mail certification(a)isaca.org. Thank you, ISACA Certification Department About ISACA With more than 65,000 members in 140 countries, ISACA (www.isaca.org) is a recognized worldwide leader in IT governance, control, security and assurance. Founded in 1969, ISACA administers the CISA, CISM and CGEIT designations; sponsors international conferences; publishes the Information Systems Control Journal; and develops international information systems auditing and control standards. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

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Re: [kictanet] Safaricom IPO & Telecom France
by dmakali＠yahoo.com 27 Mar '08

27 Mar '08

Interesting clarification, Nick, but why is the govt apparently hellbent on protecting the underhand deal and the mobitelea link? And any plausible reason why the govt is defiantly proceeding roughshod with the sale, in the name of the public, despite such vocal objections? Is the govt depending on the sale for deficit financing of the budget? The whole thing reeks of something foul like anglo leasing. David Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -----Original Message----- From: Nick Wachira <nwachira(a)nation.co.ke> Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2008 18:58:45 To:David Makali <dmakali(a)yahoo.com> Cc:mmathiu@nation.co.ke,Joseph Odindo <jodindo(a)nation.co.ke>,Jaindi Kisero <jkisero(a)nation.co.ke>,Charles 'Mase' Onyango-Obbo <cobbo(a)nation.co.ke>,Peter Munaita <pmunaita(a)nation.co.ke>,Ochieng Rapuro <orapuro(a)nation.co.ke>,Albert Muriuki <amuriuki(a)nation.co.ke> Subject: Re: Safaricom IPO & Telecom France We need to check the facts first and there are problems in this story. Telkom Kenya gave up its 40 per cent stake in Safaricom late last year as BD reported in exchange of the government taking over Sh67 billion of its debts (the way Kenya did with KLM in the KQ transaction in 1996). In short GOK bought TKL's stake in Safcom for Sh68 billion, which Parliament approved. France Telecom does not own a piece of Safcom, but it is in the process of being awarded the fourth mobile phone license if this has not been done already. CCK should already have placed ads in the papers asking to public to petition if they objected France Telecom getting this licence. On Mar 27, 2008, at 6:41 PM, David Makali wrote: > Nick, Odindo, Jaindi, Mutuma: > > Guys, this is staggering. The press must save Kenya > from this disgraceful pass. Over to you. > David > > > >> Wananchi, >> >> >> >> I do not see how the Safaricom IPO can be stopped >> now without the GoK >> incurring hefty penalties. So many institutions >> engaged have spend huge sums >> >> of money they just can't fold their papers and >> accept to walk away 'hand >> nothing'. >> >> The reality is that *Continuous Disclosure* of info >> by companies trading at >> the NSE >> isn't enforced at all. In fact, a govt that thrives >> on opaqueness cannot be >> expected >> to legislate against opaqueness much less enforce >> such legislation if it >> existed. >> >> When the UK Serious Fraud Office started >> investigating Vodafone UK, that >> company's >> subsidiary (Vodafone Kenya) is said to have quickly >> swallowed Mobitelea's 5% >> shareholding in Safaricom reverting back to owning >> 40%of Safaricom while >> giving >> Mobitelea 12.7% of Vodafone (K) itself. And, info >> from the grapevine has it >> that >> Mobitelea and Vodafone (K) are presently arguing >> over shareholding. So >> Vodafone >> is lying in the bed it made. Who knows! Mobitelea >> might have been >> deregistered >> already and another company assigned Mobitelea's >> interest in Vodafone >> Kenya. >> >> There was fraud and govt covered up. Now they must >> keep covering up for as >> long >> as they can. But this is not all. There is a bigger >> problem that people are >> forgetting. >> Namely, that a big junk of proceeds from the >> Safaricom IPO will go to >> Telecom >> France (and the shadowy figures who facilitated >> their recent susipicious >> takeover of >> Telecom Kenya). >> >> *Telecom France got 51% of Telecom Kenya at >> Sh23billion*! The takeover was >> suspicious indeed. The GoK thro' Telecom Kenya owns >> 60% of Safaricom (i.e. >> 60% of Sh200billion) which equals to Sh120billion. >> The French now own 51% of >> >> Telecom Kenya which means they also own 51% of >> Telecom's holding in >> Safaricom >> (i.e. 51% of 120billion = *Sh61billion*) and this is >> in addition to 51% of >> other Telecom >> Kenya assets. What is depressing is the fact that >> the French who paid >> Sh23billion for >> 51% of Telecom Kenya will walk away with 51% of the >> proceeds of the IPO ( >> i.e. >> 51% of Sh50billion =Sh25.3billion). They will still >> own 51% of what remains >> of Telecom >> Kenya and its stake in Safaricom. This is daylight >> robbery. And the French >> are very >> notorious for such fraudulent activities outside of >> France. >> >> *Scenario* >> Telecom Kenya is valued at about *Sh54billion* >> (although it owns * >> Sh120billion* worth >> of Safaricom shares in addition to >> numerous other assets) >> Telecom France pays *Sh23billion* for 51% of Telecom >> Kenya >> Safaricom IPO Telecom Kenya sells percentage of its >> holding to get approx * >> Sh50billion >> *Telecom France to get 51% of* Sh50billion *(IPO >> proceeds)* = approx >> Sh25.5billion* >> You buy a company at Sh23billion and get your money >> back immediately and >> continue to own >> the company! * >> >> *I cannot understand how the French crooks could >> have been given 51% of our >> Telco for free. >> Someone tell me, please. >> >> I'm surprised no one is talking about this. >> >> Kanaka__,_._,___ >> >> > >> >> > > >_______________ > > "If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, > I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster." > — Isaac Asimo, Columbian Author and Scientist >_______________ > > PO Box 3234 > 00200 Nairobi, Kenya > cell: +254 722 517 540 > > > >______________________________________________________________________ >______________ > Looking for last minute shopping deals? > Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/ > newsearch/category.php?category=shopping DISCLAIMER: The information contained in or accompanying this e-mail is intended for the use of the stated recipient only. It may contain confidential, proprietary or legally privileged information. No confidentiality or privilege is waived or lost by any mistransmission. If you receive this message in error, please immediately delete it and all copies of it from your system, destroy any hard copies of it and notify the sender. You must not, directly or indirectly, use, disclose, distribute, print, or copy any part of this message if you are not the intended recipient. Any views or opinions presented herein are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Nation Media Group. ‘To get all breaking news alerts send the word BREAK to 6667 or visit http://www.nationmedia.com/wap to read news on your mobile phone.’ --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ YOU ARE IN KAZI AFRIKA GROUP UNSUBSCRIBE: kaziafrika-unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com http://groups.google.com/group/kaziafrika?hl=en www.kazi-africa.com FOR A VERY PEACEFUL KENYA -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

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Re: [kictanet] Safaricom IPO & Telecom France
by David Makali 27 Mar '08

27 Mar '08

Nick, Odindo, Jaindi, Mutuma: Guys, this is staggering. The press must save Kenya from this disgraceful pass. Over to you. David > Wananchi, > > > > I do not see how the Safaricom IPO can be stopped > now without the GoK > incurring hefty penalties. So many institutions > engaged have spend huge sums > > of money they just can't fold their papers and > accept to walk away 'hand > nothing'. > > The reality is that *Continuous Disclosure* of info > by companies trading at > the NSE > isn't enforced at all. In fact, a govt that thrives > on opaqueness cannot be > expected > to legislate against opaqueness much less enforce > such legislation if it > existed. > > When the UK Serious Fraud Office started > investigating Vodafone UK, that > company's > subsidiary (Vodafone Kenya) is said to have quickly > swallowed Mobitelea's 5% > shareholding in Safaricom reverting back to owning > 40%of Safaricom while > giving > Mobitelea 12.7% of Vodafone (K) itself. And, info > from the grapevine has it > that > Mobitelea and Vodafone (K) are presently arguing > over shareholding. So > Vodafone > is lying in the bed it made. Who knows! Mobitelea > might have been > deregistered > already and another company assigned Mobitelea's > interest in Vodafone > Kenya. > > There was fraud and govt covered up. Now they must > keep covering up for as > long > as they can. But this is not all. There is a bigger > problem that people are > forgetting. > Namely, that a big junk of proceeds from the > Safaricom IPO will go to > Telecom > France (and the shadowy figures who facilitated > their recent susipicious > takeover of > Telecom Kenya). > > *Telecom France got 51% of Telecom Kenya at > Sh23billion*! The takeover was > suspicious indeed. The GoK thro' Telecom Kenya owns > 60% of Safaricom (i.e. > 60% of Sh200billion) which equals to Sh120billion. > The French now own 51% of > > Telecom Kenya which means they also own 51% of > Telecom's holding in > Safaricom > (i.e. 51% of 120billion = *Sh61billion*) and this is > in addition to 51% of > other Telecom > Kenya assets. What is depressing is the fact that > the French who paid > Sh23billion for > 51% of Telecom Kenya will walk away with 51% of the > proceeds of the IPO ( > i.e. > 51% of Sh50billion =Sh25.3billion). They will still > own 51% of what remains > of Telecom > Kenya and its stake in Safaricom. This is daylight > robbery. And the French > are very > notorious for such fraudulent activities outside of > France. > > *Scenario* > Telecom Kenya is valued at about *Sh54billion* > (although it owns * > Sh120billion* worth > of Safaricom shares in addition to > numerous other assets) > Telecom France pays *Sh23billion* for 51% of Telecom > Kenya > Safaricom IPO Telecom Kenya sells percentage of its > holding to get approx * > Sh50billion > *Telecom France to get 51% of* Sh50billion *(IPO > proceeds)* = approx > Sh25.5billion* > You buy a company at Sh23billion and get your money > back immediately and > continue to own > the company! * > > *I cannot understand how the French crooks could > have been given 51% of our > Telco for free. > Someone tell me, please. > > I'm surprised no one is talking about this. > > Kanaka__,_._,___ > > > > _______________ "If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster." -- Isaac Asimo, Columbian Author and Scientist _______________ PO Box 3234 00200 Nairobi, Kenya cell: +254 722 517 540 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ YOU ARE IN KAZI AFRIKA GROUP UNSUBSCRIBE: kaziafrika-unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com http://groups.google.com/group/kaziafrika?hl=en www.kazi-africa.com FOR A VERY PEACEFUL KENYA -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

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Private investors sign up for stake in cable project
by Bill Kagai 27 Mar '08

27 Mar '08

* Private investors sign up for stake in cable project* http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6661&Item… * March 27, 2008:* The construction of the undersea fibre optic cable that is to connect Kenya to the world of high speed Internet has received a big boost with the signing of an agreement that paves the way for the private sector to contribute to its financing. The agreement which makes the signatories co-owners of the East African Marine System project with the Government, was signed last week even as the new shareholders forced out two prospective buyers. The new shareholder agreement leaves Safaricom and the Government of Kenya as the anchor shareholders with a 20 per cent stake each in the project and Wananchi Telecom with 10 per cent. Kenya Data Network and Celtel jointly acquired a 10 per cent stake in the company while France Telecom and Econet Kenya have a 10 per cent share each. Jamii Telkom got four per cent although it had initially expressed interest in buying 3.75 per cent. Two firms, Gilat Satcom and Internet Research, a Ghanaian company, were knocked out of the ownership agreement for failing to meet the 20 per cent local representation requirement. Each had expressed an interest in acquiring a 1.25 per cent stake. The identity of two local companies that had expressed interest in the project remains unknown. The companies are, however, said to be associated with Brian Longwe, a Kenyan IT sector businessman. The signing of the shareholder pact, also known as an Escrow agreement comes after the Government signed an initial shareholder agreement with Etisalat of United Arab Emirates. The Government paid 12 per cent of its total 85 per cent ownership in the cable. Etisalat also made a down payment of $1.2 million to cover 12 per cent of its total 15 per cent ownership of the cable. These two payments gave Alcatel-Lucent, the company that won the tender to build the cable from Fujairah to the port of Mombasa . Manufacturing the cables was to begin on March 15, this year, but started three days later. Information ministry Permanent secretary, Bitange Ndemo, said Alcatel-Lucent has appointed a team to oversee construction. The timeline for the TEAMs project indicates that it should be ready by the second quarter of next year. Other than TEAMs, two other fibre optic cables, SEACOM and EASSy are competing to connect East Africa to the global network of highspeed internet. EASSy concluded financial closure in the last week of February having raised $248 million that enabled it to make a down payment to the contractor Alcatel-Lucent. According to the EASSy secretariat, the first phase of construction kicked off on March 14, this year and is expected to be ready in the first half of 2010. The EASSy cable will run 10,500 kilometres from South Africa, through Mozambique, Madagascar, Comoros, Mayotte, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan. Thirteen land locked countries will also be linked to the system through terrestrial backbone networks. This includes, Bostwana, Burundi, Central Africa Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Rwanda Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Jamii Telecom Limited, a subsidiary of the AdGroup of Companies' investment in TEAMS project is meant to complement its Metro Fiber Network whose construction began last year. Technology company AccessKenya has a 1.25 per cent stake in the project and aims at increasing its bandwidth capacity 10 times. Access Kenya is yet to disclose the amount of money it plans to pump into the project. So far Jamii has spent more than Sh500 million on the Nairobi Metro Fibre –– targeting a market that is currently dominated by Telkom Kenya and Kenya Data Networks (KDN) ––and plans to spend additional Sh700 million in the network. By buying into TEAMS, Jamii and Access Kenya hope to provide terrestrial connectivity that will ultimately hook consumers to the global network of high speed Internet. John Kamau, the general manager at Jamii said the firm hoped to leverage on the National Fiber Optic backbone to enhance international connectivity. Kenya's information communication technology (ICT) sector is expected to grow tremendously once the fibre optic cables are up and running. The cables will stop reliance on the more expensive satellite technologies, bringing down costs and attracting new players especially in the Business Process Outsourcing, call centres, segment. Mr Kamau says that the Jamii's Metro Fiber network, is able to support High Definition Video, Voice and Data is ideal for Telco's, businesses with branch networks like banks, BPOs, disaster recovery sites, SMEs, ISP's, Media Houses and residential users among others.

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INVITATION - New Generation Organizational Models for eGovernment: Emerging Role of Centers of Excellence, April 1, 2008; 4.30-pm-6.30 pm
by Harry Hare 27 Mar '08

27 Mar '08

Dear colleagues, You are kindly invited to join us for a Global Dialogue workshop on New Generation Organizational Models for eGovernment: Emerging Role of Centers of Excellence. The event will take place via video conference from 4.30pm on April 1, 2008 at the World Bank offices in Nairobi. The event is organized by the e-Development Thematic Group/Global ICT Department of the World Bank in collaboration with GDLN, DGF, ECCB, IIS Russia, African eDevelopment Resource Centre in Kenya and other organizations. Workshop Description Given the complexities of designing and implementing e-government applications, institutional structures are extremely important for achieving success. Traditionally, governments have established specialized ICT agencies/organizations to deal with technology issues in the public sector. Such agencies variously deal with policy, operational and procedural aspects of e-government. However, rapid changes taking place in technologies and business models, require a fundamental rethink of the organizational structures and institutional designs for ICT organizations supporting e-government. Apart from the public sector, the private sector has some useful lessons of experience to offer in this regard. For example, Integration/SOA Competency Centers are playing a useful role in rationalizing and coordinating IT deployments, in cost effective and efficient ways. This workshop will discuss the role of a new generation of e-government organizations which could extend the role of e-Government "Centers of Excellence" or "Competency Centers" in keeping with emerging technology and organizational trends. These organizations could potentially help expand and scale-up successful e-Government approaches, including those using Service Oriented Architecture and Web 2.0 technologies. These "e-Gov 2.0" organizations could be designed as hybrids with flexible structures, drawing expertise from government agencies, academia, private sector and industry. The session intends to explore promising approaches to the design of such organisations drawing upon successful experiences from the private and public sectors. The session will discuss the applicability of such next generation e-government organizations to different environments. In environments where e-Government projects are risky and, involve high level technical skills, and domain expertise, such approaches could effectively meld the business of government with new technologies and business models to achieve future oriented and high impact eGovernment applications. The speakers will include: Philippe Dongier, Sector Manager, Global ICT Dept., World Bank Reinhard Posch, Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Government of Austria Randeep Sudan, Lead ICT Policy Specialist, Global ICT Dept., World Bank Jaijit Bhattacharya, Country Director at Sun Microsystems India Samia Melhem (Moderator), Senior Operations Officer, Global ICT Dept., World Bank; and Chair, e-Development Thematic Group Juan Navas Sabater, Senior Operations Officer, Global ICT Dept., World Bank Additional information on this seminar, such as the agenda, speaker profiles and slides will be placed online as they become available at http://go.worldbank.org/2LA3GGGEA0. Participation to the event is free; however, one needs to register to get access to the venue. If you are interested in participating send an email directly to <mailto:susan@africanedevelopment.org> susan(a)africanedevelopment.org giving your name, organization, position and contacts. Space is limited at the venue; only 15 places are available and will be given out on a first-come-first-served basis. Deadline for registration is midday Monday 31st March 2008. Kindest Regards Harry Hare African eDevelopment Resource Centre 3rd Floor, Nelleon Place Raphta Road, Westlands PO Box 49475 00100 Nairobi, Kenya Cel +254 725 650044 Land +254 20 4453445 www.africanedevelopment.org <http://www.africanedevelopment.org/> My Blogg <http://egov-notes.blogspot.com/> *********************************************************** April 2008 Training Opportunities GIS 16-18 April Records Management 28-30 April Book Now, Limited spaces available P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

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Re: [kictanet] Cellphone Types - Chinese case
by dmakali＠yahoo.com 26 Mar '08

26 Mar '08

Elijah, stop the hype. I bought that nokia N95 u r talking about and threw it away after two days. The thing was vibrating in my ears wen I pick calls and radiating my entire head! It was a cheap health hazard I boughtfor 25k! The original is 65k plus. Obviously there is gud chinese technology but on phones, am yet to see. Don't become a conduit for cheap hazardous goods. D Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -----Original Message----- From: Elijah Kombo <komboelijah(a)yahoo.com> Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2008 07:10:59 To:kaziafrika@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Cellphone Types - Chinese case I planned to start selling chinese phones as i have good deals with a Chinese company. Infact i am set to start very very soon. Companies like Nokia have given some chinese companies to assemle the phones uisng very cheap materials. I bought N95 phone sometime last year at only 350 usd while its going at approximately 85k in Kenya. I have a sample of several chinese phones whihc have been tested and approved by all standards. If you also watch CNN Richard Quest programme - the guys shows how China products are way ahead. Its not in order to buy something which doesnt have a name or brand! I presume such do not come with guarantee. Remember too that that any gadget has got some effect on human body as the pro........i can recall that in chemistry. Even the ordinary nokia 3310 we normally use has got dangeraous radio activityy. I attended a seminar in Singapore where they demonstrated 2 eggs left with an active phone overnight - found cooked in the morning (ready to chew). Basically, we can contain side effects by buying or having anti radiation..... Go chinese............please don disqualify them from the market. And anyone needing to have a sample price list and models can talk to me - of course i might not reveal the source cos i dont want compe..... Kombo Elijah ----- Original Message ---- From: James K. Kamau <jimkamau(a)gmail.com> To: kaziafrika(a)googlegroups.com Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 4:45:39 PM Subject: Re: Cellphone Types - Chinese case Hi pple, My friend bought a chinese phone...which had no "name"! The phone had : 1. Blue-tooth, 2. Infra-red, 3. Huge memory,external memory, 4. Camera with a zoom, 5. TWIN sim both operational, 6. radio and a 7.TV <http://7.tv/> ...with active local channels,KTN,KBC,NTV...! The fones are all-over Nairobi for KSHs.13,000 only! The big question is...How safe are they...especially on radio-activity! We need to be careful.... On 3/26/08, eric maina <iz_cartmanz(a)yahoo.com <mailto:iz_cartmanz@yahoo.com> > wrote: Hey Robert, I am one of the silent guys in the group but Man you are one in a million. thanks alot n God above is going to bless U 4 ur great for ur good ideas especially 4 coming up with this group. you spoke of Chinese phones which have an effect on the hearing capability? please can you may be give the models of the ones that your friends are using coz at least if anyone has any of them we can try n do something about it, or else even use alternative options eg bluetooth headsts for receiving the calls??? how comes the phones are getting to users hands. this is so serious and thanks alot for everything you do, have done n will ever do. may it be a blessing. Robert Alai <alai.robert(a)gmail.com <mailto:alai.robert@gmail.com> > wrote: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Becky Kem <beckygrs(a)yahoo.com <mailto:beckygrs@yahoo.com> > Date: Mar 26, 2008 3:30 PM Subject: Cellphone Survey To: alai.robert(a)gmail.com <mailto:alai.robert@gmail.com> Hi Welcome to our survey section at Sambaza Group. Survey data is extremely helpful in allowing us to create the best programs possible to aid the communities we work in. This particular survey is about cellphone use in Kenya. You have been invited by Sambaza Group to take this survey if you live in Kenya, please click on the link below and answer the following questions. All answers will be electronically submitted to Sambaza Group. The survey is completely anonymous but will help us serve better the communities we work with. The link: http://www.sambazagroup.com/survey <http://www.sambazagroup.com/survey> Thank you for your support and valuable information. Please feel free to forward it to your friends and other cellphone users. Yours Sincerely Javier Ogembo ---------------- Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage. <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51438/*http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs> ---------------- Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51734/*http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/c…> ---------------- Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51734/*http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/c…> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ YOU ARE IN KAZI AFRIKA GROUP UNSUBSCRIBE: kaziafrika-unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com http://groups.google.com/group/kaziafrika?hl=en www.kazi-africa.com FOR A VERY PEACEFUL KENYA -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

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Fwd: Urgent meeting of SC 34 Mirror Committee
by Dorcas Muthoni 26 Mar '08

26 Mar '08

*Attention: All those interested in attending the OOXML Technical Committee Meeting at KEBS tomorrow. *General Manager - Standards Development Division will address the meeting A call from KEBS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As a result of the meeting held on 2008-03-19 on the final vote by Kenya on DIS 29500, and the mail I circulated on Thursday 2008-03-20, several issues have arisen which the KEBS management would like to clarify to members before transmitting the vote to ITTF. This message is therefore to invite you to a meeting tomorrow Thursday, 2008-03-27 at 0900 hrs at KEBS headquarters, where General Manager - Standards Development Division will make a few issues clear. Please arrange to attend.

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Fwd: Opportunity for Learning / IT Professional
by Patrick Mburu 26 Mar '08

26 Mar '08

Thank you for the responses coming through; I apologise to re-send the message on here, however, if you could fill out the attached form and re-send this to me, this would be highly appreciated; Kind Regards, Patrick ----- Original Message ----- *From:* Patrick Mburu <patrick.mburu(a)gmail.com> *To:* Kenya ICT Action Network - KICTANet <kictanet(a)kictanet.or.ke> *Sent:* Tuesday, March 25, 2008 6:35 PM *Subject:* Looming opportunity for Learning / IT Professional Dear Colleagues, There is an opportunity that is urgently required for those of us in the business of Learning + Development / E-Learning / IT Project Management arena; Unfortunately i am engaged in a similar activity and cannot take on the task; Do you know anyone who fits on the below profile? The assignment will be in Rome, Italy on a short term contract with one of the UN Bodies *Brief:* Project Management Experience with Training background, to work on Global Needs Assessment programme; Must have elearning content design / implementation experience and is familiar with Learning Management systems as this will be the platform that all of the above will be linked to. If you know of someone, please send CV's through to me; Thanks in advance. Patrick Mburu

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26 March 2008: The world's first Document Freedom Day
by Dorcas Muthoni 26 Mar '08

26 Mar '08

Today is Document Freedom Day: Roughly 200 teams from more than 60 countries worldwide are organising local activities to raise awareness for Document Freedom and Open Standards. In a world where records are increasingly kept in electronic form, Open Standards are crucial for valuable information to outlive the application in which it was initially generated. The question of Document Freedom has severe repercussions for freedom of choice, competition, markets and the sovereignty of countries and their governments. More can be found at: http://www.documentfreedom.org/Open_Standards -- Muthoni My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/ -------------------------------------------- Mahatma Gandhi once said:- First they ignore you, Then they laugh at you, Then they fight you, AND THEN YOU WIN!!!

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[Fwd: [AfriNIC-rpd] AfriNIC-8/AfNOG2008: Registration is now open]
by alice 25 Mar '08

25 Mar '08

Dear all FYI -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [AfriNIC-rpd] AfriNIC-8/AfNOG2008: Registration is now open Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:37:30 +0200 From: radha(a)afrinic.net <radha(a)afrinic.net> Reply-To: AfriNIC Resource Policy Discussion List <rpd(a)afrinic.net> To: undisclosed-recipients:; [*Apologies for any duplicate mails*] Dear Colleagues, AfriNIC invites you to attend the 8th AfriNIC Open Policy Meeting which will be held in conjunction with AfNOG 2008 from 24 May to 06 June 2008 in Rabat, Morocco. AfriNIC Meetings are open to everyone and provide an excellent opportunity to take part in Internet policy discussions in the African region. Workshop and Meeting ----------------------- The Workshop and all Tutorials will be held at the EMI (Mohammadia Engineering Institute) from 24 May - 2 June 2008. All meetings from 3 - 6 June will be held at the Golden Tulip Farah Hotel. For more details, please see http://www.afrinic.net/meeting/afrinic-8/index.htm AfriNIC-8/AfNOG2008 Registration ----------------------------------- Online Meeting Registration is now open. Please visit: http://www.afrinic.net/meeting/afrinic-8/registration.htm AfriNIC fellowship --------------------- The fellowship programme is reserved for representatives from small organisations actively involved in Internet Operations or ICT Policies in their respective countries and the community and who can positively and actively contribute to IP address management awareness in the AfriNIC region of service. If you are interested in applying for an AfriNIC fellowship, please visit the fellowship section at http://www.afrinic.net/meeting/afrinic-8/index.htm The deadline for applications is 15 April, 2008. Sponsorship opportunities ---------------------------- Sponsoring an AfriNIC meeting will provide you with a range of opportunities to expose your organisation to the African Internet community. If your organisation is interested in participating in the sponsoring of AfriNIC-8, please visit the sponsorship section at http://www.afrinic.net/meeting/afrinic-8/index.htm Visa information ------------------- Some meeting attendees may require a visa to visit Morocco. For your invitation letter, please send the following details (name as on passport, passport no, date of issue and expiry, nationality) to invit-ltt(a)afrinic.net. Please feel free to contact our Meeting Team at meeting(a)afrinic.net for any query or assistance. We look forward to seeing you in Rabat. Regards, AfriNIC Meeting Team See you at AfriNIC-8, Rabat, Morocco, 31 May - 06 June, 2008 _______________________________________________ rpd mailing list rpd(a)afrinic.net https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/rpd

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Looming opportunity for Learning / IT Professional
by Patrick Mburu 25 Mar '08

25 Mar '08

Dear Colleagues, There is an opportunity that is urgently required for those of us in the business of Learning + Development / E-Learning / IT Project Management arena; Unfortunately i am engaged in a similar activity and cannot take on the task; Do you know anyone who fits on the below profile? The assignment will be in Rome, Italy on a short term contract with one of the UN Bodies *Brief:* Project Management Experience with Training background, to work on Global Needs Assessment programme; Must have elearning content design / implementation experience and is familiar with Learning Management systems as this will be the platform that all of the above will be linked to. If you know of someone, please send CV's through to me; Thanks in advance. Patrick Mburu

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ATTN: ICT BOARD MEMBER/S IN THIS LIST( SayNo to OOXML)
by Judy Okite 25 Mar '08

25 Mar '08

Dear Colleagues, I have been deeply grieved by the silence that has surrounded,this matter...How do we talk about growth and development in ICT,if we do not talk about software? A few questions that I have for the Board and a response will be highly appreciated: 1.what steps have the ICT BOARD taken in regard to the matter,on the link below. http://www.noooxml.org/ having in mind that it is less than a week...to final decision 2.What is Kenya's,position? More voice to this reason http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080312151954507 Kind Regards, -- Judy Ann Okite, +254-721237507,+254-734252336 P.O. BOX 2228 00100, NAIROBI,KENYA. 'Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. ' Martin Luther King, Jr.

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OOXML Meeting
by Dorcas Muthoni 25 Mar '08

25 Mar '08

*Date:* 27th March 2008 *Venue:* KEBS, Popo Road, Off Mombasa Road *Time:* 9.00am *Who can attend: *People concerned about the standard ( for or against, to understand) *Main events at the meeting: * The final position of Kenya with regard to the OOXML standard will be agreed. -- Muthoni My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/ -------------------------------------------- Mahatma Gandhi once said:- First they ignore you, Then they laugh at you, Then they fight you, AND THEN YOU WIN!!!

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Re: [kictanet] OOXML: Why Kenya Should Vote NO
by Dorcas Muthoni 25 Mar '08

25 Mar '08

Thanks Eunice, Coming from the ICT Board, i believe it would be nice to share your comments with the list. On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 3:59 PM, Eunice Mueni Kariuki < eunicekariuki(a)ict.go.ke> wrote: > This is excellent interms of educating the public on matters of ICT > especially those that affect thier daily ICT lives directly or indirectly. > I am sure many will agree with you and is indeed inline with the mandate of the ICT Board. > However, in the last topic (Why Kenya should say No) > - point no. 3 - I am not convinced that microsoft has what it takes to do > what you say they did. I am also not convinced that those responsible for > forming that committee would fall for this implied trick. Indeed it would be > sad and they should not be in office. > I will refer you to the committee to investigate its composition. KEBS should give you a list of the membership. It was an issue then and it is till now. > > On point no. 4, it would have been helpful if you provided details of > actual propriatory rights. > There is lots of information on this; A quick reference is http://www.noooxml.org/patents. Otherwise I am confused because your email implies that Microsoft also > compromised the ISO body to approve OOXML as a parallel standard! > I just stated things as they are. Its many times that Microsoft has been found to go about things in a skewed manner. A case in point is for example the signing of MOUs with government ministries in pursuit of their business interests. This already happened in Kenya with th Ministry of Education and i hope the ICT board will objectively look at this matter. Muthoni If this were the case then that body does not deserve that office > Just Keeping an open mind.. > > > Eunice > On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 1:23 PM, Dorcas Muthoni <dmuthoni(a)gmail.com> > wrote: > > > *What is an Office Document Standard* > > > > A standard file format that would allow office documents such as > > spreadsheets and word processing files to be opened by applications from > > different vendors. > > > > *Why Open Standards > > > > *Creating an open office file format suggests that documents created in > > an application that supports that file format could be opened in other > > applications that support it as well. E.g. A document written using > > OpenOffice for example, could be opened in Ms Office without affecting the > > layout or formatting. > > > > With an open standard; > > > > - You can choose any operating system or application and still be > > able to read and edit all your old documents e.g. whether it is > > Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Unix. > > - You can collaborate with others regardless of which software > > they are using e.g. whether it is LotusNotes, OpenOffice, Ms > > Office, StarOffice, GoogleApps . > > - You can use any software of your choice to exchange documents > > within your organization, with your clients, partners, government and > > everyone else. > > > > The goal of an open standard is to free corporate data from proprietary > > file formats so they can be accessed for years to come no matter what office > > software a company or government is using. Companies and governments are > > currently saving data in proprietary file formats, such as those written in > > Microsoft's Office software (.doc, .xls, .ppt, and lately .docx, .xlsx, > > .pptx), and locking themselves into using that software indefinitely. > > > > A relative example is, we all develop our websites and expect to > > successfully access them using various browser software (Mozilla Firefox, > > Netscape, Safari, Internet Explorer etc). We successfully manage to do this > > because of HTML, XML and Browser open standardization. > > > > The same should happen for office documents and hence definition of open > > document standards. > > > > *What is ODF* > > > > ODF(OpenDocument Format) an ISO standard created with the aim to provide > > an open XML-based document file format for office applications to be used > > for documents containing text, spreadsheets, charts, and graphical elements. > > ODF is defined via an open and transparent process at OASIS ( The > > Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) > > and has been approved unanimously by the International Organization for > > Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission > > (IEC) as an international standard in May 2006. Instead of trying to > > reinvent the wheel ODF reuses established standards like HTML, SVG, XSL, > > SMIL, XLink, XForms, MathML, and Dublin Core. > > > > ODF leaves space for all present and future vendors do implement it and > > makes sure that end users won't suffer from any sort of vendor lock-in. In > > contrast to earlier used binary formats which were cryptic and difficult to > > process, ODF's use of XML makes accessing the document content simple. > > > > ODF guarantees long-term viability. The OASIS ODF TC, the OASIS ODF > > Adoption TC, and the ODF Alliance include members from Adobe, BBC, EDS, EMC, > > GNOME, Google, IBM, Intel, KDE, Novell, Oracle, Red Hat, Software AG and Sun > > Microsystems. Since June 2006 the ODF Alliance has already more than 300 > > members. > > > > *What is OOXML* > > > > A format proposed by Microsoft that comes closest to ODF in function, > > but it fails the test for an Open Standard in various ways, including an > > unclear legal status as well as inclusion of and reference to proprietary > > technologies. It has all signs of a vendor-specific format that only > > Microsoft will be able to implement completely. > > > > Microsoft, which dominates the office software market with its Office > > suite, is a member of OASIS and was fully aware of the technical > > committee that came up with ODF. However, they opted to make Ms Office 2007 heavily > > reliant on XML and also initiated a parallel technical committee to develop > > a standard file format the MS OOXML. > > > > Ms Office 2007 *does not* support ODF. What Microsoft has done is to > > push MS OOXML through a fast track process to have the standard certified by > > ISO. The standard is being reviewed by technical committees (TC) formed > > through national standards bodies. The TCs pass a vote through a ballot > > process. The ballot resolutions are then forwarded to ISO, if the outcome is > > greater support for MS OOXML, then the standard will be passed. > > > > > > *Why should we reject a proprietary standard like OOXML > > > > * > > > > 1. We live in a digital age where paper documents increasingly get > > replaced by electronic records. We may even see the day we no longer use > > paper and pen to keep records. In this situation long-term data becomes > > critical. This is especially the case for legal contracts and government > > documents which stay valid and relevant over decades, or even centuries. > > Just like there were many vendors supplying paper and pens through out the > > history, and not a single one, so do these formats and applications which > > are used to make them need to be vendor independent. That is the only > > guanrantee of long-term access to data, even if companies disappear, change > > their strategies or dramatically raise their prices. > > 2. The Kenyan technical committee (hosted by KEBS) reviewing the > > MS OOXML standard was inappropriately constituted and is highly imbalanced. > > Microsoft recommended business partners to this committee and the first vote > > returned a yes resolution because of this imbalance. On March 19th 2008, the > > committee passed an Abstain resolution which Microsoft is now strongly > > appealing against. > > 3. Further, the MS OOXML standard is defined in 6,000+ pages and > > with the fast track process, it is barely possible to review the standard > > comprehensively. This standard must be reviewed via the regular standard > > process. > > 4. MS OOXML is a proposed parallel standard without a > > justification. > > 5. *OOXML has patent issues* > > > > For all those with questions, feel free to ask. > > > > -- > > Muthoni > > > > My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/ > > -------------------------------------------- > > Mahatma Gandhi once said:- > > > > First they ignore you, > > Then they laugh at you, > > Then they fight you, > > AND THEN YOU WIN!!! > > _______________________________________________ > > kictanet mailing list > > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > > > This message was sent to: eunicekariuki(a)ict.go.ke > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/eunicekariuki%40ict.go… > > > > > > > -- > We have moved to CCK. > > Eunice Mueni Kariuki > Kenya ICT Board > Nairobi, Kenya > > alternative address. eunice.kariuki(a)hotmail.go.ke -- Muthoni My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/ -------------------------------------------- Mahatma Gandhi once said:- First they ignore you, Then they laugh at you, Then they fight you, AND THEN YOU WIN!!!

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OOXML: Why Kenya Should Vote NO
by Dorcas Muthoni 25 Mar '08

25 Mar '08

*What is an Office Document Standard* A standard file format that would allow office documents such as spreadsheets and word processing files to be opened by applications from different vendors. *Why Open Standards * Creating an open office file format suggests that documents created in an application that supports that file format could be opened in other applications that support it as well. E.g. A document written using OpenOffice for example, could be opened in Ms Office without affecting the layout or formatting. With an open standard; - You can choose any operating system or application and still be able to read and edit all your old documents e.g. whether it is Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Unix. - You can collaborate with others regardless of which software they are using e.g. whether it is LotusNotes, OpenOffice, Ms Office, StarOffice, GoogleApps . - You can use any software of your choice to exchange documents within your organization, with your clients, partners, government and everyone else. The goal of an open standard is to free corporate data from proprietary file formats so they can be accessed for years to come no matter what office software a company or government is using. Companies and governments are currently saving data in proprietary file formats, such as those written in Microsoft's Office software (.doc, .xls, .ppt, and lately .docx, .xlsx, .pptx), and locking themselves into using that software indefinitely. A relative example is, we all develop our websites and expect to successfully access them using various browser software (Mozilla Firefox, Netscape, Safari, Internet Explorer etc). We successfully manage to do this because of HTML, XML and Browser open standardization. The same should happen for office documents and hence definition of open document standards. *What is ODF* ODF(OpenDocument Format) an ISO standard created with the aim to provide an open XML-based document file format for office applications to be used for documents containing text, spreadsheets, charts, and graphical elements. ODF is defined via an open and transparent process at OASIS ( The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) and has been approved unanimously by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) as an international standard in May 2006. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel ODF reuses established standards like HTML, SVG, XSL, SMIL, XLink, XForms, MathML, and Dublin Core. ODF leaves space for all present and future vendors do implement it and makes sure that end users won't suffer from any sort of vendor lock-in. In contrast to earlier used binary formats which were cryptic and difficult to process, ODF's use of XML makes accessing the document content simple. ODF guarantees long-term viability. The OASIS ODF TC, the OASIS ODF Adoption TC, and the ODF Alliance include members from Adobe, BBC, EDS, EMC, GNOME, Google, IBM, Intel, KDE, Novell, Oracle, Red Hat, Software AG and Sun Microsystems. Since June 2006 the ODF Alliance has already more than 300 members. *What is OOXML* A format proposed by Microsoft that comes closest to ODF in function, but it fails the test for an Open Standard in various ways, including an unclear legal status as well as inclusion of and reference to proprietary technologies. It has all signs of a vendor-specific format that only Microsoft will be able to implement completely. Microsoft, which dominates the office software market with its Office suite, is a member of OASIS and was fully aware of the technical committee that came up with ODF. However, they opted to make Ms Office 2007 heavily reliant on XML and also initiated a parallel technical committee to develop a standard file format the MS OOXML. Ms Office 2007 *does not* support ODF. What Microsoft has done is to push MS OOXML through a fast track process to have the standard certified by ISO. The standard is being reviewed by technical committees (TC) formed through national standards bodies. The TCs pass a vote through a ballot process. The ballot resolutions are then forwarded to ISO, if the outcome is greater support for MS OOXML, then the standard will be passed. *Why should we reject a proprietary standard like OOXML * 1. We live in a digital age where paper documents increasingly get replaced by electronic records. We may even see the day we no longer use paper and pen to keep records. In this situation long-term data becomes critical. This is especially the case for legal contracts and government documents which stay valid and relevant over decades, or even centuries. Just like there were many vendors supplying paper and pens through out the history, and not a single one, so do these formats and applications which are used to make them need to be vendor independent. That is the only guanrantee of long-term access to data, even if companies disappear, change their strategies or dramatically raise their prices. 2. The Kenyan technical committee (hosted by KEBS) reviewing the MS OOXML standard was inappropriately constituted and is highly imbalanced. Microsoft recommended business partners to this committee and the first vote returned a yes resolution because of this imbalance. On March 19th 2008, the committee passed an Abstain resolution which Microsoft is now strongly appealing against. 3. Further, the MS OOXML standard is defined in 6,000+ pages and with the fast track process, it is barely possible to review the standard comprehensively. This standard must be reviewed via the regular standard process. 4. MS OOXML is a proposed parallel standard without a justification. 5. *OOXML has patent issues* For all those with questions, feel free to ask. -- Muthoni My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/ -------------------------------------------- Mahatma Gandhi once said:- First they ignore you, Then they laugh at you, Then they fight you, AND THEN YOU WIN!!!

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e-Learning Training opportunities
by Gakiria 25 Mar '08

25 Mar '08

Dear All, Attached is a call for nominations to inWEnt regional training courses on e-Learning organized by the Namibia Open Learning Network. Please circulate to your networks in East Africa. Regards Andrew

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Re: [kictanet] Just A Thought!
by David Makali 25 Mar '08

25 Mar '08

Folks, I think the person who offered that job of 8k should be congratulated. S/he is an entrepreneur. Jobs are offered to willing takers and i suppose as we go on an on here, there are already applicants or the slots have already been filled. I don't understand what this whole saga is about: how many of you ventilating on this offer pay your house helps that amount? Yet they most likely work more hours? And guards? Maurice is spot on: pay has to be relative to the income generated. Its take it or leave it. That is not to advocate prejudice or injustice; its being pragmatic in today's world. Lets move on. David --- Maurice Barasa <barazam(a)gmail.com> wrote: > The 8K/month is really low considering the high cost > of living we experience in Kenya. Maybe we can try > and advice the Cyber guy and others who may be in > this forum that have plans to start by considering > the numbers they operate on. > > As stated the Cyber has 8 computer and its open 12.5 > hours. This means that if the cyber has all the > eight computer being paid for at an average of 7 Hrs > a day coz not guaranteed that the computers will be > running all thro, then the computers will earn a > monthly average of KES 80640 (running for an average > of 24 days a month X 8 hrs/day * 60KES/hr since > assumed the Christian lady will be allowed a Sunday > off and they charge 1KES/Min.) and then assumed > there are other things like printing and > photocopying >KES10000 making it a total of 90K > Subtracting the costs before salary, say rent, ISP > charges.... assuming its 40K (advice if wrong), > meaning the net is around 50K, > > What would be the expected salary for the attendant > considering that the owner also needs to make some > profit? > > > Have a thoughtful day, > > Maurice > > > From: catherine ongoro > Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 10:29 AM > To: kaziafrika(a)googlegroups.com > Subject: Re: Just A Thought! > > > Hi all, > I disagree with Dan. The problem wasn't with the > phrase which in my view is very o.k. The problem is > with the specs that is christian (what about > qualified Kenyans from one of the very many > religious followings we have in Kenya?)and the 12.5 > working hrs for Kes. 8,000.00. > > Catherine. > > > dan chira <danchira2004(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hello Wanakazi, > > If you read the original email, the guy's opening > remarks were: > > "sambaza the following slot. There are hundreds of > able people who qualify and yet they don't have > access to internet, so people should speak of this > vacancies with their friends who don't have access > to Internet. Most of the online applicants I have > come across are people who have options, either they > want to switch jobs etc and so the real needy person > is locked away. So guys be kind to involve those > guys who even can't access Kaziafrica... > > > I think most of the people who acted emotionally > didnt understand the phrase, and they went ahead to > "lock" other people a vancacy that can change their > lifes! > > Just a thought!!! > > Danny > > -- > Real Men Fear God! > See No Evil,Hear No Evil,Say No Evil. > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage. > > > > > _______________ "If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster." -- Isaac Asimo, Columbian Author and Scientist _______________ PO Box 3234 00200 Nairobi, Kenya cell: +254 722 517 540 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ YOU ARE IN KAZI AFRIKA GROUP UNSUBSCRIBE: kaziafrika-unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com http://groups.google.com/group/kaziafrika?hl=en www.kazi-africa.com FOR A VERY PEACEFUL KENYA -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

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Kenya in dilemma over transfer of Teams shares to private investors
by Alex Gakuru 25 Mar '08

25 Mar '08

Smell something fishy.... <snip> The history of the opening up of the telecommunications sector is littered with cases of manipulation of privatisation to allow insiders and connected operatives to acquire shares they have not paid for. To date, the true owners of an entity by the name Mobitelea Ventures Ltd that indirectly owns a 10 per cent stake in the countrys first ever GSM mobile phone operator, Safaricom Ltd, remains unknown. The investor was procured under the old and opaque privatisation regime. In the case of Teams, the government last year procured 12 investors who will be allotted shares when the cable goes into operation. Although most of the companies allotted shares are well-known telecommunication companies, a number are nevertheless names that dont resonate. The lions share of the company has been allocated to Safaricom Ltd a 20 per cent stake. In the second category are Econet Wireless Kenya Ltd (10 per cent), France Telecom (10 per cent), Kenya Data Networks (10 per cent), Wananchi Telecom Ltd (10 per cent), Telkom Kenya (10 per cent), Jamii Telecom (3.75 per cent) and Gilat Satcom (1.25 per cent). The last category are names that are not too well-known, including an entity by the name Equip Ltd (1.25 per cent), Internet Research (1.25 per cent) and Inhand Ltd (1.25 per cent). The government will retain a 20 per cent stake in the company. Under the present arrangement, the chosen investors must pay 5 per cent of the projects funding requirement of $110 million, which will be put in an escrow account at Standard Chartered Bank of Kenya Ltd. The balance of what they are expected to pay is to be remitted when the parties consummate both a share-subscription agreement and a shareholders agreement in April. Contrary to the general impression, Etisalat of the UAE has no direct shareholding in Teams. What it has signed with the government is a construction and maintenance agreement and a supply contract. Whichever way one looks at it, these investors must be laughing all the way to the bank, having clinched a very sweet deal indeed. Major telecommunications operators and consumers of bandwidth whose names do not appear on the investors list may find it difficult to compete. The investors will be acquiring shares of the asset at the nominal value of $110 million, but its market price is bound to hit the roof once the company starts commercial operations. In a sense, the Teams model runs contrary to the conventional model of funding what is known as consortium cables where entities come together to fund a proportion of development cost and share the construction risk, and are allocated capacity depending on their commitment at all these stages. In this case, it is the Kenya government that has paid for the feasibility studies as well as the cost of the marine survey and engaging Standard Chartered Bank as the financial arrangers to the project. The government is the one carrying the construction risk of the project, meaning that if construction is delayed right now, it is the one that will bear the extra cost burden. With a new privatisation regime having taken effect in January, and the process of transferring the shares to private entities still outstanding, the Treasury must now make a decision on the route to take. According to the Act, all privatisation transactions must be handled according to the new law. Upon coming into operation of the Act, the commission shall take over the implementation and management of any ongoing process leading to a privatisation, says section 52 of the Privatisation Act. However, the same law also says that a privatisation process that is ongoing should not be reversed to the detriment of any party..... <http://www.nationmedia.com/eastafrican/current/News/news170320081.htm> ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping

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Re: [kictanet] WHO OWNS MOBITELEA ?
by dmakali＠yahoo.com 24 Mar '08

24 Mar '08

Absolutely. We can't allow this to pass! No way. Gideon, moi, marsham and biwott must pay up or surrender mobitelea shares to the public. Even if the judiciary is weak, this grand fraud is too much. Nor shud it escape even with a grand coalition. David Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device -----Original Message----- From: "Robert Alai" <alai.robert(a)gmail.com> Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:16:01 To:"Kazi Africa" <Kaziafrika(a)googlegroups.com> Subject: WHO OWNS MOBITELEA ? Wanakazi The misterious Mobitelea owner is going to make a whooping 10 billion for just a corrupt deal they did with Moi. Now we must really know more about Mobitelea and not putting the matter in the open is just not going to work. Read more on http://www.wananchiforums.com/showthread.php?p=117&posted=1#post117 <http://www.wananchiforums.com/showthread.php?p=117&posted=1#post117> Robert --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ YOU ARE IN KAZI AFRIKA GROUP UNSUBSCRIBE: kaziafrika-unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com http://groups.google.com/group/kaziafrika?hl=en www.kazi-africa.com FOR A VERY PEACEFUL KENYA -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

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"The Conversation": Book-Video on HIV/AIDS Disclosure Seeks Feedback/Info
by Janet Feldman 23 Mar '08

23 Mar '08

Hello. I'm writing a book and doing a video documentary on the subject of "The Conversation" that everyone with HIV has when they disclose their HIV status. I'm looking for people from every race and background, including those that are HIV negative, but have had "The Conversation" with HIV positive people. Please let your voice be heard by visiting our website - www.theHIVconversation.com You can learn more about the book, the author, who benefits, read stories of others who have already become a part of the project, and obtain the Questionnaire. Thank you for your assistance and I look forward to hearing your voice in your story about disclosure. Sebastian TheHIVConversation(a)gmail.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ YOU ARE IN KAZI AFRIKA GROUP UNSUBSCRIBE: kaziafrika-unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com http://groups.google.com/group/kaziafrika?hl=en www.kazi-africa.com FOR A VERY PEACEFUL KENYA -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

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Fwd: [Idlelo2] FOSS & Business
by Judy Okite 22 Mar '08

22 Mar '08

FYI Kind Regards, ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Dapo Ladimeji <dapo(a)ladimeji.co.uk> Date: Mar 22, 2008 3:04 AM Subject: [Idlelo2] FOSS & Business To: council(a)fossfa.net Cc: IDLELO <idlelo2(a)fossfa.net>, Fossfa <council(a)fossfa.net> Hi Folks Two matters: Firstly - hope you guys who went to Idlelo3 had a good time. (I would have loved to come but no ticket!.) Secondly - I have been researching FOSS in business and the market has really changed from the last time I looked. There are now several production ready FOSS erp solutions suitable for small and medium sized businesses. This could be real boon both for medium sized African businesses and for local African developers/consultants. I attach a review article from University of Vienna (2006) - only that I should add that much has even improved since its publication. The quality is such that I can readily recommend these solutions to my clients in the UK. (What a difference a few years can make!) If anyone has any comments let me know. regards Dapo

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Ghetto FM (Nairobi Kenya): Voice for Peace Needs Help to Spread its Messages
by Janet Feldman 21 Mar '08

21 Mar '08

Dear Friends, Last fall, a letter circulated asking for donations (funds and equipment) for Ghetto FM, a project of the development nonprofit, SIDAREC (www.sidarec.org) which works with youth and adults in depressed areas of Nairobi. Since that time, Ghetto FM has been an invaluable ally of the peace process in Kenya. Below please note some of their outstanding activities. Ghetto FM is still very much in need of funds, equipment, training, and other resources in kind, in fact anything helpful to advance the peace process. If anyone can donate, please contact George Onyango at geogias(a)yahoo.com or george(a)sidarec.or.ke. With greatest thanks and all best wishes, Janet Feldman (KAIPPG International, kaippg(a)earthlink.net) Ghetto FM (SIDAREC's radio project): What we did is to use Ghetto FM to gauge the mood of the people and at the same time asking well-wishers to contribute. People have managed to contribute various items like clothes and food, while SIDAREC has donated drugs and asked for help from volunteer doctors for treating people. We have been having peace meetings within the affected slums. We have had them since the violence erupted. These meetings have been successful because of Ghetto FM. Through the station, we have been able to mobilize assistance to the displaced, coordinated meetings between various communities, and preached peace and reconciliation. What has excited me most is the fact that we have our own people, from the areas where we operate, as presenters. These are people who have never went to college to learn journalism. What we did is just to give them an in-house training for a month, and that was it. Looking at some of the programs that they came up with, one will be tempted to think you are dealing with professionals. Therefore any support to help improve Ghetto FM will be a boost to the youth working with the station. In one meeting, we managed to bring in the Provincial Administration. One of our suggestions to the Provincial administration is to help integrate people. This means that any group who wants assistance from the government must show that other community members are involved. In other words, it must show diversity. George Onyango Project Administrator Slums Information Development & Resource Centres (SIDAREC) P.O.BOX 9687 00300 TEL.+254-20-246961/247356 MOBILE:+254-721986320 NAIROBI,KENYA. E-mail: george(a)sidarec.or.ke Website: www.sidarec.org Skype: george.onyango --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ YOU ARE IN KAZI AFRIKA GROUP UNSUBSCRIBE: kaziafrika-unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com http://groups.google.com/group/kaziafrika?hl=en www.kazi-africa.com FOR A VERY PEACEFUL KENYA -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

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Ghetto FM (Nairobi Kenya): Voice for Peace Needs Help to Spread its Messages
by Janet Feldman 21 Mar '08

21 Mar '08

Dear Friends, Last fall, a letter circulated asking for donations (funds and equipment) for Ghetto FM, a project of the development nonprofit, SIDAREC (www.sidarec.org) which works with youth and adults in depressed areas of Nairobi. Since that time, Ghetto FM has been an invaluable ally of the peace process in Kenya. Below please note some of their outstanding activities. Ghetto FM is still very much in need of funds, equipment, training, and other resources in kind, in fact anything helpful to advance the peace process. If anyone can donate, please contact George Onyango at geogias(a)yahoo.com or george(a)sidarec.or.ke. With greatest thanks and all best wishes, Janet Feldman (KAIPPG International, kaippg(a)earthlink.net) Ghetto FM (SIDAREC's radio project): What we did is to use Ghetto FM to gauge the mood of the people and at the same time asking well-wishers to contribute. People have managed to contribute various items like clothes and food, while SIDAREC has donated drugs and asked for help from volunteer doctors for treating people. We have been having peace meetings within the affected slums. We have had them since the violence erupted. These meetings have been successful because of Ghetto FM. Through the station, we have been able to mobilize assistance to the displaced, coordinated meetings between various communities, and preached peace and reconciliation. What has excited me most is the fact that we have our own people, from the areas where we operate, as presenters. These are people who have never went to college to learn journalism. What we did is just to give them an in-house training for a month, and that was it. Looking at some of the programs that they came up with, one will be tempted to think you are dealing with professionals. Therefore any support to help improve Ghetto FM will be a boost to the youth working with the station. In one meeting, we managed to bring in the Provincial Administration. One of our suggestions to the Provincial administration is to help integrate people. This means that any group who wants assistance from the government must show that other community members are involved. In other words, it must show diversity. George Onyango Project Administrator Slums Information Development & Resource Centres (SIDAREC) P.O.BOX 9687 00300 TEL.+254-20-246961/247356 MOBILE:+254-721986320 NAIROBI,KENYA. E-mail: george(a)sidarec.or.ke Website: www.sidarec.org Skype: george.onyango

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Fwd: [Idlelo2] Urgent Release - FOSSFA urges African governments to paticipate more effectively in Open Standards Debate
by Judy Okite 21 Mar '08

21 Mar '08

FYI Kind Regards, ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Nnenna <nne75(a)yahoo.com> Date: Mar 21, 2008 4:50 AM Subject: [Idlelo2] Urgent Release - FOSSFA urges African governments to paticipate more effectively in Open Standards Debate To: Fossfa <council(a)fossfa.net>, FAYE Ibrahima <fayiboul(a)yahoo.fr>, fsylla(a)gmail.com, Ken Lohento <klohento(a)panos-ao.org> Cc: ACSIS <africa(a)wsis-cs.org>, IDLELO <idlelo2(a)fossfa.net>, Edward Yeboah < edwardy(a)aiti-kace.com.gh>, Samer Azmy <samer.azmy(a)gmail.com> Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOSSFA URGES AFRICAN GOVERNMENTS TO PARTICIPATE MORE EFFECTIVELY IN THE DEBATE ON OPEN STANDARDS FOSSFA calls on African governments and Standards bodies to participate more effectively in the global debate on Open Standards by encouraging public involvement in the debate at the national level. DAKAR, SENEGAL – (March 20, 2008) The Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) today called on African governments and Standards bodies to participate more effectively in the global debate on Open Standards, especially the Open Office Extended Markup Language (OOXML) standard. Following a five-day conference in Dakar, Senegal, with a theme, "Making the Knowledge Economy Work for Africa", participants agreed that open standards allow for interoperability (e.g. software packages from various sources can work together), promote innovation and economic growth, and help users avoid being locked-in to proprietary solutions. FOSSFA encourages African governments to facilitate the debate on Open Standards, and involve national experts in decisions regarding technology standards. The organization also urged African governments to seek a collective African voice prior to taking positions on Open Standards issues. Recalling that the last Ballot Re-count Meeting had very little representation from Africa, and that African countries voted in the affirmative without thorough and more inclusive discussions on the issues, FOSSFA strongly calls for more active public engagement of the issues in the future. Further, FOSSFA believes that governments should pay particular attention to procurement practices, especially software agreements between it and software companies. In this regard, FOSSFA noted that the practice of binding a sovereign country to agreements based on non-disclosable memorandums of understanding is not open, contravenes the principles and values of transparency in public procurement, and must be stopped. FOSSFA is closely following the open standards debate in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, South Africa, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe which have the right to vote in a decision on OOXML on March 29, 2008. FOSSFA strongly urges those of them that voted "YES" in the past to abstain in the next voting session to allow for greater national and continent-wide debate on the issue. ABOUT FOSSFA FOSSFA is the premier African FOSS organization, and was founded under the auspices of the Bamako Bureau of the African Information Society Initiative within the mandate given by African Governments in 1995 to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). The Vision of FOSSFA is to promote the use of FOSS and the FOSS model in African development, and the organization supports the integration of FOSS in national policies. FOSSFA also coordinates, promotes, and adds value to African FOSS initiatives, creativity, industry, expertise, efforts and activities at all levels. FOSSFA partners with development organizations who share these goals towards a participatory and gender-mainstreamed sustainable development and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals in Africa. FOSSFA is governed by a Council elected during Idlelo, from which the Executive is chosen. FOSSFA members may be individuals, organizations, development agencies or government FOSS bureaus. The South African Minister of Public Service and Administration, Ms Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi is a FOSSFA present Patron. CONTACT: secretariat(a)fossfa.net nnenna(a)opensource.org www.fossfa.net www.idlelo.org ### ------------------------------ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=51438/*http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs> _______________________________________________ Idlelo2 mailing list Idlelo2(a)fossfa.net http://mailman.dst.gov.za/mailman/listinfo/idlelo2 -- Judy Ann Okite, +254-721237507,+254-734252336 P.O. BOX 2228 00100, NAIROBI,KENYA. 'Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. ' Martin Luther King, Jr.

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COPYRIGHTS (AND WRONGS)]
by alice 21 Mar '08

21 Mar '08

Dear All Re-thinking copy right laws....interesting developments. best alice http://www.physorg.com/news125154432.html #PhysOrg News search COPYRIGHTS (AND WRONGS) Some of the most important copyright documents ever written are being made available online for the first time, reflecting growing public interest in authorial rights in the wake of the internet revolution. Original papers charting the contributions of thinkers such as Machiavelli, Martin Luther, John Locke, Daniel Defoe, Immanuel Kant, Wordsworth, Balzac and Victor Hugo to the development of copyright law will be available through the Primary Sources on Copyright History Project, which is being launched in London this week. The website, http://www.copyrighthistory.org <http://www.copyrighthistory.org/> , will offer users anywhere in the world the chance to examine more than 10,000 pages of rare legal papers, some of which date back to the invention of the printing press itself. It has been compiled by an international team of lawyers and historians, led by experts from the University of Cambridge and Bournemouth University. Many of the documents, which include writings by some of the greatest scholars of the past 500 years, have until now been stashed away in obscure libraries all over the world. The new digital resource will mean that for the first time anyone who wants to read them can do so at the click of a button. The website's creators say the resource reflects growing public concern about copyright issues raised, in particular, by the advent of the internet revolution. "Copyright law used to be a topic that only affected authors and the industries that exploited their works," Professor Lionel Bently, from the University Cambridge and one of the project's general editors, said. "Today, everyone who uses a computer, operates a web page, accesses online materials, or downloads music from the internet needs to be wary of copyright rules. While in the past copies were made by the exploiters - publishers, broadcasters or the film and record industries - now they are being made by individuals on computers, in their offices or at home." The documents in the collection will be available both as facsimile images and in transcribed and translated formats. The earliest is Johannes of Speyer's monopoly, awarded to the German craftsman by the Venetian Signoria in 1469, and the first known record of a printing privilege granted by a European government. From there, the history of copyright law in Britain, France, Italy, Germany and the United States is traced up to the 1886 Berne Convention - which broke through the national boundaries restricting copyright law. Notable among the British papers is the original parchment copy of the Statute of Anne of 1710, the world's first general copyright law, and a model for much subsequent legislation. The Statute granted authors and their publishers an exclusive term of 14 years (today the duration of copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years). In order to receive copyright protection, all books had to be registered at Stationers' Hall, London, the livery hall of the ancient guild of printers where the digital archive will be formally opened on Wednesday (19 March). Users can also examine Martin Luther's indignant Admonition To The Printers, written in 1525 after one of his manuscripts was stolen by a typesetter, who then reaped the profit of having it printed overseas. The father of Protestantism compares his actions to those of "highwaymen and thieves", adding: "God will see to it that the profit you make on this will just suffice for you to smear your shoes with it!" The archive also features prints and privileges by the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Drer, William Hogarth's intervention that led to the 1735 Engraver's Copyright Act, the philosopher Denis Diderot's letter on behalf of the Paris book trade (1763), and the constitutional clause of the United States (1789) that gave Congress the power to legislate in the fields of patents and copyright in order "to promote the progress of science and the useful arts". The editors hope the digital archive will not just prove useful to scholars and legal historians, but inform legislative debates, such as the Government's current review of exceptions to copyright law, and the push by record company executives to extend the European copyright term in sound recordings from 50 to 95 years. History suggests that legislators should be wary when industrial interests become concerned with the "natural right of authors over the products of their mental labour", as the publishers expressed their argument for the 1710 Statute, and in the subsequent "Battle of the Booksellers". More often than not, this argument has been shown to be a smokescreen for market control. "History provides useful insights into why copyright was thought to be desirable and how it has expanded," said general editor Professor Martin Kretschmer of Bournemouth University. "The primary sources in this collection show that there are many more ways to reconfigure copyright norms than surface in current debate. The regulation of an information society quite urgently needs a wider perspective." The archive can be pre-viewed at http://copyright-project.law.cam.ac.uk <http://copyright-project.law.cam.ac.uk/> . Its permanent web address is: http://www.copyrighthistory.org <http://www.copyrighthistory.org/> . ############################################### Corvallis Action on Globalization (CAG) has been formed to carry forward the energy generated in Seattle at the end of 1999 to generate a grassroots movement. It is our purpose to educate the local and regional community about trade globalization, and, in so doing, to provide a reasoned response to its governmental and business supporters. This list is not moderated, subscription is open, and anything posted by subscribers is mailed to the whole list. Posting is restricted to subscribers. - To SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE to the cag list send email to - majordomo(a)maillist.peak.org <mailto:majordomo@maillist.peak.org> - with the message - subscribe/unsubscribe cag - [No subject is needed.] ======================================= APC Forum is a meeting place for the APC community - people and institutions who are or have been involved in collaboration with APC, and share the APC vision - a world in which all people have easy, equal and affordable access to the creative potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve their lives and create more democratic and egalitarian societies. _______________________________________________ apc.forum mailing list apc.forum(a)lists.apc.org http://lists.apc.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/apc.forum

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[Fwd: [AfrICANN-discuss] Fellowship Opportunities: AFTLD 2nd African ccTLDs Event, Johannesburg - AfriNIC Community invited ..]
by alice 21 Mar '08

21 Mar '08

AfTLD would like to announce availability of fellowship opportunities to attend AfTLD 2nd African ccTLD event which will be held in Johannesburg from 7th-11th April 200h. Register and apply now : www.aftld.org . ------- About AfTLD 2008 : AfTLD in cooperation with South Africa's Department of Communications “DOC”, AfTLD is organizing the Second African ccTLD event ( Workshops, Training and AfTLD General Assembly meeting in Cape Town, South Africa from7th to 11th of April 2008. AFTLD workshops main objective is to offer advanced DNS training and exchange of best practices between African Country Code Top Level Domain operators/managers. Telecom, ISPs and Governments ICT Agencies, are invited to participate in AfTLD events inorder to be contribute to the process of developing and enhancing a national Internet infrastructure and provide assistance in building a strong local Internet services by promoting and utilizing country’s top level domain . Event Programme : http://www.aftld.org/SA2008/programme.html Previous AfTLD Events : Visit AfTLD 2007 Cairo Page ( materials, AGM Report, Photo Gallery, ..ect ) .. http://www.aftld.org/cairo2007/index.html Best Regards, Mohamed El Bashir VP Communications & Out-Reach AFTLD _______________________________________________ AfrICANN mailing list AfrICANN(a)afrinic.net https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann

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Fwd: WCIT 2008 Enewsletter Issue # 5
by waudo siganga 20 Mar '08

20 Mar '08

Some colleagues may be interested in attending the upcoming World Congres s on IT: If you cannot view the newsletter page properly, kindly click on [1]http://data.wcit2008.org/wcitdata/newsletter_mar/Newsletter_5_wcit08_s hort.html [2][nl_email_080319_01.jpg] [nl_email_080319_02.jpg] [nl_email_080319_03.jpg] [nl_email_080319_04.jpg] [3][USEMAP:nl_email_080319_05.jpg] [nl_email_080319_06.jpg] [4][USEMAP:nl_email_080319_07.jpg] [5][USEMAP:nl_email_080319_08.jpg] [6][USEMAP:nl_email_080319_09.jpg] [7][USEMAP:nl_email_080319_10.jpg] [8][USEMAP:nl_email_080319_11.jpg] [9][USEMAP:nl_email_080319_12.jpg] [nl_email_080319_13.jpg] [10][USEMAP:nl_email_080319_14.jpg] [11][USEMAP:nl_email_080319_15.jpg] [12][USEMAP:nl_email_080319_16.jpg] [nl_email_080319_17.jpg] [13][USEMAP:nl_email_080319_18.jpg] [nl_email_080319_19.jpg] [14][USEMAP:nl_email_080319_20.jpg] [nl_email_080319_21.jpg] [nl_email_080319_22.jpg] [15][USEMAP:nl_email_080319_23.jpg] [16][USEMAP:nl_email_080319_24.jpg] If you cannot view this page properly, kindly click on [17]http://data.wcit2008.org/wcitdata/newsletter_mar/Newsletter_5 _wcit08_short.html You are receiving this email from the newsletter subscription at www.wcit2008.org If you would like to discontinue receiving emails from WCIT 2008 simply reply to this email with the word unsubscribe in the subject line References 1. http://data.wcit2008.org/wcitdata/newsletter_mar/Newsletter_5_wcit08_short.… 2. http://www.wcit2008.org/ 3. LYNXIMGMAP:file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap0 4. LYNXIMGMAP:file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap1 5. LYNXIMGMAP:file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap5 6. LYNXIMGMAP:file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap2 7. LYNXIMGMAP:file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap3 8. LYNXIMGMAP:file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap10 9. LYNXIMGMAP:file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap4 10. LYNXIMGMAP:file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap6 11. LYNXIMGMAP:file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap11 12. LYNXIMGMAP:file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap7 13. LYNXIMGMAP:file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap8 14. LYNXIMGMAP:file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap9 15. LYNXIMGMAP:file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap13 16. LYNXIMGMAP:file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap12 17. http://data.wcit2008.org/wcitdata/newsletter_mar/Newsletter_5_wcit08_short.… [USEMAP] file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap12 1. http://www.msc.com.my/ 2. http://www.mosti.gov.my/ [USEMAP] file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap13 1. http://www.wcit2008.org/ [USEMAP] file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap9 1. http://m1e.net/c?78111151-MjnTBO6zBYOpE%403175854-tOuigjBTj7RWY [USEMAP] file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap8 1. http://m1e.net/c?78111151-0V1fctuqMpczg%403175854-7X5yaOGA34Lj2 2. http://www.kioskmedia.com.my/ 3. http://www.freenet.com.my/ 4. http://www.sarawak.gov.my/ [USEMAP] file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap7 1. http://m1e.net/c?78111151-0V1fctuqMpczg%403175854-7X5yaOGA34Lj2 [USEMAP] file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap11 1. http://www.witsa.org/ [USEMAP] file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap6 1. http://m1e.net/c?78111151-0V1fctuqMpczg%403175854-7X5yaOGA34Lj2 [USEMAP] file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap4 1. http://m1e.net/c?78111151-MjnTBO6zBYOpE%403175854-tOuigjBTj7RWY [USEMAP] file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap10 1. http://travel.tourism.gov.my/consumer/about/default.asp 2. http://www.tourism.gov.my/ [USEMAP] file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap3 1. http://m1e.net/c?78111151-MjnTBO6zBYOpE%403175854-tOuigjBTj7RWY [USEMAP] file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap2 1. http://m1e.net/c?78111151-VCdzRv1eTdhhs%403175853-a73GqCEzaN3Gc 2. http://m1e.net/c?78111151-SlK1ZH7jWanVY%403175852-Z8P3YUhPZyAu%2e [USEMAP] file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap5 1. http://m1e.net/c?78111151-MjnTBO6zBYOpE%403175854-tOuigjBTj7RWY [USEMAP] file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap1 1. http://m1e.net/c?78111151-C6tKTwa6jL/0E%403175851-wMz.4A62x/B52 2. http://m1e.net/c?78111151-VCdzRv1eTdhhs%403175853-a73GqCEzaN3Gc [USEMAP] file://localhost/tmp/linkstmp/9TOxlZ2Ayd#FPMap0 1. http://m1e.net/c?78111151-aaUOWXvJ9WCxs%403175850-YGOvnEO3vNZU6 -- waudo siganga emailsignet(a)mailcan.com

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Public Servants and blogging
by Al Kags 20 Mar '08

20 Mar '08

http://davepress.net/2008/03/10/public-servants-must-blog/ I just came across the above article and I wonder what the thoughts of this groups. One would imagine beyond the official policy and regulations there is a social impediment to public servants blogging. What would need to happen to get us to a point where we have official public blogs? I also am reminded of an interesting article (below) by the CEO of Sun Microsystems that was published in a Havard Business Review a while back - If you want to Lead, Blog. If You Want to Lead, Blog *by* *Jonathan Schwartz<http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/hbrol/en/includes/sasearch.jh…> * Many senior executives at Sun, including me, have blogs that can be read by anyone, anywhere in the world. We discuss everything from business strategy to product development to company values. We host open letters from the outside, and we openly respond to them. We talk about our successes—and our mistakes. (If you don't believe me, go to www.blogs.sun.com/roller/page/jonathan?entry=dear_john.) That may seem risky. But it's riskier not to have a blog. Remember when, not long ago, CEOs would ask their assistants to print out their e-mails for them, and they'd dictate responses to be typewritten and sent via snail mail? Where are those leaders now? (The last of my contacts of that breed just retired.) In ten years, most of us will communicate directly with customers, employees, and the broader business community through blogs. For executives, having a blog is not going to be a matter of choice, any more than using e-mail is today. If you're not part of the conversation, others will speak on your behalf—and I'm not talking about your employees. Blogging lets you participate in communities you want to cultivate—whether it's your employees, potential employees, customers, or anyone else—and leverage your corporate culture competitively. Here's a good example: Sun, like every organization, receives e-mails from happy customers lauding one employee or another for good work. The idea came up that we should post these e-mails on a "wall of fame" on our intranet. But we realized that this venue would profoundly limit the number of readers, so someone suggested putting the wall of fame up on my external blog. Immediately, people raised the concern that by identifying our best employees, we'd make them recruitment targets. Well, of course that could happen. But it cuts both ways. The upside is the positive ripple effect on workers' morale and on the public's perception of the company. What's more, my competitors' employees could see what I'm saying about my team and could decide whether I'm more compelling than their own leaders. So rather than being a threat to Sun, blogging about my best employees can build loyalty and be a recruitment tool to boot. How do you get started on a blog? I suggest clearly defining a bloggingstrategy and guidelines. ( Or go ahead and use ours at www.sun.com/aboutsun/media/blogs/policy.html. Just make sure to change the company name.) Then find your voice. Be honest and open. Be respectful of your audiences. Don't treat blogging like advertising—it's not. Use humor. Link to those who interest and influence you. Once you get going, don't micromanage the process. Your legal and corporate communications teams do not have to be involved in every post—after all, they're not involved in every e-mail you send or telephone call you make. Once in a while, you may need to add some clarifying language. (For example, a 14A filing was required for my blog posting about acquisition intentions, just as it would be for many other forms of communication.) But the rule of thumb is simple: Know the guidelines, then let loose. If you 're unclear about your company's policy on something, ask around. Maybe it needs to be more carefully defined. Be sure to listen to feedback and respond to legitimate ideas—from inside and outside. And, most important, write the blog yourself. Authenticity is paramount. Some senior executives hire people to write their blogs. Don'tbother. It's like hiring someone to write your e-mail. It's not going to work. Trust me, your market and your employees are clamoring for executive engagement and insight. They will value and remember your candor. And you'll be surprised by how much you learn from them. Reprint: F0511J

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Malaysia to migrate to the OpenOffice.org open source productivity suite
by Dorcas Muthoni 20 Mar '08

20 Mar '08

Many countries are now saving lots of money and improving balance of trade by adopting Open Source software.. Brazil, Malaysia, South Africa. With the infrastructure/connectivity getting more under control and hardware prices going down tremendously, software will be the next frontier. What is the ICT Board strategy around software issues? I believe this would be a good time for us to begin working out clear strategies around software sub sector. I am curious to know how for example the ICT board will guide a ministry such as the Ministry of Education which apparently has an MOU with Microsoft, the Digital Villages project, Software Development Industry with relation to the outsourcing business opportunities.. Muthoni FYI, URL: http://www.oscc.org.my/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=189&Itemid… Putrajaya, 19th March 2008 - The Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU), today officially adopts a policy to migrate to the OpenOffice.org open source productivity suite. This is in line with the Malaysian Public Sector Open Source Master Plan, which calls for government agencies to reduce costs, increase freedom of choice and interoperability. >From April 1st, MAMPU will start adopting the OpenDocument Format (ODF), standard for all new documents created. ODF the ISO open standard for electronic documents is also the default format for OpenOffice.org. The agency will also uninstall all copies of Microsoft Office by end of 2008. To ensure a smooth migration, presently over 80 agency staff have been trained by the Open Source Competency Centre (OSCC). Additional staff will then be trained internally by the IT department, which will also provide support for OpenOffice.org. Related Documents: * Polisi Penggunaan OpenOffice.org MAMPU (in Malay) * Mengapa Bertukar Kepada OpenOffice.org (in Malay) -- Muthoni My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/ -------------------------------------------- Mahatma Gandhi once said:- First they ignore you, Then they laugh at you, Then they fight you, AND THEN YOU WIN!!!

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Fwd: Crime rate up with cheap telephony in Uganda
by Mike Theuri 20 Mar '08

20 Mar '08

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Chifu <chifu2222(a)gmail.com> Date: Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 2:01 AM Subject: [DigAfrica] Crime rate up with cheap telephony in Uganda To: DigAfrica(a)yahoogroups.com Crime rate up with cheap telephony Friday, 14th March, 2008 By Arthur Baguma IN Kampala it is easier to buy a mobile phone sim card than to buy chocolate. Sim cards are sold everywhere, even on streets and in taxi parks, and they cost as little as sh1,500, the price of a pineapple. On Thursday, a Saturday Vision reporter was able to buy sim cards from street vendors, alongside other vendors of items such socks, hankies, underwear and roasted coffee beans. The Police say this has led to an increase in phone-mediated crimes such as conning, threatening lives and insulting, which are committed using phones. "A person can buy a sim card just to abuse someone and after that they throw it away," says Simeo Nsubuga, Police spokesman for Kampala. In Kampala alone, Police records about 10 such cases every week, a sharp increase from 2-3 cases a week two years ago. But the majority are not reported. A makerere Uniiversity lecturer received a phone call from someone claiming to be his former student. The caller introduced a `juicy deal', namely an opportunity to sell machine bearings to a mzungu representative of a big oil company. He arranged a meeting between the mzungu and the lecturer, near Entebbe international airport. The mzungu came carrying a huge bag stuffed with cash bundles. He asked for samples of the bearings, which the lecturer brought and he endorsed. Meanwhile, in Kampala Industrial Area, someone was waiting to sell the bearings to the lecturer so he could sell it to the mzungu at 100% profit. But alas, after borrowing millions of shillings and buying the bearings, the lecturer returned to find both the mzungu and the broker gone and their phones switched off. Charity (not real name) almost walked out of her marital home over an anonymous text message. The message alleged that her husband of 10 years was involved in an extra marital affair. The sender signed off as a concerned friend. But when Charity tried to call the number of the `Good Samaritan', most times it was off and when it rang, she would not answer. The sender always claimed Charity's husband was with another woman, until one day, he made the same claim when Charity was with her husband at home. This is when Charity knew it was a hoax. This is just the tip of the iceberg. According to the Police, crimes committed using mobile phones have more than doubled in just two years. In Kampala alone, Police registers 10 such cases every week, yet a bigger number of incidents are not reported. This is an increase from 2-3 cases a week two years ago. These crimes include conning, threatening lives, insulting and blackmail. "A person can buy a SIM card just to abuse someone else and after that, they throw it away," says Simeo Nsubuga, Police spokesman for Kampala. Moreover, because they do not put the SIM card in their day-to-day phones, the Police find it hard to trace them. In some downtown areas, phones cost as little as sh20,000 and SIM cards cost a measly sh1,500. The conmen can, therefore, afford to throw away the phone with its SIM card to avoid being tracked. Worse still, SIM cards can be obtained just anywhere, even in taxi parks, without anyone keeping the buyer's details. This, says the Police, has been one of the main reasons for the increased phone-mediated crime. Many countries, including Germany, Switzerland and the US have legislation that requires pre-paid phone card users to register their identities when purchasing the SIM card. The law requires that telephone operators keep customer identity data and are required by law to make this data available under court order to authorised law enforcement and National Intelligence Center personnel in the respective countries. Phone Companies speak out Mobile phone companies claim that their subscribers are registered, but even under normal registration, the process has flaws which can be beaten. A subscriber is simply told to fill a form with their particulars. One is not asked to produce any identification to cross check the information they avail, after all, it is assumed that one is buying a personal belonging and would want a receipt in his or her genuine names. But Mark Kaheru, utl's public relation's officer, says even when customers are asked to register, some can use fictitious names. Kaheru says utl has received complaints from people with cases related to SIM card abuse. For example, some one getting a message that you have won a prize in a promotion. The message will proceed to indicate that if you are to redeem your prize, send air time to a certain number. "These are conmen men and we always put adverts in papers to warn the public over such cases," says Kaheru. Sheila Kangwagye the MTN Public relations officer says, all their SIM cards have registration forms including those sold on the streets by vendors. A SIM pack usually comes with a registration form. However, Saturday Vision was able to buy and activate a SIM card off the street without registration. Both utl and MTN receive complaints from subscribers who have been victims of phone-mediated crime such as threatening and black mail. But Kangwagye says they help only on court order. "We don't give out details for such queries to our sub-scribers. We only aid in police investigations if the case is of criminal nature." Police Advice The Police advises that any victim of a crime committed through a phone should report the case. Numbers that start with four and five after the first three digits are the most commonly used by con-men. The Police warns the public to be on the look out for anonymous calls and text messages from such numbers. In some cases the Police has foiled attempts to con people through mobile phones and arrested the culprits. According to Nsubuga, the conmen carry out thorough research about your personal life. Some one will call and accurately say things that are relevant to your life. They may mention names of your children or wife before duping you into the transactions. Government policy Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), the telecommunications regulatory body says there is no policy per se in respect to regulation and acquisition of SIM cards. UCC says that in countries where acquisition of SIM cards is regulated; it's facilitated by the National identity cards. However, Uganda has no national identity cards. "A national ID is the only reference number that is pegged to a person and all the transactions they operate can be traced through that reference number. It is easy to trace a person," Fred Otunnu, the UCC Corporate Boss says. He adds that in Uganda, the process of regulating SIM cards is hard because it is easy for someone to use multiple IDs in the absence of a national ID. He says Uganda requires a national ID as a starting point with a reference number attached to each person. David Bahati, MP Ndorwa West county in Kabale, calls for urgent legislation. "We have a whole lot of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) bills pending. The Government should come out as soon as possible and make into law the current body of bills on ICT regulations which have not yet been passed," he said. It turns out that in Uganda, the telecommunications sector has grown rapidly without proper legislation. Whereas it is clear that phone companies should have records of their subscribers, there appears to be no law compelling them to do so. In the meantime, phone-mediated crime continues to grow rapidly. http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/12/616655

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Postel Network Operator's Scholarship 2008
by alice wanjira 19 Mar '08

19 Mar '08

<http://www.nanog.org/postel-scholarship.html> <http://www.nanog.org/postel-scholarship.html> Overview NANOG and ARIN have been been unique and successful cooperative fora for Internet builders in North America and other parts of the world. Senior practitioners from around the world contribute their time to NANOG and ARIN as presenters, teachers and trainers, to produce consistent non-commercial conferences of high-quality. Since 2007, the generosity of an anonymous donor and the administration of the Internet Society, have allowed NANOG and ARIN to provide financial support to a person from a developing country to participate in the October joint NANOG/ARIN meeting. The Postel Network Operator's Scholarship Committee cordially invite suitable applicants to apply for fellowship funding to participate in the October 2008 joint NANOG/ARIN meeting. Target Audience The Postel Network Operator's Scholarship targets personnel from developing countries who are actively involved in Internet development, in any of the following roles: * Engineers (Network Builders) * Operational and Infrastructure Support Personnel * Educators, Teachers, and Trainers Award Package Successful applicants will be provided with transportation to and from the meetings and a reasonable (local host standard) allowance for food and accommodation. In addition all fees for participation in the conferences, tutorials, and social events will be waived. The final grant size is determined according to final costs and available funding, and will be advised to successful applicants. Criteria for Selection The Postel Network Operator's Scholarship Committee will select the fellow according to following criteria. * Membership in the Target Audience listed above * Residency in a developing country * Demonstrated ability to utilize the experiences gained from NANOG/ARIN within their country, region, ... * Evaluation of an abstract of a presentation to be given at the meeting. Applicants from any part of the world will be considered. Fellowship Selection Committee The Fellowship Section Committee is a joint activity of the Steering Committee of NANOG and the Board of Trustees of ARIN. Application for Fellowships The deadline for application is 1 June 2008, and the awardee will be informed by 1 July 2008. To apply for the fellowship please read <http://www.nanog.org/postel-scholarship.html> <http://www.nanog.org/postel-scholarship.html> and submit your application via email to <PostelNOS(a)nanog.org> <PostelNOS(a)nanog.org>. Please be sure to include an abstract, and even possibly some slides, from the presentation you would give at the meetings. Thank you. randy, for the Fellowship Section Committee

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SME-Symposium set for this weekend-Route map
by Jose' 19 Mar '08

19 Mar '08

Hi Florence, I hereby attach the directions to the symposium. Regards, Jose' Florence Etta <feanywhere(a)yahoo.co.uk> wrote: Hi Jose, Can you please give us directions for the place. Cheers, FE Florence Etta PhD P.O. Box 14285,00800 Westlands-Nairobi, Kenya Tel: Mobile + 254-733-621851 Terrestrial: + 254-20-7121506 Fax/Phone: + 254-20-7125723 Alternative Email:florence.etta@gmail.com ----- Original Message ---- From: Jose' <ngunjirijnr(a)yahoo.com> To: feanywhere(a)yahoo.co.uk Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Tuesday, 18 March, 2008 12:12:13 PM Subject: [kictanet] SME-Symposium set for this weekend Greetings all, just a quick reminder to those who are planning to come to the entrepreneurship symposium set for this Saturday 22,March 2008. Venue: Kenya assemblies of God-Bahati Estate Time:from 0800hrs to 1700hrs. Charges:150ksh-(Drinks included) Kentel,I am counting on you!! I see representatives from Ugabytes, Telecentre.org,Google(Brian and Joe),ICT Board,Ministry of Youth and Ministry of Communication,CFSK the list is endless........ Come see how youth are being exposed to loan granters and business consultants. regards, Jose' 0728878744 --------------------------------- Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage. --------------------------------- Rise to the challenge for Sport Relief with Yahoo! for Good Best Regards, Jose' Njuki-Imwe Ngunjiri || +254 722 336754 || --------------------------------- Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.

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TEAMs to switch into Private Hands
by John Walubengo 19 Mar '08

19 Mar '08

The current issue of The EastAfrican claims that the government submarine fiber project is to be transferred to the initial co-financiers : Safaricom, KDN, Jamii, amongst others. Will the eventual majority shareholders - essentially the private sector - operate the cable on Open Access principles? Specifically, the following questions arise. 1. Will the cable be open for direct connectivity (at the source in MSA) to other future telco players? 2. Will the price of connecting to the international fiber be driven by profit-motives or will it be based on the 'cost-of-operating-the-fiber' basis. 3. What modalities exist for future investors who may wish to own part of the fiber maybe 2 or 5years after the cable is operational- or will this thing be a closed-club to the original financiers once the cable becomes operational? (remember the consortium approach of EASSy?) 4. What are the steps involved in transparently transferring this public resource into private sector? just wondering... walu. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

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Re: [kictanet] TEAMs to switch into Private Hands
by Florence Etta 19 Mar '08

19 Mar '08

Sorry to be picking up on this one now. If I am repeating what someone has already said do forgive me and ignore this post but here goes. Good question Paul. And if this important information is not available how about commissioning a study on "bandwidth utilization by sector" or model something close to it from actual current use so as to project future trends? This could be something the ICT Board might want to pursue? Cheers, FE ----- Original Message ---- From: Paul Kukubo <pkukubo(a)ict.go.ke> To: feanywhere(a)yahoo.co.uk Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Monday, 17 March, 2008 10:46:09 AM Subject: Re: [kictanet] TEAMs to switch into Private Hands Kai Is there any public analysis or research on actual bandwidth utilization by sector? i.e.. Agriculture vs say Banking? And web browsing vs. Infrastructure facilitation. Who is using what bandwidth and for what? As we promote outsourcing and ICT industries, the conversation will shift from bandwidth availability to its exploitation by the common mwananchi The ICT board is spending time in many forums explaining this exciting opportunity to ICT business and entrepreuners as it unfolds. We must spread the message that business and entreprenuers must be ready when the cable lands. Regards Paul Kukubo ICT Board Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Celtel Kenya -----Original Message----- From: "Kai Wulff" <kai.wulff(a)kdn.co.ke> Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:09:27 To:pkukubo@ict.go.ke Cc:KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Subject: Re: [kictanet] TEAMs to switch into Private Hands Walu, like all other initiatives we have supported, KDN is seeing it as an enabler for the market and our approach is not profit driven (of course we want to recover the investment). There will be more than enough capacity on this cable as on Seacom, so fully redundant connectivity for the market will be the rule! Kai ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Walubengo" <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> To: <kai.wulff(a)kdn.co.ke> Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 09:07 Subject: [kictanet] TEAMs to switch into Private Hands > The current issue of The EastAfrican claims that the > government submarine fiber project is to be transferred to > the initial co-financiers : Safaricom, KDN, Jamii, amongst > others. > > Will the eventual majority shareholders - essentially the > private sector - operate the cable on Open Access > principles? Specifically, the following questions arise. > > > 1. Will the cable be open for direct connectivity (at the > source in MSA) to other future telco players? > > 2. Will the price of connecting to the international fiber > be driven by profit-motives or will it be based on the > 'cost-of-operating-the-fiber' basis. > > 3. What modalities exist for future investors who may wish > to own part of the fiber maybe 2 or 5years after the cable > is operational- or will this thing be a closed-club to the > original financiers once the cable becomes operational? > (remember the consortium approach of EASSy?) > > 4. What are the steps involved in transparently > transferring this public resource into private sector? > > just wondering... > > walu. > > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. > http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > This message was sent to: kai.wulff(a)kdn.co.ke > Unsubscribe or change your options at > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/kai.wulff%40kdn.co.ke > > -- > This message has been scanned for viruses and > dangerous content by MailScanner, and is > believed to be clean. > > -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: pkukubo(a)ict.go.ke Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/pkukubo%40ict.go.ke _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: feanywhere(a)yahoo.co.uk Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/feanywhere%40yahoo.co.… ___________________________________________________________ Rise to the challenge for Sport Relief with Yahoo! For Good http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/forgood/

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SME-Symposium set for this weekend
by Jose' 18 Mar '08

18 Mar '08

Greetings all, just a quick reminder to those who are planning to come to the entrepreneurship symposium set for this Saturday 22,March 2008. Venue: Kenya assemblies of God-Bahati Estate Time:from 0800hrs to 1700hrs. Charges:150ksh-(Drinks included) Kentel,I am counting on you!! I see representatives from Ugabytes, Telecentre.org,Google(Brian and Joe),ICT Board,Ministry of Youth and Ministry of Communication,CFSK the list is endless........ Come see how youth are being exposed to loan granters and business consultants. regards, Jose' 0728878744 --------------------------------- Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.

1 0

Teams vs Flag (KDN?)
by Rebecca Wanjiku 18 Mar '08

18 Mar '08

Sometimes back, KDN was fronting for FLAG. Does it mean that KDN is no longer interested in FLAG? Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ ----- Original Message ---- From: John Walubengo <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> To: rebeccawanjiku(a)yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Monday, March 17, 2008 5:20:45 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Local Content vs Submarine Cable. --- robert yawe <robertyawe(a)yahoo.co.uk> wrote: >>>As I keep saying the solution is to concentrate on creating local content and keeping local traffic local, let the rest of the world beat a path to us and not the reverse. >>cut>> Yawe, I hear you. Infact 2years ago I was involved in some research that settled almost on your point of view http://www.diplomacy.edu/poolbin.asp?IDPool=127 But with the slight variation that we need BOTH the local content and the submarine cable. Its sort of a chicken and egg problem. Rather than expect one to precede the other, why not initiate both? walu. --- robert yawe <robertyawe(a)yahoo.co.uk> wrote: > Hi, > > Welcome to the beginning of the end, the cable is going > private and it will remain private exactly as happened in > West Africa. > > Can those of you who where changing your business plans > to reflect lower internet access instead increase the > cost of that component. > > As I keep saying the solution is to concentrate on > creating local content and keeping local traffic local, > let the rest of the world beat a path to us and not the > reverse. > > The article in the Nation last week about outsourcing > confirmed my fears our outsourcing model is a reverse > pyramid as opposed to the rest of the world. Our > outsourcing companies have 30% local provision and 70% > off shore yet the countries we are competing against have > the reverse. > > Time reveals all. > > Robert Yawe > KAY System Technologies Ltd > Phoenix House, 6th Floor > P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 > Kenya > > Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696 > > ----- Original Message ---- > From: "bitange(a)jambo.co.ke" <bitange(a)jambo.co.ke> > To: robertyawe(a)yahoo.co.uk > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions > <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Sent: Monday, 17 March, 2008 11:00:02 AM > Subject: [kictanet] TEAMs to switch into Private Hands > > Dear Walubengo, > > > Q: Will the eventual majority shareholders - essentially > the private > sector - operate the cable on Open Access principles? > Specifically, the > following questions arise. > > A: Competition alone will drive the cost low and if that > fails, Government > can intervene using the capacity it holds and if that > fails, the regulator > will have to intervene. > > Q: 1. Will the cable be open for direct connectivity (at > thesource in MSA) > to other future telco players? > > A: Yes indeed. See Q3 responses below. > > Q: 2. Will the price of connecting to the international > fiber be driven by > profit-motives or will it be based on the > 'cost-of-operating-the-fiber' > basis. > > A: Price of connecting to the International fibre remaims > cost of > operating the fibre but retail price will have an element > of profit. What > we shall guard agaist is exploitative prices. > > Q: 3. What modalities exist for future investors who may > wish to own part > of the fiber maybe 2 or 5years after the cable is > operational- or will > this thing be a closed-club to the original financiers > once the cable > becomes operational?(remember the consortium approach of > EASSy?) > > A: The Government of Kenya would continue to dilute its > shares in order to > ensure healthy competion exist. The model therefore is > not a closed shop. > > Q: 4. What are the steps involved in transparently > transferring this > public resource into private sector? > > A: You cannot force anyone to buy into Teams. There are > clear deadlines > by the financial arranger for making commitments. The > Standard Chatered > Bank were procured to make financial arrangements for the > cable. Although > sometimes Media misses the point here and there, it has > done a wonderful > job keeping us on our toes. > > Ndemo. > > > ---------------------------------------------- > This message has been scanned for viruses and > dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is > believed to be clean. > --------------------------------------------- > "easy access to the world" > > > _______________________________________________ > 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.… > > > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________ > > Rise to the challenge for Sport Relief with Yahoo! For > Good > > http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/forgood/> _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > This message was sent to: jwalu(a)yahoo.com > Unsubscribe or change your options at > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jwalu%40yahoo.com > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: rebeccawanjiku(a)yahoo.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/rebeccawanjiku%40yahoo… ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

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The Googlization of Everything ... by Siva Vidyanathan]
by alice wanjira 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

How one company is disrupting culture, commerce and commerce ... and why we should worry! This blog, the result of a collaboration between myself and the Institute for the Future of the Book, is dedicated to exploring the process of writing a critical interpretation of the actions and intentions behind the cultural behemoth that is Google, Inc. The book will answer three key questions: What does the world look like through the lens of Google?; How is Google's ubiquity affecting the production and dissemination of knowledge?; and how has the corporation altered the rules and practices that govern other companies, institutions, and states? [more] * * * Hi. Welcome to my book. Hi. Welcome to my new book. Well, it's not a book yet. In fact, it will not be a real book for a long time. As you can tell from the title of this blog, the book will be about Google and all they ways that Google is shaking up the world. Google is a transformative and revolutionary company. I hesitate to use terms like that. We live in an era of hyperbole. So I try my best to discount claims of historical transformation or communicative revolutions. But in the case of Google, I am confident it is both. Now, I am approaching this book as both a fan and a critic. I am in awe of all that Google has done and all it hopes to do. I am also wary of its ambition and power. As I use this site to compose the manuscript (an archaic word that I love too much to discard) for the book The Googlization of Everything, I hope to do so with your help. This is the latest in a series of "open book" experiments hosted and guided by The Institute for the Future of the Book. The Institute has been supportive of my work for years -- long before I became affiliated with it as a fellow and certainly long before we thought up this project together. As with the other projects by Ken Wark and Mitch Stephens, this one will depend on reader criticism and feedback to work right. So this is an appeal for help. If you know something about Google, hip me to it. If you have an observation about how it works or how it affects our lives, write to me about it. On occasion, I will post an open question on this blog. Please help me answer it. I have never tried to write a book this way. Few have. Writing has been a lonely, selfish pursuit for me so far. I tend to wall myself off from the world (and my loved ones) for days at a time in fits and spurts when I get into a writing groove. I don't shave. I order pizza. I grumble. I ignore emails from my mother. I tend to comb through and revise every sentence five or six times (although I am not sure that actually shows up in the quality of my prose). Only when I am sure that I have not embarrassed myself (or when the editor calls to threaten me with a canceled contract – whichever comes first) do I show anyone what I have written. Now, this is not an uncommon process. Closed composition is the default among writers. We go to great lengths to develop trusted networks of readers and other writers with whom we can workshop – or as I prefer to call it because it's what the jazz musicians do, woodshed our work. Well, I am going to do my best to woodshed in public. As I compose bits and pieces of work, I will post them here. They might be very brief bits. They might never make it into the manuscript. But they will be up here for you to rip up or smooth over. That's the thing. For a number of years now I have made my bones in the intellectual world trumpeting the virtues of openness and the values of connectivity. I was an early proponent of applying "open source" models to scholarship, journalism, and lots of other things. And, more to the point: One of my key concerns with Google is that it is a black box. Something that means so much to us reveals so little of itself. So I would be a hypocrite if I wrote this book any other way. This book will not be a black box. Of course, it could get ugly in here. I could make tremendous mistakes. I could shoot something out there that shuts all doors at Google. I could undermine my ultimate market (but I seriously doubt that I could). I could just write myself into a corner. In my next post I will share a rough chapter outline. And I will give some sense of the basic questions and major issues that I hope to tackle in this work. Ok. As Sgt. Phil used to say, "Let's roll. And let's be careful out there." Send me links, questions and ideas: siva [at] googlizationofeverything [dot] com http://www.googlizationofeverything.com/2007/09/hi_welcome_to_my_book.php * * * Like the Mind of God (6 posts) All the World's Information (5 posts) What If Big Ads Don't Work (4 posts) Don't Be Evil (3 posts) Is Google a Library? (15 posts) Challenging Big Media (11 posts) The Dossier (3 posts) Global Google (1 post) Google Earth (no posts) A Public Utility? (7 posts) About this Book (7 post Siva Vaidhyanathan (how do you pronounce that?) Siva Vaidhyanathan I am a cultural historian and media scholar at the University of Virginia. I have written two previous books: Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity (New York University Press, 2001) and The Anarchist in the Library: How the Clash between Freedom and Control is Hacking the Real World and Crashing the System (Basic Books, 2004). Most recently I edited (with Carolyn de la Pena) the collection, Rewiring the Nation: The Place of Technology in American Studies (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007). I've written for many periodicals, including American Scholar, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times Magazine, MSNBC.COM, Salon.com, openDemocracy.net, Columbia Journalism Review, and The Nation. I also blog at SIVACRACY.NET. After five years as a professional journalist, I earned a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. I've taught at Wesleyan University, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Columbia University, New York University, and is this fall began as an associate professor of Media Studies and Law at the University of Virginia. I'm also a fellow at the New York Institute for the Humanities and the Institute for the Future of the Book.

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[Fwd: Balancing Act: African Broadcast and Film Markets Report is out now]
by alice 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

Dear all Interesting report but for a whopping GBP500/US$1,000....making it out of reach for most. Affordable local content? And it is indeed encouraging that organizations like IDRC taking up the challenge to narrow the knowledge/information gap with initiatives like the BPO Research study. best alice African Broadcast and Film Markets Report's content <http://lists.balancingact-africa.com/t/927/235533/131/0/> Other reports <http://lists.balancingact-africa.com/t/927/235533/2/0/> Consultancy <http://lists.balancingact-africa.com/t/927/235533/58/0/> In a world of converging media, telcos and ISPs are increasingly having to pay attention to what their counterparts in the broadcast and film industry are doing. Africas first genuine triple play offers will be launched shortly and mobile operators and broadcasters are trialling mobile TV. Therefore the world of programme rights and production costs may be a mystery that you will need to know more about. Increasingly, SMS and the Internet are being used as media. To reverse Marshall McLuhans well known phrase: the message is now the medium. There were 4.5 million downloads from Africa of material from the second series of Big Brother. Increasingly, SMS and the Internet are becoming media and will compete for advertising with the broadcast industry: there are shifting patterns for advertising in different media. For anyone interested in how the broadcast and film industry has and will develop and its converge with the telecoms industry, there has been a frustrating lack of data up until now. Balancing Acts African Broadcast and Film Markets, published in association with Intermedia, is over 340 pages long and has 132 charts, 41 tables of statistical data and 12 graphic maps. It is probably the most detailed data source on both industry and audience information for the sector in Africa. The report includes: *Part 1 *provides an analysis of the developing industry (based on a survey of 40 countries) and has the following sections: African industry overview Slow but steady liberalisation: This looks at the state of liberalisation, for radio and TV; the international players in the market; the scale of broadcast advertising; and the battle for Pay-TV subscribers. The beginning of the end for Mr President TV looks at the difficult commercial position of public broadcasters and ways they might get out the trap they are in. Other areas covered include: The costs of local and international programming; Digitilisation and High Definition Slow progress but it is on its way; Africas film industry Low output but big changes afoot; Africa goes triple-play the early pioneers roll-out; The potential market size for Pay Television; Reaching African diaspora audiences competing for eyeballs away from home; and Mobile TV a technology for Africa? *Part 2* looks at Africas rapidly shifting landscape through audience research from 17 key markets: Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Each survey involves a large sample size, and is conducted through face-to-face interview, usually in the home of the respondent. The result is an unusually rich, single source for data on how Africans are interacting with traditional and emerging broadcasters and platforms, new technologies and modes of mass and inter-personal communication. It is sufficiently standardised to allow cross-comparison between countries and trend analysis across the timeframe data has been collected. For the first time, there is now data on SMS and Internet use that enables a sizing of the current market and the basic socio-demographic data to allow a serious examination of the potential future markets. For a full list of the contents: http://www.balancingact-africa.com/broadcast_markets.html <http://lists.balancingact-africa.com/t/927/235533/131/0/> The report is priced as follows: Full price (Africa) GBP500/US$1,000; Full price (Rest of the World) GBP750/US$1,500; Reduced price for universities and NGOs GBP375/US$700. Click below to order: http://www.balancingact-africa.com/profiles/order/order_form.php <http://lists.balancingact-africa.com/t/927/235533/226/0/> You may also want to order one of the following: African Telecoms and Internet Markets Part 1: West Africa African Voice and Data Bandwidth Forecasts (2006-2011) CLICK HERE TO ORDER <http://lists.balancingact-africa.com/t/927/235533/2/0/> M-Money - Finances, Banking and Payments through mobile phones African VoIP Markets * Contact one of our analysts <mailto:info@balancingact-africa.com> Graphic maps showing significant patterns at a glance The report contains essential socio-demographic data with clear metrics for defining levels of affordability. The graphic map above shows the percentage of people able to afford certain kinds of high-value consumer goods in each of the 17 countries covered. The report also includes comparisons of levels of people defined as middle class against levels of television and PC ownership. Tables with up-to-date key industry data The tables and boxes provide data on: satellite, IP-TV and cable subscribers; advertising spend in selected African countries as a percentage of GDP; Top 15 African countries by ad spend and radio and TV ownership; Government broadcasting sources of financing; advertising spend by TV channel in Kenya and Tanzania; outdoor mobile cinema attendance in Kenya, box office and audience attendance for 100 South African films; the DVD and Video market in South Africa by value; diaspora populations and subscriber levels to diaspora services; and countries offering 3G services. Charts illustrating listening viewing habits for leading TV and radio broadcasters The report includes audience data for all 17 countries on: daily audiences for leading TV and radio broadcasters; viewing and listening levels at different times of the day; trust in information provided by leading broadcaster, both radio and television; interest in different types of programming (news, sports, fashion, etc); newspaper readership; media equipment ownership (radio, TV, satellite, PC and mobile); and media equipment used yesterday. All data is cross-comparable across countries and the report contains a pan-African summary and individual sub-regional summaries for East, North, South and West Africa. Use of convergence media (SMS, Mobile TV, IP-TV and Internet) For the first time, the report provides detailed use figures for converged media, both in terms of equipment ownership and use yesterday. Although Internet figures remain low in some countries, a critical mass of users clearly exists in other countries. It tracks the percentage of respondents who use SMS as a source of information and the figures are consistently higher than might be expected. Key statistics overview Each of the 17 audience country profiles has a detailed summary panel providing: socio-demographics; media ownership and daily use; top radio and TV channel by listening or viewing daily and daily Internet use; regulatory bodies; and the approximate number of domestic TV and radio channels.

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Re: [kictanet] TEAMs to switch into Private Hands
by robert yawe 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

Hi, Welcome to the beginning of the end, the cable is going private and it will remain private exactly as happened in West Africa. Can those of you who where changing your business plans to reflect lower internet access instead increase the cost of that component. As I keep saying the solution is to concentrate on creating local content and keeping local traffic local, let the rest of the world beat a path to us and not the reverse. The article in the Nation last week about outsourcing confirmed my fears our outsourcing model is a reverse pyramid as opposed to the rest of the world. Our outsourcing companies have 30% local provision and 70% off shore yet the countries we are competing against have the reverse. Time reveals all. Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696 ----- Original Message ---- From: "bitange(a)jambo.co.ke" <bitange(a)jambo.co.ke> To: robertyawe(a)yahoo.co.uk Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Monday, 17 March, 2008 11:00:02 AM Subject: [kictanet] TEAMs to switch into Private Hands Dear Walubengo, Q: Will the eventual majority shareholders - essentially the private sector - operate the cable on Open Access principles? Specifically, the following questions arise. A: Competition alone will drive the cost low and if that fails, Government can intervene using the capacity it holds and if that fails, the regulator will have to intervene. Q: 1. Will the cable be open for direct connectivity (at thesource in MSA) to other future telco players? A: Yes indeed. See Q3 responses below. Q: 2. Will the price of connecting to the international fiber be driven by profit-motives or will it be based on the 'cost-of-operating-the-fiber' basis. A: Price of connecting to the International fibre remaims cost of operating the fibre but retail price will have an element of profit. What we shall guard agaist is exploitative prices. Q: 3. What modalities exist for future investors who may wish to own part of the fiber maybe 2 or 5years after the cable is operational- or will this thing be a closed-club to the original financiers once the cable becomes operational?(remember the consortium approach of EASSy?) A: The Government of Kenya would continue to dilute its shares in order to ensure healthy competion exist. The model therefore is not a closed shop. Q: 4. What are the steps involved in transparently transferring this public resource into private sector? A: You cannot force anyone to buy into Teams. There are clear deadlines by the financial arranger for making commitments. The Standard Chatered Bank were procured to make financial arrangements for the cable. Although sometimes Media misses the point here and there, it has done a wonderful job keeping us on our toes. Ndemo. ---------------------------------------------- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. --------------------------------------------- "easy access to the world" _______________________________________________ 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.… ___________________________________________________________ Rise to the challenge for Sport Relief with Yahoo! For Good http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/forgood/

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Re: [kictanet] kictanet Digest, Vol 10, Issue 12
by godera＠skyweb.co.ke 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

Ndegwa and All, I believe some of you may have heard that IDRC here in Nairobi is embarking on a market study that is not limited to Kenyan operations. Edith if you are reading this, can you shed any light on this at this moment or is it premature to talk about it? Gilda Quoting kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke: > Send kictanet mailing list submissions to > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > You can reach the person managing the list at > kictanet-owner(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of kictanet digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: South African Intelligence Networking on Kenyan BPOSector > (MediaSpeak Africa) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2008 15:50:47 +0300 > From: "MediaSpeak Africa" <mesafric(a)gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [kictanet] South African Intelligence Networking on > Kenyan BPOSector > To: "Eric Osiakwan" <eric(a)afrispa.org> > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Message-ID: > <9007a8bd0803090550k48b2010en75a9f33245c41c50(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > Good people, > > Sure we are now talking big like we are supposed to. First, I wish to > support the suggestion that we should involve local players in such > initiatives. At least at the level of partnership so that we can have skills > transfer. > > But we also have to be serious so that what we do not tell the market out > there that we have lions in the parks only for them to come and see domestic > cats. We need to back strategy with infrastructure - which simply means that > we have to invest in the sector if we really want to be in the big league. > Ama? > > Ndegwa > > > On 07/03/2008, Eric Osiakwan <eric(a)afrispa.org> wrote: > > > > Peres, > > > > Better still there are good enough kenyan research enterprises who can do > > this so can we consider giving them a chance. This is with nothing against > > Frost and Sullivan but if u can get the expertise here then give it a > > chance, is the principle. > > > > Eric here > > > > > > On 6 Mar 2008, at 20:22, Peres Were wrote: > > > > > > > > Peres Were > > Dr Ndemo, > > > > Kenya can do this. It is just a matter of obtaining the necessary budget > > to > > engage companies such as Frost and Sullivan, to conduct a Competitor > > Analysis for us. > > > > We at the Kenya BPO & Contact Centre Society are currently working with > > development partners in order to engage reputable international > > organisations that are specialists in research, to carry out such > > intelligence and research that can assist in the growth and development > > of > > the BPO Sector in Kenya. > > > > Regards > > > > Peres Were > > Kenya BPO & Contact Centre Society > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: kictanet-bounces+pwere=cascadegl.com(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > [mailto:kictanet-bounces <kictanet-bounces>+pwere= > > cascadegl.com(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf > > Of bitange(a)jambo.co.ke > > Sent: 06 March 2008 19:25 > > To: pwere(a)cascadegl.com > > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions > > Subject: [kictanet] South African Intelligence Networking on Kenyan > > BPOSector > > > > Dear All, > > The article below was picked from Business Wire in SA. My wish is that we > > could one day start such intelligence networking on countries we perceive > > as competitors. > > > > Regards > > > > Ndemo. > > > > > > > > Kenya Calling - The Rise of the Kenyan Call Centre Market > > 372 words > > 5 March 2008 > > 02:38 AM > > Business Wire > > English > > (c) 2008 Business Wire. All Rights Reserved. > > > > > > CAPE TOWN, South Africa - (BUSINESS WIRE) - The ICT group at Frost & > > Sullivan ( http://www.ict.frost.com/ ) is pleased to announce that it will > > be hosting its first quarter analyst briefing on the Kenyan call centre > > market on 13 March 2008 at 2pm GMT / 4pm CAT. > > Kenya is a late-comer to offering call centre services in Africa, however > > the market is set to experience significant growth in the next seven > > years. > > "Kenya is well positioned to become a noteworthy call centre market," > > notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Spiwe Chireka. "The country has > > implemented unique initiatives that, together with the cost attractiveness > > of the market, are likely to see Kenya becoming a formidable participant > > in the global call centre outsourcing arena." > > Highlights of this briefing will include an analysis of the current status > > of the market and the factors expected to fuel growth. The briefing will > > also offer a discussion on the opportunities available to equipment > > vendors and investors. > > The briefing will benefit current and potential market participants, BPO > > industry organisations and call centre equipment and technology suppliers. > > Operators in other markets will also be able to benchmark their market's > > performance and practices against those of the Kenyan market. > > Those interested in participating in this interactive teleconference > > should send an email to Patrick Cairns - Corporate Communications at > > patrick.cairns(a)frost.com with the following information: full name, > > company name, title, telephone number, e-mail address, city, state and > > country. The registration details will be emailed to you upon receipt of > > the above information. > > Frost & Sullivan, the Global Growth Consulting Company, partners with > > clients to accelerate their growth. The company's Growth Partnership > > Services, Growth Consulting and Career Best Practices empower clients to > > create a growth focused culture that generates, evaluates and implements > > effective growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan employs over 45 years of > > experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses > > and the investment community from more than 30 offices on six continents. > > For more information about Frost & Sullivan's Growth Partnerships, visit > > http://www.frost.com . > > Frost & Sullivan Corporate Communications - Africa: Patrick Cairns, +27 83 > > 258 4219 patrick.cairns(a)frost.com > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------- > > This message has been scanned for viruses and > > dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is > > believed to be clean. > > --------------------------------------------- > > "easy access to the world" > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > kictanet mailing list > > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > > > This message was sent to: pwere(a)cascadegl.com > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/pwere%40cascadegl.com > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > kictanet mailing list > > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > > > This message was sent to: eric(a)afrispa.org > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/eric%40afrispa.org > > > > > > Eric M.K Osiakwan > > Executive Secretary > > AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org) > > Tel: + 233.21.258800 ext 2031 > > Fax: + 233.21.258811 > > Cell: + 233.244.386792 > > Handle: eosiakwan > > Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North > > Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North > > Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/ > > Slang: "Tomorrow Now" > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > kictanet mailing list > > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > > > This message was sent to: mesafric(a)gmail.com > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/mesafric%40gmail.com > > > > > > > -- > Stephen Ndegwa Mwangi > Executive Director > MediaSpeak Africa > P. O. Box 18154-00100 > Nairobi GPO > Tel.: +254-20-2098 548 > Cell: +254-724-376 883 > Kenya. >

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TEAMs to switch into Private Hands
by bitange＠jambo.co.ke 17 Mar '08

17 Mar '08

Dear Walubengo, Q: Will the eventual majority shareholders - essentially the private sector - operate the cable on Open Access principles? Specifically, the following questions arise. A: Competition alone will drive the cost low and if that fails, Government can intervene using the capacity it holds and if that fails, the regulator will have to intervene. Q: 1. Will the cable be open for direct connectivity (at thesource in MSA) to other future telco players? A: Yes indeed. See Q3 responses below. Q: 2. Will the price of connecting to the international fiber be driven by profit-motives or will it be based on the 'cost-of-operating-the-fiber' basis. A: Price of connecting to the International fibre remaims cost of operating the fibre but retail price will have an element of profit. What we shall guard agaist is exploitative prices. Q: 3. What modalities exist for future investors who may wish to own part of the fiber maybe 2 or 5years after the cable is operational- or will this thing be a closed-club to the original financiers once the cable becomes operational?(remember the consortium approach of EASSy?) A: The Government of Kenya would continue to dilute its shares in order to ensure healthy competion exist. The model therefore is not a closed shop. Q: 4. What are the steps involved in transparently transferring this public resource into private sector? A: You cannot force anyone to buy into Teams. There are clear deadlines by the financial arranger for making commitments. The Standard Chatered Bank were procured to make financial arrangements for the cable. Although sometimes Media misses the point here and there, it has done a wonderful job keeping us on our toes. Ndemo. ---------------------------------------------- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. --------------------------------------------- "easy access to the world"

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Why Microsoft Swahili Version Failed
by alice 15 Mar '08

15 Mar '08

Kenya: Why Microsoft Swahili Version Failed Business Daily (Nairobi) http://www.bdafrica.com/ <http://www.bdafrica.com/> OPINION 11 March 2008 Posted to the web 11 March 2008 Beatrice Gachenge When Microsoft announced in 2003 that it had launched a Kiswahili version of their Microsoft Office applications, linguists saw it as a big triumph for the language - and a chance to make its speakers have a feel of the emerging technology and in their own language. However, five years later, the roar has turned into a whimper. Microsoft is not forthcoming with answers, but a debate is shaping up on what may have gone wrong. "It failed miserably on the roll out process because Microsoft never pushed the product," says Mr Patrick Opiyo, managing director of Rivotex Kenya, a consulting dealer for Microsoft Technologies, who was then Microsoft's localisation manager. Mr Isaiah Okoth, who was at the time the general manager of Microsoft East Africa, said the new Kiswahili office application, if marketed well, would have allowed many Kiswahili speakers to experience personal computing in their home language. It had taken close to two years to develop the programme at a cost of Sh8 million, drawing linguistic experts from East and Central Africa. The programme was headed by Prof Kulikoyela Kahigi of the University of Dar- es- Salaam. Kiswahili experts translated over 700,000 words in Windows and Office software while close to 70,000 words were translated in the help manuals. The final product was targeted at about 150 million speakers of the language in the world. But three years down the line, analysts now deem the product a major letdown. "Technology should find itself into the language. Microsoft invented words that did not exist to fit the technology, and the problem with this is that people don't understand the Kiswahili used in the Microsoft Office applications, " explains Mr Alex Gakuru, director of ICT Consumer Association. Mr Gakuru told the Business Daily that technology is all about the people and not the gizmos or software; a concept Microsoft failed to consider. Another major issue was the methodology used to develop the application. Peter Mugambi, Dean of Humanities at Kenyatta University, says the project was more of a 'private affair' than an institutional one. In his view, the project did not integrate the wider community and also failed to educate people on the usage of the product either through seminars and workshops. Although the process of changing to Kiswahili version is simple , the software has not been utilised in Kiswahili departments in major universities including Kenyatta University and the University of Nairobi. By simply downloading a Language Interface Pack ( LIP), from the Internet, free of charge, users of genuine versions of Microsoft Office 2003, can localize their interface by installing the LIP. It then turns Microsoft Office, including Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint from English into Kiswahili. The beauty of the product is that one can switch back to the language of choice with ease. "With the Kiswahili LIP, computer users are able to instal a Kiswahili desktop version as a 'skin' on top of existing installations of Windows and standard Microsoft Office applications," said the consulting dealer for Microsoft Technologies. Currently, the Kiswahili LIP is also available to Windows XP. Analysts say the biggest issue that made the hefty exercise a major fiasco was the lack of promotion for the product. University of Nairobi linguist and prolific author, Prof Kithaka wa Mberia, doubts whether he would have known about the project had he not been part of it; casting more doubt if the programme was marketed well. There was also a conflict of policy between open source and proprietorship. Mr Gakuru says the approach Microsoft took was academic instead of looking at the programme as a community based issue, a move that would have resulted to community ownership of the product. "If the company considered making it a community project where the East Africans who were the recipients of the product, then fund it, the ownership aspect would automatically lead to identifying with the product," said the IT analyst. "What is the essence of a good product that people don't know about? At the end of the day, who will use it?" The idea could have been a turning point not only for the East African region but other parts of the world because several years back, it was unthinkable that computer software products and solutions could be made in local languages, of which some risk extinction due to dominance of English and other European languages. There are 100 million Kiswahili-speakers in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and parts of the Horn of Africa, Great Lakes, Malawi, Mozambique and the Indian Ocean islands. Dr Clare Momanyi, a Kiswahili lecturer at Kenyatta University, who was also part of the task force that created the Kiswahili version, blames deep rooted problems and negative attitude of Kenyans towards the language, which they consider inferior to the English language. "Language is developed through communication as well as through the education system. The syllabus does not favour Kiswahili. Little has been done since it was made an examinable subject in 1995 to help Kenyans tie economic gains to Kiswahili," said Dr Momanyi. English, she added was the preferred language to enhance economic activities while Kiswahili on the other hand was viewed as a language for the masses, or the poor. "Kenyans need to wake up and smell the coffee. Kiswahili is gaining international acceptance, with more than 70 universities teaching it in the United States alone. If we do not change our attitude, we shall not go far," says Dr Momanyi. But still, one of the programmes that would have connected people failed to gain foothold in its own turf. She explained that the Kenyans historic background also played a major part in degenerating the liking of the language among Kenyans. While it is the national language, Dr. Momanyi said that there lacked any functions, institutions or policies attached to the growth of Kiswahili. The localization programme is a project under the Microsoft's Local language Program (LLP), which was formally launched by the company in 2004. Copyright C 2008 Business Daily. All rights reserved. **************************** Disclaimer ****************************** Copyright: In accordance with Title 17, United States Code Section 107, this material is distributed without profit for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material posted to this list for purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Content: The sender does not vouch for the veracity nor the accuracy of the contents of this message, which are the sole responsibility of the copyright owner. Also, the sender does not necessarily agree or disagree with any opinions that are expressed in this message. ********************************************************************** __._,_.___ Messages in this topic <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica/message/6806;_ylc=X3oDMTM0ODc3NGJ1B…> (1) Reply (via web post) <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJwc2RkZWczBF9TAzk3M…> | Start a new topic <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJlM29uZzZvBF9TAzk3M…> Messages <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica/messages;_ylc=X3oDMTJlZWhsY2FtBF9TA…> | Links <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica/links;_ylc=X3oDMTJmZjBvc3ZoBF9TAzk3…> | Polls <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica/polls;_ylc=X3oDMTJmdXFuMG4zBF9TAzk3…> Dig Africa site welcomes you to join us at

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eDiscussion Report:-Impact of Post-election Violence on ICT organisations
by John Walubengo 14 Mar '08

14 Mar '08

The dawn of the Year 2008 caught many Kenyan organisations unprepared for the unprecedented post-election violence. As the chaos escalated beyond their original domains, KICTAnet felt duty bound to get involved in a small way in the search for peace and mitigating interventions. This Online Discussion was therefore commissioned with the dual purpose of kickstarting positive dialogue about the crisis while sharing experiences and intervention methods being employed by members. The discussion had three key themes:- establishing the challenges posed by the Post-election violence, exploring various mitigating interventions and Quantifying the Impact of the Post-election violence. >>>>snip>>>> The story continues in the attached report. walu. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

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Re: [kictanet] [AfrISPA.Discuss] Head of WTO's oped on telecom in Africa
by Eric Osiakwan 13 Mar '08

13 Mar '08

Dear William, Thanks for bringing this to the fore as it is a welcome development for Lamy to recognise the strides being made in Africa. Haven said that i think it is important for the WTO to reckon that the conditions and terms underwhich the GATS was negotiated and establish have changed, so given that Africa has grown despite the fact that the detailing of the GATS was not favourable to us, can one argue support Lamy's call for "Committing to further open trade in these sectors will be investing in the future". I think it is fair to argue that though the GATS terms has not favoured Africa, some sectors have grown and could do far better if the terms were favourable (or at worse be revisted) and here i dont blame anybody but we as Africans must be better prepared and go to these negotiations to gain more mileage that we have done in the past. Am not a trade expert and i dont profess to be one but i think our country trade negotiators must engage internally with some of the sectoral business fronts and work with them in some of the far reaching negotiations that turn in some ways to undo the efforts of the private sector. Eric here On 12 Mar 2008, at 22:28, William Foster wrote: > by Pascal Lamy, WTO > In the last 10 years Internet use has increased by 1,500 per cent. > Mobile phone subscribers have increased 20 fold and world > teledensity has moved from below 15 per cent to over 60 per cent. > The rapid evolution of the telecommunication sector, both from > regulatory and technological perspective, has brought about lasting > changes to our economies and societies at large and is one reason > that this sector merits our special attention today. > > The dedicated negotiations on basic telecommunications - whose 10th > anniversary we had last month - were born out of an initiative > taken during the final year of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral > Trade Negotiations. > At the time, there was a very real prospect that basic > telecommunications might be carved out of the new agreement then > taking shape, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). > Very few governments had offered commitments on these services, > deterred by what appeared to be a yawning gap between the openness > of some markets and long-entrenched restrictions to trade in many > others. Though a number of major players were contemplating opening > trade in this sector at the time, these were still surrounded by a > considerable degree of uncertainty. > The momentum has continued since. At present, over 100 WTO Members > have commitments to open markets in some or all telecommunication > services. The commitments normally entitle new entrants to supply > the most essential services, such as fixed and mobile telephony, > Internet and leased-line capacity. > A great many Members have also committed to telecom-specific > regulatory obligations. These market access and regulatory > commitments permit global networks and facilitate the emergence of > global markets for the benefit of all WTO Members, and their > businesses and consumers alike. > Telecommunications are emblematic of the highly integrated nature > of modern economies: while the sector's own economic momentum > depends on the existence of dynamic user industries, world-class > communication links are today a sine qua non for a wide range of > economic activities within services and beyond. > The benefits from opening trade in telecoms cuts across developed > and developing countries. > Relevant Links > Economy, Business and Finance > Capital Flows > ICT and Telecom > Industry and Infrastructure > International Organizations and Africa > Sustainable Development > Trade > Urban Issues and Habitation > In recent years, information and communication technologies have > enabled economies from India to Ireland to develop and rapidly > expand international outsourcing. > Committing to further open trade in these sectors will be investing > in the future. > Lamy is director general, WTO. > > > William Foster, PhD > Faculty Associate > Social and Behavioral Sciences > Arizona State University Polytechnic > http://www.FosterandBrahm.com > 520-440-0807 > wfoster8560 (Skype) > blog: www.oresearch.net > > Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage. Eric M.K Osiakwan Executive Secretary AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org) Tel: + 233.21.258800 ext 2031 Fax: + 233.21.258811 Cell: + 233.244.386792 Handle: eosiakwan Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/ Slang: "Tomorrow Now"

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Road Map to SME Symposium, March 22, 2008
by carthy 13 Mar '08

13 Mar '08

Dear All, Please find attached road map to SME symposium courtesy of Kimathi Information Centre. Carthy --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

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Writing for Change
by Edith Adera 13 Mar '08

13 Mar '08

This resource may be of interest to you and your partners. "Writing for Change" is an interactive, self-learning tool (guide) to effective writing, writing for science and writing for advocacy. It was developed, designed, and published by Fahamu, in collaboration with Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The CD is freely available online at http://www.idrc.ca/IMAGES/books/WFC_English/WFC_English/ In Writing for Change, you will learn the core skills of effective writing, how to write for scientific publication, and how to write for advocacy. Writing for Change will enhance your capacity to write in ways that promote action from your target audience. It is full of practical exercises and examples from the field of international development. A resource centre contains training materials and links to many useful websites. Site maps and a printed users' guide make it simple to follow. Writing for Change will prove useful to researchers, campaigners, scientists, fundraisers, project managers, social activists, and especially trainers in writing and communication skills. Edith

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KENYA ICT FEDERATION - KENYA ICT BOARD LUNCHEON 18/03/2008
by nancy bosire 12 Mar '08

12 Mar '08

Kenya ICT Federation * * 12th March 2008 Dear Members and Partners, RE: KENYA ICT FEDERATION - KENYA ICT BOARD LUNCHEON 18/03/2008 This is to invite you to the second of a series of luncheons that KIF will be organizing in partnership with The Kenya ICT Board. The Luncheon will take place next week on Tuesday, 18th of March 2008. The venue is *THE NAIROBI SAFARI CLUB, LILIAN TOWERS, on University Way *from 12.30pm to 2.30pm. Charges: Ksh. 2,000 for Members and Ksh.3, 000 for non-members. We will have a session on Progress made by KICTB in their strategic plan implementation process (part of the PowerPoint presentation at the first luncheon by Mr. Paul Kukubo) and an update on CEBIT (World´s largest Annual trade show for information and telecommunications technology). The final agenda will be distributed by Thursday end of business. Book early to avoid disappointment (seats will remain reserved for those who had made early bookings and paid in advance). Contact details are below for early reservations and any queries. PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY. Sincerely yours, Nancy Bosire *Secretariat Manager* *Kenya** ICT Federation * *Tel: 020 4440102* *Mobile**: 0721907995* *secretariat(a)kif.or.ke, info(a)kif.or.ke* *http://www.kif.or.ke* <http://www.kif.or.ke/>** "Whatever your mind expects and demands, it will find a way to produce it." - Napoleon Hill

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Yet another chance to have your say: Say No to OOXML
by Judy Okite 11 Mar '08

11 Mar '08

Check out the latest development as concerns this matter.....You have yet another chance...Use it wisely. http://www.noooxml.org/start Kind Regards, -- Judy Ann Okite, +254-721237507,+254-734252336 P.O. BOX 2228 00100, NAIROBI,KENYA. 'Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. ' Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Verisign's Domain names brief report
by alice 11 Mar '08

11 Mar '08

Dear all Attached Domain Name industry brief from VeriSign best alice _______________________________________________ AfrICANN mailing list AfrICANN(a)afrinic.net https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann

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[Fwd: [AfriNIC-rpd] Call for Volunteer: 2008 Board election Nomination Committee AFRINIC
by alice 11 Mar '08

11 Mar '08

Dear colleagues, This year, during the upcoming Members Meeting in Morocco, 4th June 2008, we will have the renewal of seats 5 (Central Africa sub-region) and 6 (Indian Ocean sub-region) of the AfriNIC board of Directors. According to our election policy, the election process must be supervised by an Election/nomination committee composed of: o 1 Member appointed by the board (the CEO or one elected from the board - From an non-open seat) o 2 Member volunteers from the community (from two different sub-regions other than the opened seat's one). We are hereby calling for two volunteers to seat on the 2008 nomination committee. If you are interested, please send your details with the following information: Full Name: Full Address: e-mail: to members-contact(a)afrinic.net by 13th March 2008 at 18:00 UTC. Kind regards. ______________________________________________________________________ Adiel A. Akplogan Tel. +230 466 66 16 Chief Executive Officer, AfriNIC Fax: +230 466 67 58 adiel(a)afrinic.net - www.afrinic.net sip: adiel(a)voip.afrinic.net _______________________________________________ rpd mailing list rpd(a)afrinic.net https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/rpd

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FW: search for new Executive Director, Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI)
by Edith Adera 11 Mar '08

11 Mar '08

In case it might be of interest to you or someone you know ... (See attached file: ED profile.doc)

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Re: [kictanet] Fears About Safaricom (was M-PESA for E-Commerce)
by Michael Joseph 09 Mar '08

09 Mar '08

One very important correction - I am apparently a Board Member of the KCCT not CCK. Please correct this. I did not ask for this. We are helping with the ICT development and I guess this is why I was appointed.. It is most unfair to continue to bring up the sms and sms connection to TKL. We refunded all who we charged incorrectly and we explained the lack of connectivity. I think debating issues this way when one can blatantly say things which are misleading does not encourage real debate about real issues. I will say no more on this list Michael Joseph CEO Safaricom Limited BlackBerry powered by Safaricom ----- Original Message ----- From: kictanet-bounces+mjoseph=safaricom.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke <kictanet-bounces+mjoseph=safaricom.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> To: Michael Joseph Cc: skunkworks(a)my.co.ke <skunkworks(a)my.co.ke>; kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke>; ke-users <ke-internetusers(a)bdix.net> Sent: Fri Mar 07 12:17:13 2008 Subject: [kictanet] Fears About Safaricom (was M-PESA for E-Commerce) Indeed Washington you listened and captured my response correctly. However, Michael Joseph has asked a new very worthy question to respond to "Alex: Why are you afraid?" 1. Michael Joseph, among other big Telco faces successfully made baby steps into government and so you will now be getting income and emoluments from taxpayers kitty! Nation cartoonist last year had an "MJ for President" cartoon and in retrospect I wonder how much of a joke that really was. You are now Board member appointed under State Corporations Act through Kenya of Gazette dated Friday, 29 February, 2008. He will be a colleague serving in a Board chaired by his "independent" market regulator CCK. Should not any right thinking person have reasons to be afraid? 2. Today, CCK in Kenya Gazette of 7th March 2008 notice, publishes by two companies ( Cykim Limited and Intelligent Contacts Solutions) applying for the protested VAS license. Why did CCK not wait for the issue to be first resolved before publishing this notice, unless it had already been decided? 3. Current CCK annual report says that the commission received just 17 consumer complaints in their last reporting year of which they were able to resolve only four. Perhaps its only me but, I find 17 complaints statistically abnormal considering the industry had over 10 million mobile phone users and 2.7 million internet users. Would anyone know if CCK were ISO 10002 compliant? I would appreciate that information very much. > > Why is everything we do bad? Just because we are big? We got that way by > > listening to our customers and delivering products and services that > > they wanted and would use. > > 4. There have been very dark clouds over your past path. These include Mobitelea (and others whose fate now hangs in the balance without an opposition and now you in government now...), charging for undelivered services (such as sms) blocking access to other networks' services etc.. I have a couple... The problem is that Safaricom morphed into a scary uncaring giant fish swallowing anything on its way and CCK sits watching. Proposed solution: The continued loss of faith and now confidence in CCK demonstrated through above few examples is sufficiently compelling to warrant its disbandment and to be replaced by another Board made up of persons with consumer, public, wider industry, business, and particularly encouraging to SMEs. A new board that will prove beyond a shadow of doubt that they represent the new Kenya we need where genuine Fair Play is practiced, everyone small and big have access to prosperity. The current CCK Board endorsed Michael Joseph to serve with them.... i.e. Regulator and regulated merged. I shall not be afraid for consumers and myself thereafter. Alex On Fri, Mar 7, 2008 at 8:19 AM, Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > > On Fri, Mar 7, 2008 at 6:46 AM, Michael Joseph <MJoseph(a)safaricom.co.ke> > wrote: > > Alex: > > > > Why are you afraid? Bill asked a question and we answered it. We could > > have ignored it but we felt it was good to contribute. We are continuing > > to develop M-Pesa and this functionality has been in development for > > some time. We even see a direct connection to the internet for customers > > to pay on-line just by clicking a link to M-Pesa. > > > > Why is everything we do bad? Just because we are big? We got that way by > > listening to our customers and delivering products and services that > > they wanted and would use. > > > > Regards, > > > > Michael > > > > CEO > > Safaricom Limited > > > > > > > > > > Hello MJ, > > I think you slightly missed the point there. Gakuru is obviously right. It's > only you who may not admit the facts regarding his fears, but I want to > believe his fears are well founded. > I am not playing Alex Gakuru's advocate but what I believe he meant to say > was the fact that Safaricom would not be willing to let entities like the > original poster of this thread to take advantage of a service like M-PESA in > a way that Safaricom would feel is in direct competition with it. > When I initially responded to Harrison Karanja Kairo, the OP, and mentioned > that he could consult with the product's R&D team at Safaricom, I did say, > in my initial response something like "I am not sure they are > allowed/willing to work with you on this as I already see securityissues > coming up". I was expressing the same fears as Alex in a "diplomatic" > manner. Perhaps you can prove me wrong, but what Harrison Karanja had wanted > was something akin to grabbing that magic code that accompies an M-PESA > transaction and use it to validate a transaction. So, if only to prove > Gakuru wrong, could you kindly ask Pauline Vaughan to help the OP (one, > Harrison Karanja) with the necessary advise regarding his query? I don't > think that will be easy for you, as you are likely to let go of something > you see already as a great business product, no? > > Gakuru did not at all say Safaricom is bad. Well, Safaricom is big, for sure > as you say, and since you know it, let me also tell you that it's so big > that it's getting out of control as you are no longer quite capable of > efficiently "listening to the large number of clientele whenever they have > problems". This has come up before during a discussion on outsourcing. So > when you talk of "big", please also consider being "big" in serving the > customers, and potential competitors like Harrison. > > Just my 2 cents, which you can credit to my M-PESA account below:-) > > > > > -- > Best regards, > Odhiambo WASHINGTON, > Nairobi,KE > +254733744121/+254722743223 > _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ > > "Oh My God! They killed init! You Bastards!" > --from a /. post > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > This message was sent to: alexgakuru.lists(a)gmail.com > Unsubscribe or change your options at > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alexgakuru.lists%40gma… > > _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: mjoseph(a)safaricom.co.ke Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/mjoseph%40safaricom.co… The information in this email and any attachments is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended only for the use of the named addressee. Emails are susceptible to alteration and their integrity cannot be guaranteed. Safaricom Limited does not accept legal responsibility for the contents of this email if the same is found to have been altered or manipulated. The contents and opinions expressed in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Safaricom Limited. Safaricom Limited disclaims any liability to the fullest extent permissible by law for any consequences that may arise from the contents of this email including but not limited to personal opinions, malicious and/or defamatory information and data/codes that may compromise or damage the integrity of the recipient's information technology systems. If you are not the intended recipient please notify the sender and immediately delete this email from your system.

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M-PESA for E-Commerce
by H. Karanja Kairo 09 Mar '08

09 Mar '08

I'm trying to use M-PESA for settling online purchases but I haven't yet found a way to do it through a one-step process. My best attempt so far is to: 1. Have someone M-PESA a certain amount to my phone. 2. Ask them to SMS the first 7 characters of the response they receive from M-PESA for verification (this is to get their phone number as M-PESA does not provide this) 3. Credit their online account (identified through their phone number) with the funds. With Kind Regards, Harrison Karanja Kairo * Director * SoftLaw Limited * Genius Executive Centre * 15th Floor View Park Towers * Utalii Lane * Nairobi CBD * Tel: +254-20-342225 This email (including any attachments) is confidential and intended only for the use of the addressee. It may contain information covered by legal, professional or other privilege, which privilege is not lost or waived by reason of mistaken transmission thereof. Any representation or opinions expressed are those of the individual sender and not necessarily those of SoftLaw Limited. If you are not the addressee, please inform the sender immediately and destroy this e-mail

9 13

Fears About Safaricom (was M-PESA for E-Commerce)
by Alex Gakuru 08 Mar '08

08 Mar '08

Indeed Washington you listened and captured my response correctly. However, Michael Joseph has asked a new very worthy question to respond to "Alex: Why are you afraid?" 1. Michael Joseph, among other big Telco faces successfully made baby steps into government and so you will now be getting income and emoluments from taxpayers kitty! Nation cartoonist last year had an "MJ for President" cartoon and in retrospect I wonder how much of a joke that really was. You are now Board member appointed under State Corporations Act through Kenya of Gazette dated Friday, 29 February, 2008. He will be a colleague serving in a Board chaired by his "independent" market regulator CCK. Should not any right thinking person have reasons to be afraid? 2. Today, CCK in Kenya Gazette of 7th March 2008 notice, publishes by two companies ( Cykim Limited and Intelligent Contacts Solutions) applying for the protested VAS license. Why did CCK not wait for the issue to be first resolved before publishing this notice, unless it had already been decided? 3. Current CCK annual report says that the commission received just 17 consumer complaints in their last reporting year of which they were able to resolve only four. Perhaps its only me but, I find 17 complaints statistically abnormal considering the industry had over 10 million mobile phone users and 2.7 million internet users. Would anyone know if CCK were ISO 10002 compliant? I would appreciate that information very much. > > Why is everything we do bad? Just because we are big? We got that way by > > listening to our customers and delivering products and services that > > they wanted and would use. > > 4. There have been very dark clouds over your past path. These include Mobitelea (and others whose fate now hangs in the balance without an opposition and now you in government now...), charging for undelivered services (such as sms) blocking access to other networks' services etc.. I have a couple... The problem is that Safaricom morphed into a scary uncaring giant fish swallowing anything on its way and CCK sits watching. Proposed solution: The continued loss of faith and now confidence in CCK demonstrated through above few examples is sufficiently compelling to warrant its disbandment and to be replaced by another Board made up of persons with consumer, public, wider industry, business, and particularly encouraging to SMEs. A new board that will prove beyond a shadow of doubt that they represent the new Kenya we need where genuine Fair Play is practiced, everyone small and big have access to prosperity. The current CCK Board endorsed Michael Joseph to serve with them.... i.e. Regulator and regulated merged. I shall not be afraid for consumers and myself thereafter. Alex On Fri, Mar 7, 2008 at 8:19 AM, Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > > On Fri, Mar 7, 2008 at 6:46 AM, Michael Joseph <MJoseph(a)safaricom.co.ke> > wrote: > > Alex: > > > > Why are you afraid? Bill asked a question and we answered it. We could > > have ignored it but we felt it was good to contribute. We are continuing > > to develop M-Pesa and this functionality has been in development for > > some time. We even see a direct connection to the internet for customers > > to pay on-line just by clicking a link to M-Pesa. > > > > Why is everything we do bad? Just because we are big? We got that way by > > listening to our customers and delivering products and services that > > they wanted and would use. > > > > Regards, > > > > Michael > > > > CEO > > Safaricom Limited > > > > > > > > > > Hello MJ, > > I think you slightly missed the point there. Gakuru is obviously right. It's > only you who may not admit the facts regarding his fears, but I want to > believe his fears are well founded. > I am not playing Alex Gakuru's advocate but what I believe he meant to say > was the fact that Safaricom would not be willing to let entities like the > original poster of this thread to take advantage of a service like M-PESA in > a way that Safaricom would feel is in direct competition with it. > When I initially responded to Harrison Karanja Kairo, the OP, and mentioned > that he could consult with the product's R&D team at Safaricom, I did say, > in my initial response something like "I am not sure they are > allowed/willing to work with you on this as I already see securityissues > coming up". I was expressing the same fears as Alex in a "diplomatic" > manner. Perhaps you can prove me wrong, but what Harrison Karanja had wanted > was something akin to grabbing that magic code that accompies an M-PESA > transaction and use it to validate a transaction. So, if only to prove > Gakuru wrong, could you kindly ask Pauline Vaughan to help the OP (one, > Harrison Karanja) with the necessary advise regarding his query? I don't > think that will be easy for you, as you are likely to let go of something > you see already as a great business product, no? > > Gakuru did not at all say Safaricom is bad. Well, Safaricom is big, for sure > as you say, and since you know it, let me also tell you that it's so big > that it's getting out of control as you are no longer quite capable of > efficiently "listening to the large number of clientele whenever they have > problems". This has come up before during a discussion on outsourcing. So > when you talk of "big", please also consider being "big" in serving the > customers, and potential competitors like Harrison. > > Just my 2 cents, which you can credit to my M-PESA account below:-) > > > > > -- > Best regards, > Odhiambo WASHINGTON, > Nairobi,KE > +254733744121/+254722743223 > _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ > > "Oh My God! They killed init! You Bastards!" > --from a /. post > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > This message was sent to: alexgakuru.lists(a)gmail.com > Unsubscribe or change your options at > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alexgakuru.lists%40gma… > >

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application developers.
by Moses Kemibaro 06 Mar '08

06 Mar '08

Dotsavvy is looking for Application Developers with the following competencies: i. 2+ years experience in internet application development. ii. A portfolio of functional personal work that includes the following examples: a. Web sites/pages that utilize database-driven concepts. b. Web sites/pages that demonstrate the ability to work from a project specification. c. Web sites/pages that show implementation of a standardized user interface. iii. Experience with Macromedia, Java, CSS, PERL, Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP (LAMP) is required. iv. Additional experience with AJAX, Ruby on Rails, .NET and others would be a bonus. If you meet these criteria, or know someone who does, please send CVs to jobs(a)dotsavvyafrica.com by the 15th March 2008. Thanks, Moses

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Scholarships for ICT4D Masters in Manchester
by alice 05 Mar '08

05 Mar '08

The one-year MSc ICTs for Development degree focuses on effective > application of ICTs within poor communities. It aims to > create "ICT4D champions" who combine technical competencies in > information systems and project management with an understanding of > development context and practice: > http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/courses/06237/in > d > ex.asp > > Applicants who have applied, received and accepted a formal offer > by 30 June 2008 will be considered for two scholarship > opportunities. One of these is a full scholarship of £21,000 > available on a competitive basis for applicants from developing > countries to any of IDPM's Masters degrees. One is a partial > fee-waiver scholarship worth £5,500, available exclusively for > developing country applicants to the MSc ICT4D programme. > > Details on other funding sources and on part-time employment > opportunities while studying in Manchester can be found at: > http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/postgraduate/taught/funding/ > > Richard Heeks (richard.heeks(a)manchester.ac.uk) > Development Informatics Group, IDPM, SED, University of Manchester, > UK _______________________________________________ incom-l mailing list incom-l(a)incommunicado.info http://mail.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/incom-l ------- End of forwarded message ------- _______________________________________________ AAW-Network mailing list AAW-Network(a)lists.apcwomen.org http://lists.apcwomen.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/aaw-network

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KDN new partner to inject Sh1.4bn for expansion
by Eric Osiakwan 05 Mar '08

05 Mar '08

http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=6232&Itemid=5847 Eric M.K Osiakwan Executive Secretary AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org) Tel: + 233.21.258800 ext 2031 Fax: + 233.21.258811 Cell: + 233.244.386792 Handle: eosiakwan Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/ Slang: "Tomorrow Now"

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proposed new license fees for Application/Content Service Providers
by Marcel Werner 04 Mar '08

04 Mar '08

Attention Colleagues, Are you aware that the Communications Commission of Kenya has issued an important consultative document on the proposed Unified License framework? Comments are welcomed by CCK, due by deadline of 29 February 2008 at close of business. The market segments categorised in the CCK paper Applications Service Providers (ASPs) and Content Service Providers (CSP) (include all Value Added Service (VAS) Providers and Web-based Public Commercial Information Service Providers can provide economic opportunities to Micro and Small Enterprises (SME) as well as Small and Medium Sized companies (MSE). Note that all these services proposedly attract a KES100,000 registration fee + KES100,000 or 0.5% of turn-over charge. That will keep many players out of the market. How many higher education graduates are working to create a niche for themselves in the market? They should be encouraged and supported! The new regulatory framework should not place any obstacles to new investors and market entrants, especially not to SME's. Therefore, the proposedlicense fees for these two categories should be replaced by a general license. Normally, such licensees does not pay license fees but register with the regulatory body and subsequently receive a certificate endorsing their operations in the sector. MARCEL WERNER Kenya ICT Federation

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Re: [kictanet] Fwd: SA Government Goes Open Source
by James Kagwe 03 Mar '08

03 Mar '08

Can someone recommend to me some of the best websites for open-source software? Best Regards, James Kagwe ********************************************************************* Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis Bishops Garden Towers Bishops Road P.O. Box 56445 Nairobi, Kenya Tel: (254) 20 2719933, 2719934, 2714714, 2714715 Fax: (254) 20 2719951 Confidentiality Warning ======================= The contents of this e-mail and any accompanying documentation are confidential and any use thereof, in what ever form, by anyone other than the addressee is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify admin(a)kippra.or.ke and delete it immediately from your system. Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis accepts no responsibility for losses or damage as a result of any viruses and it is your responsibility to check attachments (if any) for viruses. -----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+jkagwe=kippra.or.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+jkagwe=kippra.or.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Alex Gakuru Sent: Monday, March 03, 2008 10:27 AM To: James Kagwe Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Fwd: SA Government Goes Open Source Thanks to the policy space already provided. On December 14, the Dutch Government gave a "soft deadline" to all their government agencies to "Adopt FOSS or Explain Why Not?" I'd written a newspaper article on this but, we all know, things happened:( /Alex ------ "Dutch government moves ahead with plans to promote use of open-source software" December 14, 2007 The Dutch government has set a soft deadline of April 2008 for agencies at the national level to adopt open-source software such as free word processing programs and Internet browsers, the Economic Affairs Ministry said Thursday. Under the policy, approved Wednesday, government organizations will still be able to use proprietary software and formats, but will have to justify that decision under the principle of "adopt or explain" why not, ministry spokesman Edwin van Scherrenburg said. Van Scherrenburg said the plan had been approved unanimously at a meeting of two parliamentary commissions Wednesday. ... <http://news.theage.com.au/dutch-government-moves-ahead-with-plans-to-pr omote-use-of-opensource-software/20071214-1gzj.html> --- John Kariuki <ngethe.kariuki2007(a)yahoo.co.uk> wrote: > Dear all, > Good idea. > The ICT Policy contemplated the use of open source > as a component of encouraging growth of local > software industry in order to increase > competition,access,diversity of choice and to enable > users to develop solutions. > > John. > > Gakiria <gakiria(a)gmail.com> wrote: ________________________________________________________________________ ____________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: jkagwe(a)kippra.or.ke Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jkagwe%40kippra.or. ke

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Re: [kictanet] Fwd: SA Government Goes Open Source
by Dorcas Muthoni 03 Mar '08

03 Mar '08

Sure.. great software there too! On Mon, Mar 3, 2008 at 1:07 PM, Joseph Mucheru <jmucheru(a)google.com> wrote: > Also http://www.code.google.com :-) > > --Joe Mucheru +254722522135 > Google > Sent from my iPhone > > On Mar 3, 2008, at 12:22 PM, "Dorcas Muthoni" <dmuthoni(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > Some great references for open source software; > > <http://sourceforge.net/>http://sourceforge.net/ and > <http://freshmeat.net>http://freshmeat.net > > Both are the largest repositories of open source software. Browse through > categories or search using strings. > > > On Mon, Mar 3, 2008 at 11:27 AM, James Kagwe < <jkagwe(a)kippra.or.ke> > jkagwe(a)kippra.or.ke> wrote: > > > Can someone recommend to me some of the best websites for open-source > > software? > > > > Best Regards, > > James Kagwe > > ********************************************************************* > > Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis > > Bishops Garden Towers > > Bishops Road > > P.O. Box 56445 > > Nairobi, Kenya > > Tel: (254) 20 2719933, 2719934, 2714714, 2714715 > > Fax: (254) 20 2719951 > > Confidentiality Warning > > ======================= > > The contents of this e-mail and any accompanying documentation are > > confidential and any use thereof, in what ever form, by anyone other > > than the addressee is strictly prohibited. > > > > If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify > > <admin(a)kippra.or.ke>admin(a)kippra.or.ke and delete it immediately from > > your system. > > Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis accepts no > > responsibility for losses or damage as a result of any viruses and it is > > your responsibility to check attachments (if any) for viruses. > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: kictanet-bounces+jkagwe= <kippra.or.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > > kippra.or.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > [mailto:kictanet-bounces+jkagwe=<kictanet-bounces+jkagwe=kippra.or.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > > kippra.or.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke] On > > Behalf Of Alex Gakuru > > Sent: Monday, March 03, 2008 10:27 AM > > To: James Kagwe > > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions > > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Fwd: SA Government Goes Open Source > > > > Thanks to the policy space already provided. > > > > On December 14, the Dutch Government gave a "soft > > deadline" to all their government agencies to "Adopt > > FOSS or Explain Why Not?" I'd written a newspaper > > article on this but, we all know, things happened:( > > > > /Alex > > ------ > > > > "Dutch government moves ahead with plans to promote > > use of open-source software" > > December 14, 2007 > > > > The Dutch government has set a soft deadline of April > > 2008 for agencies at the national level to adopt > > open-source software such as free word processing > > programs and Internet browsers, the Economic Affairs > > Ministry said Thursday. > > > > Under the policy, approved Wednesday, government > > organizations will still be able to use proprietary > > software and formats, but will have to justify that > > decision under the principle of "adopt or explain" why > > not, ministry spokesman Edwin van Scherrenburg said. > > > > Van Scherrenburg said the plan had been approved > > unanimously at a meeting of two parliamentary > > commissions Wednesday. > > ... > > > > <<http://news.theage.com.au/dutch-government-moves-ahead-with-plans-to-pr> > > http://news.theage.com.au/dutch-government-moves-ahead-with-plans-to-pr > > omote-use-of-opensource-software/20071214-1gzj.html> > > > > > > --- John Kariuki < <ngethe.kariuki2007(a)yahoo.co.uk> > > ngethe.kariuki2007(a)yahoo.co.uk> > > wrote: > > > > > Dear all, > > > Good idea. > > > The ICT Policy contemplated the use of open source > > > as a component of encouraging growth of local > > > software industry in order to increase > > > competition,access,diversity of choice and to enable > > > users to develop solutions. > > > > > > John. > > > > > > Gakiria < <gakiria(a)gmail.com>gakiria(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________________ > > ____________ > > Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. > > <http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs>http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs > > > > _______________________________________________ > > kictanet mailing list > > <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke>kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > <http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet> > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > > > This message was sent to: <jkagwe(a)kippra.or.ke>jkagwe(a)kippra.or.ke > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > > <http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jkagwe%40kippra.or> > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jkagwe%40kippra.or. > > ke > > > > _______________________________________________ > > kictanet mailing list > > <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke>kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > <http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet> > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > > > This message was sent to: <dmuthoni(a)gmail.com>dmuthoni(a)gmail.com > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > > <http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/dmuthoni%40gmail.com> > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/dmuthoni%40gmail.com > > > > > > -- > Muthoni > > My Blog: <http://rugongo.blogspot.com/>http://rugongo.blogspot.com/ > -------------------------------------------- > Mahatma Gandhi once said:- > > First they ignore you, > Then they laugh at you, > Then they fight you, > AND THEN YOU WIN!!! > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > This message was sent to: <mucheru(a)google.com>mucheru(a)google.com > Unsubscribe or change your options at > <http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/mucheru%40google.com> > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/mucheru%40google.com > > -- Muthoni My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/ -------------------------------------------- Mahatma Gandhi once said:- First they ignore you, Then they laugh at you, Then they fight you, AND THEN YOU WIN!!!

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Fwd: SA Government Goes Open Source
by Gakiria 03 Mar '08

03 Mar '08

Dear All, Came across the info below and thought it might be of interest to us. Regards Andrew ->>> SA Government Goes Open Source>>>>>> Sumayya Ismail and Sapa | Johannesburg, South Africa>>> 27 February 2007 09:32>>> >>> South Africa is joining countries such as Brazil, India and Uganda in >>> implementing open-source software in all government departments -- and >>> getting rid of widely used Microsoft Windows desktop programmes that >>> come with expensive licences. >>> >>> Open-source software can be shared by many users without a need for >>> licences. The actual code can be accessed by anyone to make changes and >>> adapt it to different situations. >>> >>> A Cabinet-approved policy and strategy to implement such software will >>> lower administration costs and enhance local IT skills, Themba Maseko, >>> head of the Government Communication and Information System, said last >>> week. >>> >>> "All new software developed for or by the government will be based on >>> open >>> standards, and government will itself migrate current software to Foss >>> [free and open-source software]," he told a media briefing at >>> Parliament. >>> >>> By April, a project office will be set up by the Department of Science >>> and >>> Technology, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and the >>> State Information Technology Agency to ensure the smooth implementation >>> of >>> the new strategy. >>> >>> Karl Fischer, the government's open-source project manager, says some >>> government departments have already been using open-source software for >>> "back-end" processes such as mail servers. >>> >>> He said the new strategy will place open-source software in all areas of >>> government. From mail servers to desktop applications such as word >>> processors, there will be a move towards Linux-operated open-source >>> software. >>> >>> Petition >>> Last year, Sangonet and other NGOs petitioned the government and >>> Minister >>> of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi to adopt >>> an >>> open-source software policy following a declaration signed at the 2005 >>> Go >>> Open Source conference at the Sandton Convention Centre. >>> >>> The petition was endorsed by the Centre for Policy Studies, the Freedom >>> of >>> Expression Institute and the Institute for Security Studies, among >>> others. >>> >>> It urged the government "to take a stronger, direct leadership role to >>> the >>> benefit of all". The government accounts for more than 50% of the >>> country's ICT use and should set a precedent that favours open source >>> and >>> its underlying principles, it added. >>> >>> "As a developing country, South Africa, along with all the countries on >>> the African continent, needs you and our government to act as agents of >>> positive change in our society and trigger shifts in the ICT market >>> dynamics, in order to favour the supply of local ICT content, support, >>> skills and service providers, and to reduce our long-standing dependence >>> on imports and the negative effects created by this dependence," the >>> petition stated. >>> >>> It further held that in the spirit of broad-based black economic >>> empowerment, the government had a responsibility to implement >>> open-source >>> software and make it easier for other, smaller ICT users to access the >>> hardware and technical skills needed to sustain it. >>> >>> David Barnard, director of Sangonet, says it is possible the petition >>> prompted the government to implement open-source software. However, the >>> decision had been "brewing within government" for a while, he said. >>> >>> Fischer confirms that it was an internal government decision to >>> implement >>> open-source software fully. But, he added: "Obviously we do listen to >>> what >>> [civil society] have to say." >>> >>> Benefits >>> Government personnel will be trained to use the new software at the >>> Meraka >>> Institute's training centres throughout the country. Open-source >>> training >>> materials are also freely available, making them more affordable and >>> accessible to users. >>> >>> Despite these training requirements and other initial costs, Fischer >>> says >>> open-source software will be more affordable in the long term. "Our >>> hardware won't need upgrading Â… but it would have needed upgrading if >>> we >>> switched to Windows Vista. Linux will work out cheaper." >>> >>> The cost of Linux is significantly less than that of the Microsoft >>> licences the government has been paying, he says, although he declined >>> to >>> give the actual cost of the new operating system, as it will only be >>> implemented fully by December this year. >>> >>> "Because the whole open-source community is backing us, we can harness >>> the >>> whole community to help us," Fischer says. "People are very keen to help >>> out where they can Â… and where they can't, we will have to get the >>> necessary skills, and we have the funds for it." >>> >>> Pfungwa Serima, MD of Microsoft South Africa, says the software giant >>> fully supports the standards on which open-source software is based, as >>> it >>> is "in line with our software development strategy in enabling >>> interoperability between software from multiple vendors, thus allowing >>> customers to choose the application for their specific requirements". >>> >>> Judgement reserved >>> Though "on-the ground" institutions and training centres are already set >>> up, Sangonet's Barnard says he will reserve judgement until he sees the >>> initial roll-out plans. "This is a huge opportunity for South Africa to >>> make it work Â… but it may be one of those decisions that were >>> undertaken, >>> but the follow-through is just not there." >>> >>> Fischer says that along with a cut in costs, the open-source strategy >>> will >>> also foster inter-community development, transparency and sharing, and >>> build local skills to enhance and support the new software. "And, >>> instead >>> of giving money away to multinationals, we are keeping it and putting it >>> to use internally." >>> >>> However, Barnard says a major challenge is the lack of public >>> understanding of the principles of open-source software. >>> >>> "The important thing is for people to understand the economic, social >>> and >>> other values we could derive from it Â… and in the bigger mindset is the >>> creation of an information society in the country. [We need] proper >>> understanding Â… the capacity, expertise and political will to do >>> something >>> to implement it." >>> >>> However, the strategy does "look good on paper", he adds, and its >>> implementation will "say to the world that South Africa is -- in a >>> national, political and strategic way -- committed to open source". >>> >>> SAPA. >>> -- >>> >>> >> > >

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Joining Kickanet
by Joyce Joan Wangui 01 Mar '08

01 Mar '08

Hallo there, my name is Joyce Joan Wangui, ICT journalist based in Nairobi.I correspond for an online ICT news agency known as HIGHWAY AFRICA NEWS AGENCY (www.highwayafrica.ru.ac.za) whose headquarters are based in South Africa. Highway Africa is an ICT initiative that brings African journalists and ICT parctitioners to deliberate on ICT developments in the continent. The news agency is published weekly. I am writing to request that i joj the Kictanet group as well as the mailing list. Kindly le me know the criteria and how soon i can join Regards Wangui --------------------------------- Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.

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INCEPTION WORKSHOP - ELECTRONIC WASTE PROJECT IN KENYA
by Evelyne Majale 29 Feb '08

29 Feb '08

Dear all This is a reminder of the Inception Workshop - Electronic Waste Management Project that will be held on Monday 03rd March 2008. Venue: Wariara Room, Jacaranda Hotel. Time: 9.00 am to 12.30 pm. Please confirm your attendance for planning purposes. Attached please find the draft Inception Report that will be presented on that day and the final programme. Thanking you in advance. Evelyne

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Determinants of a Digital Divide in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Spatial Econometric Analysis of Cell Phone Coverage, by Piet Buys, Susmita Dasgupta, Tim Thomas, and David Wheeler (February 2008)
by Harry Hare 29 Feb '08

29 Feb '08

Some good research from the World Bank. Harry African eDevelopment Resource Centre 3rd Floor, Nelleon Place Raphta Road, Westlands PO Box 49475 00100 Nairobi, Kenya Cel +254 725 650044 Land +254 20 4453445 www.africanedevelopment.org <http://www.africanedevelopment.org/> My Blogg <http://egov-notes.blogspot.com/> *********************************************************** March 2008 Capacity Building Opportunities Fiber Optics: 3-6 VSAT Field Engineering: 17-19 GIS 26-28 Book Now, Limited spaces available _____ From: Hsladovich(a)worldbank.org [mailto:Hsladovich@worldbank.org] On Behalf Of research(a)worldbank.org Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 8:09 PM Subject: eAlert --> WPS 4516. Determinants of a Digital Divide in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Spatial Econometric Analysis of Cell Phone Coverage, by Piet Buys, Susmita Dasgupta, Tim Thomas, and David Wheeler (February 2008) <http://econ.worldbank.org/external/default/main?menuPK=469435&pagePK=641652 36&piPK=64165141&theSitePK=469382> Determinants of a Digital Divide in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Spatial Econometric Analysis of Cell Phone Coverage <http://econ.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK=64165259&theSitePK=4 69372&piPK=64165421&menuPK=64166093&entityID=000158349_20080212114658> Policy Research Working Paper 4516, Piet Buys, Susmita Dasgupta, Tim Thomas, and David Wheeler (February 2008) <http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/2008 /02/12/000158349_20080212114658/Rendered/PDF/wps4516.pdf> Download Working Paper (26 pages) Most discussions of the digital divide treat it as a "North-South" issue, but the conventional dichotomy doesn't apply to cell phones in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although almost all Sub-Saharan countries are poor by international standards, they exhibit great disparities in coverage by cell telephone systems. Buys, Dasgupta, Thomas and Wheeler investigate the determinants of these disparities with a spatially-disaggregated model that employs locational information for cell-phone towers across over 990,000 4.6-km grid squares in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using probit techniques, a probability model with adjustments for spatial autocorrelation has been estimated that relates the likelihood of cell-tower location within a grid square to potential market size (proximate population); installation and maintenance cost factors related to accessibility (elevation, slope, distance from a main road, distance from the nearest large city); and national competition policy. Probit estimates indicate strong, significant results for the supply-demand variables, and very strong results for the competition policy index. Simulations based on the econometric results suggest that a generalized improvement in competition policy to a level that currently characterizes the best-performing states in Sub-Saharan Africa could lead to huge improvements in cell-phone area coverage for many states currently with poor policy performance, and an overall coverage increase of nearly 100 percent. <http://econ.worldbank.org/programs/trade> Produced by the <http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/EXTPROGRAMS/EX TIE/0,,menuPK:475531~pagePK:64168176~piPK:64168140~theSitePK:475520,00.html> Sustainable Rural and Urban Development ResearchTeam in Development Research Group ( <http://econ.worldbank.org/programs/trade> http://econ.worldbank.org/programs/rural-urban) ________________ This email was sent using the "bcc" function to various system distribution lists. Our apologies to those who receive multiple copies. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO FORWARD

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Re: [kictanet] proposed new license fees for Application/Content Service Providers
by Marcel Werner 28 Feb '08

28 Feb '08

Dear Colleagues, There is no decision yet at CCK, only proposals. The Consultation Paper is making suggestions for these license fees. There are no decisions by CCK on this yet, as we are being consulted. My advice would be: put your opinion(s) in writing and have these delivered by 29 February, close of business, by way of petitioning the CCK. Kenya ICT Federation will also make a submission by to the CCK before deadline. I'm certain the CCK value your views. Do communicate! Once a new regulation is passed, it will be more difficult to change it. Best regards, Marcel Werner Kenya ICT Federation 2008/2/28, Marcel Werner <marcelcwerner(a)gmail.com>: > > Dear Colleagues, > > There is no decision yet at CCK, only proposals. > > The Consultation Paper is making suggestions for these license fees. There > are no decisions by CCK on this yet, as we are being consulted. My advice > would be: put your opinion(s) in writing and have these delivered by 29 > February, close of business, by way of petitioning the CCK. Kenya ICT > Federation will also make a submission by to the CCK before deadline. I'm > certain the CCK value your views. Do communicate! > > Once a new regulation is passed, it will be more difficult to change it. > > Best regards, > Marcel Werner > Kenya ICT Federation > > 2008/2/28, Dorcas Muthoni <dmuthoni(a)gmail.com>: > > > > I second Mercer on this. > > > > On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 9:43 PM, Marcel Werner <marcelcwerner(a)gmail.com> > > wrote: > > > > > Attention Colleagues, > > > > > > Are you aware that the Communications Commission of Kenya has issued > > > an important consultative document on the proposed Unified License > > > framework? Comments are welcomed by CCK, due by deadline of 29 February 2008 > > > at close of business. > > > > > > The market segments categorised in the CCK paper Applications Service > > > Providers (ASPs) and Content Service Providers (CSP) (include all Value > > > Added Service (VAS) Providers and Web-based Public Commercial Information > > > Service Providers can provide economic opportunities to Micro and Small > > > Enterprises (SME) as well as Small and Medium Sized companies (MSE). Note > > > that all these services proposedly attract a KES100,000 registration fee + > > > KES100,000 or 0.5% of turn-over charge. That will keep many players > > > out of the market. How many higher education graduates are working to > > > create a niche for themselves in the market? They should be encouraged and > > > supported! > > > > > > > > > The new regulatory framework should not place any obstacles to new > > > investors and market entrants, especially not to SME's. Therefore, the > > > proposed license fees for these two categories should be replaced by a > > > general license. Normally, such licensees does not pay license fees > > > but register with the regulatory body and subsequently receive a certificate > > > endorsing their operations in the sector. > > > > > > MARCEL WERNER > > > Kenya ICT Federation > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > kictanet mailing list > > > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > > > > > This message was sent to: dmuthoni(a)gmail.com > > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/dmuthoni%40gmail.com > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > Muthoni > > > > My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/ > > -------------------------------------------- > > Mahatma Gandhi once said:- > > > > First they ignore you, > > Then they laugh at you, > > Then they fight you, > > AND THEN YOU WIN!!! > > _______________________________________________ > > kictanet mailing list > > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > > > This message was sent to: marcelcwerner(a)gmail.com > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/marcelcwerner%40gmail.… > > > > > > > -- > MARCEL > > please send any business mail to: > marcelwerner(a)innovation-africa.net > -- MARCEL please send any business mail to: marcelwerner(a)innovation-africa.net

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Re: [kictanet] proposed new license fees for Application/Content Service Providers
by Marcel Werner 28 Feb '08

28 Feb '08

2008/2/28, Marcel Werner <marcelcwerner(a)gmail.com>: > > Dear Colleagues, > > There is no decision yet at CCK, only proposals. > > The Consultation Paper is making suggestions for these license fees. There > are no decisions by CCK on this yet, as we are being consulted. My advice > would be: put your opinion(s) in writing and have these delivered by 29 > February, close of business, by way of petitioning the CCK. Kenya ICT > Federation will also make a submission by to the CCK before deadline. I'm > certain the CCK value your views. Do communicate! > > Once a new regulation is passed, it will be more difficult to change it. > > Best regards, > Marcel Werner > Kenya ICT Federation > > 2008/2/28, Dorcas Muthoni <dmuthoni(a)gmail.com>: > > > > I second Mercer on this. > > > > On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 9:43 PM, Marcel Werner <marcelcwerner(a)gmail.com> > > wrote: > > > > > Attention Colleagues, > > > > > > Are you aware that the Communications Commission of Kenya has issued > > > an important consultative document on the proposed Unified License > > > framework? Comments are welcomed by CCK, due by deadline of 29 February 2008 > > > at close of business. > > > > > > The market segments categorised in the CCK paper Applications Service > > > Providers (ASPs) and Content Service Providers (CSP) (include all Value > > > Added Service (VAS) Providers and Web-based Public Commercial Information > > > Service Providers can provide economic opportunities to Micro and Small > > > Enterprises (SME) as well as Small and Medium Sized companies (MSE). Note > > > that all these services proposedly attract a KES100,000 registration fee + > > > KES100,000 or 0.5% of turn-over charge. That will keep many players > > > out of the market. How many higher education graduates are working to > > > create a niche for themselves in the market? They should be encouraged and > > > supported! > > > > > > > > > The new regulatory framework should not place any obstacles to new > > > investors and market entrants, especially not to SME's. Therefore, the > > > proposed license fees for these two categories should be replaced by a > > > general license. Normally, such licensees does not pay license fees > > > but register with the regulatory body and subsequently receive a certificate > > > endorsing their operations in the sector. > > > > > > MARCEL WERNER > > > Kenya ICT Federation > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > kictanet mailing list > > > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > > > > > This message was sent to: dmuthoni(a)gmail.com > > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/dmuthoni%40gmail.com > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > Muthoni > > > > My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/ > > -------------------------------------------- > > Mahatma Gandhi once said:- > > > > First they ignore you, > > Then they laugh at you, > > Then they fight you, > > AND THEN YOU WIN!!! > > _______________________________________________ > > kictanet mailing list > > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > > > This message was sent to: marcelcwerner(a)gmail.com > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/marcelcwerner%40gmail.… > > > > > > > -- > MARCEL > > please send any business mail to: > marcelwerner(a)innovation-africa.net > -- MARCEL please send any business mail to: marcelwerner(a)innovation-africa.net

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[Fwd: [AfrICANN-discuss] Internet Governance: ICANN, Security And Nation States]
by alice 28 Feb '08

28 Feb '08

Hi All Despite our current troubles we still hope that ICANN will choose Kenya to celebrate its birthday at the ICANN Africa meeting scheduled for November 2008. Note dates for this years IGF have changed. Now taking place in December. alice -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [AfrICANN-discuss] Internet Governance: ICANN, Security And Nation States Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2008 20:48:23 +0100 From: Anne-Rachel Inné <annerachel(a)gmail.com> Reply-To: africann(a)afrinic.net To: africann(a)afrinic.net Intellectual Property Watch 28 January 2008 Internet Governance: ICANN, Security And Nation States By Monika Ermert for /Intellectual Property Watch/ The future of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) will remain an important topic in Internet governance in 2008, the tenth anniversary of the private global coordination body for Internet addresses and domain names. Yet Internet governance experts also expect security in its different facets to be on the rise in Internet governance debates and point to the further growing interest of nation states in exercising their sovereign governance rights in cyberspace. And it is increasingly the case that governance of the Internet can affect access to online content. The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) <http://www.intgovforum.org/index.htm> organised by the United Nations - which in December will hold its third gathering in New Delhi - likely will see more issues related to cybercriminality, anonymity and privacy, said Jeanette Hofmann, researcher at the Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation at the London School of Economics, and at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, and member of the IGF Advisory Group. New ICANN Board Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush announced a "busy year" <http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-03jan08.htm> and a "birthday party" to take place at the annual meeting of ICANN, which will be held not in the United States but in Africa in November 2008. The location for the birthday party may be seen as a small symbol for ICANN's emphasis on its declared internationality. It has been the United States' privileged position in ICANN and root server oversight that gave the primary original impulse for the Internet governance debate that has evolved so much over the past few years. Weakening US Influence over Internet? More and more governments have called for change in the oversight structure for this tiny yet core part of the Internet and will call for that again in the newly launched consultation of the US Commerce Department National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) on "The Continued Transition of the Technical Coordination and Management of the Internet's Domain Name and Addressing System." The consultation (deadline for statements 15 February) is part of the midterm review of the "Joint Project Agreement (JPA)" - the current agreement that binds ICANN to US government oversight - and may allow the full privatisation of domain name system (DNS) coordination after 2009. ICANN posted its comment to the NTIA in January, declaring: "The JPA is not longer necessary. Concluding it is the next step in transition of the coordination of the domain name system to the private sector." ICANN's Board wrote to NTIA official Suzanne Sene and said the JPA had been a necessary instrument in ICANN's formative years. "But now," the board said, "the JPA contributes to a misperception that the DNS is managed and overseen on a daily basis by the US government. Ending the JPA will provide long-term stability and security for a model that works." The Board underlined that the JPA would not affect the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) contract that allows the US administration to check on changes in the root zone, the heart of the DNS. The incoming US administration could withdraw from ICANN oversight, yet control over changes in the root zone, where vital information on the Internet address system is kept, might be too sensitive for any US administration. In fact, the US keeps arguing that it has to ensure the stability and security of the system that underlies a billion-dollar economy and has long become a key critical infrastructure. "The whole issue of security is drawing more and more attention, not only from nation states, but also from civil society," said Hofmann. The relationship between surveillance and privacy, data protection and transparency remains to be clearly worked out, she added. Identity management and authentication mechanisms rose much higher on the Internet governance agenda last year, and are expected to continue to do so, Hofmann said. Fight for IP Rights Intellectual property issues are in some aspects also intermingled with security. Whether the registries for country-code domains (such as .uk for the United Kingdom) should be granted special rights over new country-code-oriented top-level domain address zones, and be able to ask to be allocated the right to manage these zones via a fast track procedure, is one of ICANN's questions in this regard. Observers warn against possible domain islands under strict state control. At least some observers have followed anxiously developments in Russia where some in the administration have been reported to have shown interest in walling off the "Russian Internet." ICANN has accepted that there is a strong demand for ccTLDs in native scripts from a number of countries like China and several Arabic states and a special working group has started talks about the possible fast track procedure. But ICANN Chair Dengate Thrush spoke of a single procedure for all new top-level domains coming up. The introduction of new TLDs is a major issue for ICANN this year. Meanwhile, the longstanding fight over how personal data of individual domain name holders should be published in the so-called Whois databases of domain name registries and registrars might calm down, Hofmann said. ICANN staff finalised the procedure for dealing with exemptions for registries and registrars from jurisdictions with strong privacy regulation. Even if the United States keeps pushing for open Whois, registries and registrars from other countries can point to the need to adhere to their own national laws. Yet according to a representative for the registrars in ICANN's Generic Name Supporting Council it is not that easy at all. It was all but clear what registries and registrars had to present to be eligible for the exemptions as the procedure reads that only a lawsuit or administrative procedure against them allowed to apply for exceptional treatment. Also, settlements of disputes over ownership of domain names will continue to be important at ICANN and at the World Intellectual Property Organization. Debate over Governance Structure Changes may also come in 2008 to the institutional structure of Internet governance debates, Hofmann said. While the IGF was established as a focal point for the wider Internet governance debate - and ICANN will be kept under observation - she felt that there was a shift of a lot of discussion to intergovernmental institutions, back from self-governing bodies like the Internet Engineering Task Force (a peer standardisation body for all Internet protocol-related standards) to the UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The ITU has, for example, become more involved in security issues, last year announcing a global cybersecurity agenda <http://www.itu.int/osg/csd/cybersecurity/gca/> after years of rivalry with ICANN. More structural manoeuvring on who does what in Internet governance is expected this year, according to Wolfgang Kleinwächter, special advisor to the IGF Chair Nitin Desai. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has invited UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon to give a keynote at its June meeting on the "Future of the Internet Economy" <http://www.oecd.org/site/0,3407,en_21571361_38415463_1_1_1_1_1,00.html>, and Kleinwächter said this could be used by Ban for positioning of the UN in Internet governance. /Monika Ermert may be reached at info(a)ip-watch.ch <mailto:info@ip-watch.ch>./ _______________________________________________ AfrICANN mailing list AfrICANN(a)afrinic.net https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann

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Re: [kictanet] Kenya loses the ICANN meeting scheduled for November2008
by Leonard Mware 28 Feb '08

28 Feb '08

The day we will realize that our 'hardware' is basically the same (Mzungu, Jaluo, Kikuyu, Kamba, and Luhya etc 'hardware') and that the 'software' we pack is the problem, then we will respect one another. The 'software' we pack is basically programmed by the environment we live in hence we need to teach our children to respect fellow human beings regardless of tribe or race. The kind of environment we live, that is, at home, office and with our friends (the company we keep) greatly affect our attitude and behaviour towards others. Yes, Walu, we can make a difference if we start with ourselves! L ----- Original Message ---- From: "Wanjira, Alice Munyua" <wanjira(a)cck.go.ke> To: mleonardo(a)yahoo.com Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 8:14:10 AM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Kenya loses the ICANN meeting scheduled for November2008 Walu and all And its not just the ICANN meeting, we have lost UPU among many others. alice -----Original Message----- From: kictanet-bounces+wanjira=cck.go.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke on behalf of John Walubengo Sent: Wed 27/02/2008 19:56 To: Wanjira, Alice Munyua Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Kenya loses the ICANN meeting scheduled for November2008 Hey all, Apologies for having to resurrect this post. I had not appreciated the full impact of Kenya missing out on the above opportunity until after I attended the recent Internet Governance Forum (IGF) preparatory meeting in GVA. I was totally overwhelmed by the dissapointment felt by all delegates, but especially the AFRICAN delegates who had voted for Kenya to hold the above conference. The lose was definately more AFRICAN than KENYAN. How ironic! It pains me to note that as other nations and states are fighting about partitioning and sharing the Internet (the ultimate resource) we are still busy fighting about and partitioning "ancestral" land. I want to be the first one to stand accused for having surrendered my country to a small group of politicians who seem determined to drive the remaining little sense of our nationhood out of our minds. And I want also want to remind each of us, that it is time reclaim our right to be Kenyan - the Pride of Africa? Each of us must take up this challenge in their own little way (use your business, networks, friends on both sides, influence, whatever) in order to pull us away from that point of no return. Sorry Alice i now this is not ICT but I just didnt know how important Kenya was until i stepped out of it after Dec 31st 2007 and really needed to ventilate abit. walu. --- waudo siganga <emailsignet(a)mailcan.com> wrote: > I concur with your suggestions Njeri. It's unfortunate to > lose > hosting the ICANN meeting in November but let's try and > make the > best of it. > > Kind Regards, > Waudo > On Thu, 14 Feb 2008 09:59:52 +0300, "Njeri Rionge" > <njeri.rionge@igniteco > nsulting.co.ke> said: > > Colleagues, > Kenya needs to get the decisions around the National > Coalition > or whatever the solution agreed upon as soon as > possible. > ICANN is limited on planning time as regards managing > the > possible insecurity of holding a meeting in a location > where > security is a concern for the larger internet > community. In > fact this should be said the other way, we cannot > (ICANN) risk > having a meeting in a location where the internet > community > will not attend, due to the current status which today > seems > not clear since the media itself has now been quiet on > the > possible security issue, although indicates a possible > forward > improvement which is not indicative of stability etc. > ICANN > public meetings are very critical in engaging > participants > from an Internationalization perspective. Therefore, > the > decision for the cancellation was based on the turn of > events > that took place in Kenyan. > So, like Alice I am hopeful that we can at list host > the 10th > Anniversary Internet party which can possibly be held > away > from the actual ICANN conference and broadcasted to the > rest > of the world from Kenya, although they are no > guarantees. This > is harder to do and in fact affects budgets etc. > This said, the party was all planned for the Kenya > meeting > this November 2008. Which currently has been scheduled > to > happen in another unannounced location. I am hoping > that a > country in the Sub Sahara will put in a bid quickly > enough, > otherwise we will hold the meeting in a location that > has > already held this meeting before.... > Njeri, > On 2/5/08 8:35 AM, "alice" <alice(a)apc.org> wrote: > > Hi All > > > > Despite our current troubles we still hope that > ICANN will > choose Kenya > > to celebrate its birthday at the ICANN Africa meeting > scheduled for > > November 2008. > > Note dates for this years IGF have changed. Now > taking place > in December. > > > > alice > > > > > > -------- Original Message -------- > > Subject: [AfrICANN-discuss] Internet Governance: > ICANN, > Security And > > Nation States > > Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2008 20:48:23 +0100 > > From: Anne-Rachel Inné <annerachel(a)gmail.com> > > Reply-To: africann(a)afrinic.net > > To: africann(a)afrinic.net > > > > > > > > Intellectual Property Watch > > > > > > 28 January 2008 > > > > > > Internet Governance: ICANN, Security And Nation > States > > > > By Monika Ermert for /Intellectual Property Watch/ > > The future of the Internet Corporation for Assigned > Names > and Numbers > > (ICANN) will remain an important topic in Internet > governance in 2008, > > the tenth anniversary of the private global > coordination > body for > > Internet addresses and domain names. > > > > Yet Internet governance experts also expect security > in its > different > > facets to be on the rise in Internet governance > debates and > point to the > > further growing interest of nation states in > exercising > their sovereign > > governance rights in cyberspace. And it is > increasingly the > case that > > governance of the Internet can affect access to > online > content. > > > > The Internet Governance Forum (IGF) > > [1]<http://www.intgovforum.org/index.htm> organised > by the > United Nations - > > which in December will hold its third gathering in > New Delhi > - likely > > will see more issues related to cybercriminality, > anonymity > and privacy, > > said Jeanette Hofmann, researcher at the Centre for > Analysis > of Risk and > > Regulation at the London School of Economics, and at > the > > Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, and > member > of the IGF > > Advisory Group. > > > > New ICANN Board Chairman Peter Dengate Thrush > announced a > "busy year" > > > > [2]<http://www.icann.org/announcements/announcement-03jan08.ht > m> and a > > "birthday party" to take place at the annual meeting > of > ICANN, which > > will be held not in the United States but in Africa > in > November 2008. > > The location for the birthday party may be seen as a > small > symbol for > > ICANN's emphasis on its declared internationality. It > has > been the > > United States' privileged position in ICANN and root > server > oversight > > that gave the primary original impulse for the > Internet > governance > > debate that has evolved so much over the past few > years. > > > > Weakening US Influence over Internet? > > > > More and more governments have called for change in > the > oversight > > structure for this tiny yet core part of the Internet > and > will call for > > that again in the newly launched consultation of the > US > Commerce > > Department National Telecommunications and > Information > Administration > > (NTIA) on "The Continued Transition of the Technical > Coordination and > > Management of the Internet's Domain Name and > Addressing > System." > > > > The consultation (deadline for statements 15 > February) is > part of the > > midterm review of the "Joint Project Agreement (JPA)" > - the > current > === message truncated ===> _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > This message was sent to: jwalu(a)yahoo.com > Unsubscribe or change your options at > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jwalu%40yahoo.com > ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: wanjira(a)cck.go.ke Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/wanjira%40cck.go.ke -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: mleonardo(a)yahoo.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/mleonardo%40yahoo.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

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AfDB YPP - with link
by Harry Hare 27 Feb '08

27 Feb '08

Dear All, Not sure there are any young professionals in this forum to take advantage of this opportunity. If not, probably we could pass this on. Please note the deadline for application (March 15th 2008) http://www.afdb.org/portal/page?_pageid=473,970775 <http://www.afdb.org/portal/page?_pageid=473,970775&_dad=portal&_schema=PORT AL> &_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL Regards Harry African eDevelopment Resource Centre 3rd Floor, Nelleon Place Raphta Road, Westlands PO Box 49475 00100 Nairobi, Kenya Cel +254 725 650044 Land +254 20 4453445 www.africanedevelopment.org <http://www.africanedevelopment.org/> My Blogg <http://egov-notes.blogspot.com/> *********************************************************** February 2008 Capacity Building Opportunities VSAT Field Engineering: 5-8 Records Management: 13-15 Fiber Optics: 26-29 Book Now, Limited spaces available

2 1

Re: [kictanet] Synchronizing Time Locally - NTP.KENIC.OR.KE
by Eric Osiakwan 27 Feb '08

27 Feb '08

Loud Applause.............KENIC ---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: Vincent Ngundi <vincent(a)kenic.or.ke> Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:55:47 +0300 >Dear All, > >FYI. > >In 2005, KENIC in line with its mandate to promote ICT's in the >Kenya, set up a GPS enabled NTP Server, ntp.kenic.or.ke, at the Kenya >Internet eXchange Point (KIXP) to provide date and time integrity for >computers. Most service providers have implemented time >synchronization on their systems utilizing network time servers >located in foreign countries. However, the time synchronization >services are not extended to their clients due to unreliable >connectivity and prohibitive costs associated with international >links. Consequently, most of their clients are oblivious of the >services' existence. > >Implementation of NTP services for the local Internet community >utilizes the Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, and is >expected to retain 0.5% of the current Internet traffic (NTP traffic) >locally therefore enabling the service providers to extend the NTP >services to their clients. Organizational expenses saved from >operational failures and data losses due to time inconsistencies >would be impossible to estimate. Consequently, date and time >integrity and accuracy on computerised data information is essential >for computer forensics procedures. The increased local content >traffic is essential in promoting the development local content and >local hosting and ensuring the operational stability of the Internet >in Kenya. > >Some of the organisations utilizing the local NTP services include >some Government bodies, ISP's, banks, corporates, and some >educational institutions. > >The local NTP server is synchronized to at least 5 satellites at any >one time thus making it the most accurate time source in the country. >Instructions on how to configure NTP services on various operating >systems can be found at: http://www.kenic.or.ke/index.php? >option=com_content&task=view&id=71&Itemid=87 > >Kind Regards, > >----------------- >Vincent Ngundi >Administrative Manager >KENIC - The Kenya Network Information Center >http://www.kenic.or.ke >vincent(a)kenic.or.ke >[T] +254 20 4450057/8 >[F] +254 20 4450087 > >_______________________________________________ >kictanet mailing list >kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke >http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > >This message was sent to: eric(a)afrispa.org >Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/eric%40afrispa.org > -- Eric M.K Osiakwan Executive Secretary AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org) Tel: + 233.21.258800 Fax: + 233.21.258811 Cell: + 233.244.386792 Handle: eosiakwan Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/ Slang: "Tomorrow Now" --

2 1

AfDB YPP
by Harry Hare 27 Feb '08

27 Feb '08

Dear All, Not sure there are any young professionals in this forum to take advantage of this opportunity. If not, probably we could pass this on. Please note the deadline for application (March 15th 2008) Regards Harry African eDevelopment Resource Centre 3rd Floor, Nelleon Place Raphta Road, Westlands PO Box 49475 00100 Nairobi, Kenya Cel +254 725 650044 Land +254 20 4453445 www.africanedevelopment.org <http://www.africanedevelopment.org/> My Blogg <http://egov-notes.blogspot.com/> *********************************************************** February 2008 Capacity Building Opportunities VSAT Field Engineering: 5-8 Records Management: 13-15 Fiber Optics: 26-29 Book Now, Limited spaces available

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Synchronizing Time Locally - NTP.KENIC.OR.KE
by Vincent Ngundi 27 Feb '08

27 Feb '08

Dear All, FYI. In 2005, KENIC in line with its mandate to promote ICT's in the Kenya, set up a GPS enabled NTP Server, ntp.kenic.or.ke, at the Kenya Internet eXchange Point (KIXP) to provide date and time integrity for computers. Most service providers have implemented time synchronization on their systems utilizing network time servers located in foreign countries. However, the time synchronization services are not extended to their clients due to unreliable connectivity and prohibitive costs associated with international links. Consequently, most of their clients are oblivious of the services' existence. Implementation of NTP services for the local Internet community utilizes the Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, and is expected to retain 0.5% of the current Internet traffic (NTP traffic) locally therefore enabling the service providers to extend the NTP services to their clients. Organizational expenses saved from operational failures and data losses due to time inconsistencies would be impossible to estimate. Consequently, date and time integrity and accuracy on computerised data information is essential for computer forensics procedures. The increased local content traffic is essential in promoting the development local content and local hosting and ensuring the operational stability of the Internet in Kenya. Some of the organisations utilizing the local NTP services include some Government bodies, ISP's, banks, corporates, and some educational institutions. The local NTP server is synchronized to at least 5 satellites at any one time thus making it the most accurate time source in the country. Instructions on how to configure NTP services on various operating systems can be found at: http://www.kenic.or.ke/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=71&Itemid=87 Kind Regards, ----------------- Vincent Ngundi Administrative Manager KENIC - The Kenya Network Information Center http://www.kenic.or.ke vincent(a)kenic.or.ke [T] +254 20 4450057/8 [F] +254 20 4450087

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Mobile phone threat
by Dorcas Muthoni 26 Feb '08

26 Feb '08

Extreme threats ..... The Taleban have threatened to blow up telephone masts across Afghanistan unless mobile phone companies agree to switch off their signals at night.* * They say that US and other foreign troops are using the signals to track down insurgents http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7262519.stm -- Muthoni My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/ -------------------------------------------- Mahatma Gandhi once said:- First they ignore you, Then they laugh at you, Then they fight you, AND THEN YOU WIN!!!

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Fwd: [AfrISPA.Discuss] Course at Arizona State University on "The Internet in Africa"
by Eric Osiakwan 26 Feb '08

26 Feb '08

Begin forwarded message: > From: William Foster <wfoster8560(a)yahoo.com> > Date: 25 February 2008 22:26:15 GMT+03:00 > To: AfISPA <discuss(a)afrispa.org> > Cc: Patience Akpan-Obong <pakpan2004(a)yahoo.com> > Subject: [AfrISPA.Discuss] Course at Arizona State University on > "The Internet in Africa" > Reply-To: Discuss(a)afrispa.org > > For those of you interested in doing international sociology > research, I would like to ask you to consider taking my "Internet > in Africa" course that will be offered in the summer of 2008. Eric > Osiakwan and I will co-teach the class. > > The main deliverable will be a country study of Internet/cell phone > diffusion in a specific African country of your choice. > > My experience is that there are enough resources on the Internet > which when supplemented with Internet based interviews can be used > to do high quality original work that is of a publishable quality. > > The online course will be offered twice in both the first and > second summer sessions: > > Internet in Africa, Soc 194-1005 Line number 46695 > Summer 1, June 2-July 4 > > Internet in Africa, Soc 194-1007 Line number 46626 > Summer 2, July 7-Aug. 8 > > I would appreciate it if you would pass this along > to who might be interested. I can be reached at > wfoster8560(a)yahoo.com > or by phone at 1-520-440-0807. > > ********* > Getting course credit at Arizona State University > · All registration can be done online: > > Registrar’s Website --- http:// > students.asu.edu/registration > > · Apply online and pay online for application to ASU > > · Apply as Unclassified Admission > > - For Summer School Class, they > can be admitted for one class. > > · Admission to ASU > > · Pay Out of State Tuition > > Fees are at: > http://www.asu.edu/summer/summer_tf/ > > · Register for class > > · After grades are posted , request ASU transcripts be sent > to your University. > > > > William Foster, PhD > Faculty Associate > Social and Behavioral Sciences > Arizona State University Polytechnic > http://www.FosterandBrahm.com > 520-440-0807 > wfoster8560 (Skype) > > Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! > Search. Eric M.K Osiakwan Executive Secretary AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org) Tel: + 233.21.258800 ext 2031 Fax: + 233.21.258811 Cell: + 233.244.386792 Handle: eosiakwan Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/ Slang: "Tomorrow Now"

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Kimathi Information Centre Symposium Program of the day March 22, 2008.
by Jose' 25 Feb '08

25 Feb '08

Greetings, Kindly find attached newsletter,program and poster for the upcoming Small medium Enterprise symposium organized by Kimathi Information Centre.We look forward to see you all there in support of Emerging Enterprise Regards, Jose' 0728878744. Best Regards, Jose' Njuki-Imwe Ngunjiri || +254 722 336754 || --------------------------------- Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.

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INCEPTION WORKSHOP OF THE ELECTRONICE WASTE PROJECT IN KENYA
by Evelyne Majale 25 Feb '08

25 Feb '08

Dear all Further to the introduction meeting of the E-waste Project in Kenya held on 27/11/2007, Kictanet is pleased to invite you to the Inception Workshop to be held at Jacaranda Hotel on Monday, 03rd March 2008. Please find attached the invitation letter and tentative programme. Evelyne

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Are we a media state?
by Alex Gakuru 25 Feb '08

25 Feb '08

Let's face it, we are all afraid of the media projecting us badly. As the saying goes the media "makes or kills". That is tremendous power either ways depending on how it is used. Their pen can kill or make things happen. But "the media" is not a homogeneous thing. Like every other sector of society it has good people, questionable people and crooks as well. When I proposed that respective media houses conduct own audits, the media council another, and the government to do the final task force, it was on the premise that we all accepted that "the media" played a very big role in the events that led to the sorry of Kenya. We were looking at fixing the problem so that it never again happens in Kenya. I still stand by my statement. It is saddening to read that the media council has gone ahead to form not an audit but "a task force". And that they point to towards claiming that the government does not have the mandate to form a task force. In self-support, sections of the same media float suspicions "what is the ministry up to?" then reporting "media control is a tool traditionally used by oppressive governments" and editorials... If even MPs in clash-torn areas turn to and ask government for protection in their own areas, is it right for the media not to recognise that "for-common good" government always must always be recognised as the supreme authority on the the state? Is the media exempt from all forms of external audit? If this is the case, then we may as well come to terms that we moved to a "media state", just like exists "police states", dictators etc etc and in that scenario the media controls even all its critisms and would not be any different from past "news" critical e.g. to police etc for conducting internal closed investigations. Trust in their honesty delivery of news to consumers becomes questionable and one is left never to trust all news. Consumers need a media they can trust their information. A media open governance scrutiny the always help us hold government open and accountable. The government look after all of us, including the media and I recognize government as the final power over society's welfare. If we fail to collectively correct recent mistakes then "media resources" might also well be included in the ongoing peace talks because daily information consumers mind and opinion control is the most powerful national asset. Regards, Alex Gakuru ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

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Mutua/Media Council beef all about superiority
by Rebecca Wanjiku 23 Feb '08

23 Feb '08

Media audit was a great idea. It would have been good to have a clearer picture of how the media performed. I was waiting to see which media house will be indicted. It did not matter who is doing it, at least we would have had a process in place, capable of being improved on in future. But the credibility of such a process seems to be dark. Why? its about superiority, nothing to do with the media audit read the full post - beckyit.blogspot.com Tel. 254 720 318 925 blog:http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping

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Online Outsourcing
by robert yawe 22 Feb '08

22 Feb '08

Hi, I think we are in serious trouble as IT fellows unless we get our act together. I have been looking for someone to develop what I would call a simple SMS solution. All the local programmers I have approached have been asking for an arm and a leg and even when I agreed to their terms they have been unable to deliver. A few days ago I was lamenting to a colleague about my dilemma, his solution, go to www.elance.com or www.odesk.com. If this is the fuuture of programming engagements then we seriously need to rethink our careers. The consoling factor is that its not only IT people who will be affected its all so called white collar jobs. Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696 __________________________________________________________ Sent from Yahoo! Mail. A Smarter Inbox. http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html

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India Losing it's Attraction as Offshore R & D option?
by brian 21 Feb '08

21 Feb '08

This should be v. interesting for us as we gear up for the "offshoring" onslaught..... Question is: What do we need to do to be ready to pitch for the kind of R&D investments that India has benefited from? - good bandwidth? (imminent) - fairly priced labour force (done) - R&D skills (errmmhh - anyone?) - conducive investment policy (somewhat) - stable political environment (oh dear...) anything else? Brian ps. for Alex ;-) http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080220/technology/india_economy_technology_r… ---------------------------- Tue Feb 19, 10:45 PM BANGALORE, India (AFP) - India used to be seen as the perfect offshore research and development hub for global firms seeking to tap its low-cost and supposedly vast engineering talent pool to devise products for world markets. ADVERTISEMENT Companies including Microsoft, IBM, Intel, AMD, Google, Motorola, Yahoo!, Cisco and Siemens have opened R and D centres in India, drawn by payroll costs that were once a quarter of those in the US and Europe. But the cost advantage is fading and engineers trained in basic research are harder to find, reducing India's appeal, says Zinnov, a consultancy that advises overseas firms on R and D issues. "Some companies witnessed a 20 percent rise last year in the cost of running their R and D operations in India," Zinnov chief executive Pari Natarajan said in an interview. "If this trend continues, the cost advantage of doing R and D in India compared to the US will go away," he said, predicting a shakeout in the R and D offshoring market. India is home to 594 R and D facilities set up by overseas firms that invested a combined 5.83 billion dollars, according to Zinnov. Rising costs and a shortage of skilled workers have also hurt other industries -- from software to retailing -- in an economy that has expanded at an annual average of 8.6 percent over the past four years. But the R and D offshoring market has received scant attention. "Costs are going up all over, and we are also facing a shortage of shop floor workers," said Anjun Roy, economist at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. "There is a need to improve skill sets in a lot of areas." Like software makers, R and D centres whose expenses are incurred mainly in rupees were hurt by a more than 12 percent rise last year in the value of the Indian unit against the dollar. Wages jumped about 15 percent as companies fought to hire and retain hard-to-find engineers skilled in research. India turns out more than half a million engineers every year, but institutions do not train them in basic research, limiting the available talent pool to no more than 100,000 people, said Natarajan. The shortage may set back the ambitious expansion plans announced by companies such as networking giant Cisco, which said in October that it plans to triple its headcount in India to 10,000 in three years. "It's going to be very difficult for companies which have very aggressive hiring targets," Natarajan said. "It's almost impossible to hire unless you compromise on the quality of talent." Cisco, which plans to use India to develop products for customers in emerging markets, has opened 170 academies across the country and is training 8,600 students to overcome the talent crunch, human resources executive Leo Scrivener said. "We are aware that a large pool of technical specialists and business solutions experts can't be readily hired from the market," Scrivener told AFP. Cisco has benefited from its R and D facility in India that has generated 110 US patents, with another 400 pending with the US Patents and Trademark Office. Hundreds of patents have been filed by other research facilities based in the country. Half the work on an Intel wonder chip, a fingernail-sized device unveiled last year that offers supercomputer performance, was done by its India research centre. Despite the problems facing R and D, Zinnov predicts that investment in existing facilities by large global companies capable of riding out rising costs, and with the infrastructure to train fresh graduates, will drive India as an offshore R and D destination. That will pump up the R and D market by an annual average of 23 percent until 2012, even as per-employee cost in India increases by a yearly 13.3 percent. Smaller facilities may have to shut shop or sell out while investment in new R and D centres will likely dry up as part of a looming consolidation, said Natarajan.

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on sovereignty, peace talks and the "Responsibility To Protect" (R2P)
by saidimu apale 21 Feb '08

21 Feb '08

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/20/opinion/edcohen.php ("A Change to Believe in") An intriguing article exploring current (fading?) notions of sovereignty ("that state sovereignty - the unfettered power of a state within its own jurisdiction - was the inviolable basis of international law"), to evolving ideas about sovereignty and international law ("R2P formalized the notion that when a state proves unable or unwilling to protect its people, and crimes against humanity are perpetrated, the international community has an obligation to intervene - if necessary, and as a last resort, with military force"). Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_to_protect) has a good overview. Makes for interesting reading in light of the brouhaha over the peace talks. Regards, Saidi ------- A Change to Believe In by Roger Cohen Fidel Castro has quit after a half-century in power. An African-American has become a serious contender for the U.S. presidency, winning a 10th consecutive victory over his rival for the Democratic nomination. A new European state, Kosovo, has been born. And that’s just in the last week. Communist dictators don’t quit. Blacks don’t have broad U.S. electoral appeal. European borders don’t shift without bloodshed. History has been upended. Change, as Barack Obama would put it, is something you can believe in. After the cold war’s end, and close to one million dead in the genocides of Bosnia (1992) and Rwanda (1994), and the digitally-induced dissolution of barriers and distances and hierarchies, some governments thought everything could remain the same. They thought wrong, and not just in Havana and Pyongyang. They believed that in the age of globalization the principles of the Treaties of Westphalia, dating back to 1648, would be enough. In places like Moscow and Beijing and Belgrade, they clung to the idea that state sovereignty — the unfettered power of a state within its own jurisdiction — was the inviolable basis of international law. Boris Tadic, the Serbian president, took this line at the United Nations this week, insisting that Kosovo’s independence ”annuls international law, tramples upon justice and enthrones injustice.” He’s wrong. Let’s set aside the fact that Kosovo held one of the eight seats in the rotating presidency of a defunct state, Yugoslavia, and other holders of those federal seats from Slovenia to Bosnia to Macedonia all become independent. At a deeper level, the story of little Kosovo is the story of changing notions of sovereignty and international law. After the above-mentioned genocides, one perpetrated by the late Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia, both revealing a U.N. Security Council too divided to stop mass slaughter, NATO circumvented the council in 1999. It waged war for the first time to prevent Milosevic doing his worst again in Kosovo. The war, in the words of Thomas Weiss, a political scientist at the City University of New York, ”had legitimacy even if its legality was questioned.” This legitimacy stemmed from an evolving consensus that, as Tony Blair once put it, ”acts of genocide can never be a purely internal matter.” Sovereignty, after Bosnia, after Rwanda, in a globalized world, was more than authority over territory and people. It was also responsibility. When that responsibility to protect was flouted, when a government abused the basic rights of its citizens through slaughter or ethnic cleansing, sovereignty could in effect be suspended. As Kofi Annan, the former U.N. secretary general, put it: ”State sovereignty, in its most basic sense, is being redefined.” For Annan, as Weiss has noted, ”Human rights transcended narrow claims of state sovereignty.” Which brings us to ”R2P.” That’s not a rock band or a chemical compound. In 2005, the World Summit adopted the ”responsibility to protect,” known by that acronym. R2P formalized the notion that when a state proves unable or unwilling to protect its people, and crimes against humanity are perpetrated, the international community has an obligation to intervene — if necessary, and as a last resort, with military force. Member states declared that, with Security Council approval, they were prepared "to take collective action in a timely and decisive manner" when "national authorities manifestly fail to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity." An independent Kosovo, recognized by major Western powers, is in effect the first major fruit of the ideas behind R2P. It could not have happened if the rights of human beings were not catching up at last with the rights of states. Appropriately, Kosovo’s emergence coincided with the establishment in New York of the Global Center for the Responsibility to Protect, directed by Weiss. Backed by the Canadian, British and Dutch governments, among others, and with support from Ban Ki Moon, Annan’s successor, the organization’s mission is the spread of R2P principles. They need bolstering. The Iraq war has revived a 21st century sovereignty fetish exploited by Sudan to stall U.N. efforts to stop genocide in Darfur, where the government has failed utterly in its ”responsibility to protect” without provoking "timely and decisive" international action. Interventionism is increasingly seen in the Middle East and Africa as a camouflage for Western interests. But I believe the tide will eventually turn. R2P will be a reference. It is part of what Lawrence Weschler has called ”the decades-long, at times maddeningly halting, vexed, and compromised effort to expand the territory of law itself.” The ”territory of law” is now also the universal territory on which human life is protected. Westphalian principles meet R2P. An R2P generation is coming. The prizing open of the world is slow work, but from Kosovo to Cuba it continues. -----------

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Row Erupts Over Financing of Teams Cable Deal
by Dorcas Muthoni 21 Feb '08

21 Feb '08

We all want the best for TEAMS. Any Comments ?? ........... the $80 million East African Marine System project - popularly known as Teams - under which the government is to construct a 1,500-kilometre submarine cable between Mombasa and Fujaira in the United Arab Emirates, continues to be dogged by controversy. A new row has erupted over the manner in which the financing of the cable has been arranged. Apparently, the government had delayed in meeting the conditions agreed by the contractors, Messrs Alacatel Lucent of France, which was awarded the tender to build the cable in October last year. ...More >> http://allafrica.com/stories/200802191072.html?viewall=1 -- Muthoni My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/ -------------------------------------------- Mahatma Gandhi once said:- First they ignore you, Then they laugh at you, Then they fight you, AND THEN YOU WIN!!!

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[Fwd: [AfrICANN-discuss] Judge Shuts Down Web Site Specializing in Leaks --- This is pretty interesting!]
by alice 20 Feb '08

20 Feb '08

February 20, 2008 Judge Shuts Down Web Site Specializing in Leaks By ADAM LIPTAK and BRAD STONE http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/20/us/20wiki.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=s… In a move that legal experts said could present a major test of First Amendment rights in the Internet era, a federal judge in San Francisco on Friday ordered the disabling of a Web site devoted to disclosing confidential information. The site, Wikileaks.org, invites people to post leaked materials with the goal of discouraging "unethical behavior" by corporations and governments. It has posted documents said to show the rules of engagement for American troops in Iraq, a military manual for the operation of the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and other evidence of what it has called corporate waste and wrongdoing. The case in San Francisco was brought by a Cayman Islands bank, Julius Baer Bank and Trust. In court papers, the bank said that "a disgruntled ex-employee who has engaged in a harassment and terror campaign" provided stolen documents to Wikileaks in violation of a confidentiality agreement and banking laws. According to Wikileaks, "the documents allegedly reveal secret Julius Baer trust structures used for asset hiding, money laundering and tax evasion." On Friday, Judge Jeffrey S. White of Federal District Court in San Francisco granted a permanent injunction ordering Dynadot, the site's domain name registrar, to disable the Wikileaks.org domain name. The order had the effect of locking the front door to the site — a largely ineffectual action that kept back doors to the site, and several copies of it, available to sophisticated Web users who knew where to look. Domain registrars like Dynadot, Register.com and GoDaddy .com provide domain names — the Web addresses users type into browsers — to Web site operators for a monthly fee. Judge White ordered Dynadot to disable the Wikileaks.org address and "lock" it to prevent the organization from transferring the name to another registrar. The feebleness of the action suggests that the bank, and the judge, did not understand how the domain system works, or how quickly Web communities will move to counter actions they see as hostile to free speech online. The site itself could still be accessed at its Internet Protocol address (http://88.80.13.160/) — the unique number that specifies a Web site's location on the Internet. Wikileaks also maintained "mirror sites," or copies usually produced to ensure against failures and this kind of legal action. Some sites were registered in Belgium (http://wikileaks.be/) Germany (http://wikileaks.de) and the Christmas Islands (http://wikileaks.cx) through domain registrars other than Dynadot, and so were not affected by the injunction. Fans of the site and its mission rushed to publicize those alternate addresses this week. They have also distributed copies of the bank information on their own sites and via peer-to-peer file sharing networks. In a separate order, also issued on Friday, Judge White ordered Wikileaks to stop distributing the bank documents. The second order, which the judge called an amended temporary restraining order, did not refer to the permanent injunction but may have been an effort to narrow it. Lawyers for the bank and Dynadot did not respond to requests for comment. Judge White has scheduled a hearing in the case for Feb. 29. In a statement on its site, Wikileaks compared Judge White's orders to ones eventually overturned by the United States Supreme Court in the Pentagon Papers case in 1971. In that case, the federal government sought to enjoin publication by The New York Times and The Washington Post of a secret history of the Vietnam War. "The Wikileaks injunction is the equivalent of forcing The Times's printers to print blank pages and its power company to turn off press power," the site said, referring to the order that sought to disable the entire site. The site said it was founded by dissidents in China and journalists, mathematicians and computer specialists in the United States, Taiwan, Europe, Australia and South Africa. Its goal, it said, is to develop "an uncensorable Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis." Judge White's order disabling the entire site "is clearly not constitutional," said David Ardia, the director of the Citizen Media Law Project at Harvard Law School. "There is no justification under the First Amendment for shutting down an entire Web site." The narrower order, forbidding the dissemination of the disputed documents, is a more classic prior restraint on publication. Such orders are disfavored under the First Amendment and almost never survive appellate scrutiny. Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company _______________________________________________ AfrICANN mailing list AfrICANN(a)afrinic.net https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann

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Small medium Size Symposium -March 22, 2008-Mentors (Ms.Nyokabi)
by Jose' 19 Feb '08

19 Feb '08

Greetings, As the symposium draws closer,more professionals are comming on board on the mentorship clinic tent that will see enterpreneurs get new direction this comming year. below find Ms.Nyokabi's profile who has maximised on marketing. FORTUNE/STATE DEPARTMENT INTERNATIONAL WOMEN LEADERS MENTORING PARTNERSHIP At the International level Ms Nyokabi, the MSS CEOs extraordinary entrepreneurship and business acumen saw her selected by the US State Department to represent Kenya in a U.S. Government-sponsored program dubbed the Fortune/State Department International Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership. This business leadership & mentoring program running from April 29th through May 27th 2007, placed selected emerging businesswomen from the global arena in a mentoring program with Fortune's most acclaimed women leaders in the business world. Ms Nyokabi had the privilege of training under the mentorship of one of Americas most powerful women; Ms. Kathleen Vaughan who is an Executive Vice President at Wells Fargo where she leads one of the many financial services companies for the fortune 500 bank. Wells Fargo is among the 5 top banks in the USA and is the only triple AAA rated bank. The mentorship also provided opportunity to engage with Senators Hilary Clinton and Kay Hutchinson together with Elaine Chao, Secretary, US Department of Labor. Ms Nyokabi further maximized on this important visit to the US to attend a Situational Leadership Conference at the Wells Fargo Conference Centre in San Francisco from 18 to 19th May 2007 designed and developed by Ken Blanchard, the American leadership guru at which she was the only delegate from Africa. The experience therefore gives our business an appreciation of the unique standards of excellence such top-tier business organizations want to achieve and sustain in Africa --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

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Being charged to play radio!?
by nancy bosire 19 Feb '08

19 Feb '08

Hi All, There are people going round asking for a fee of Ksh.1950 so as to allow any one to play music in public e.g companies.. anybody else aware of this? apparently this was on TV yesterday (i did not catch news or had a chance to read the paper). my questions.. which body enacted this? CCK or the ministry of Info Comm ( Hon. Bitange?) is there a site that has the info on how this will work? deadlines, the rates etc etc who will regulate this? -- Sincerely yours, Secretariat Manager Kenya ICT Federation Tel: 020 4440102 Mobile: 0721907995 secretariat(a)kif.or.ke, info(a)kif.or.ke http://www.kif.or.ke "Whatever your mind expects and demands, it will find a way to produce it." - Napoleon Hill Mahatma Gandhi once said:- First they ignore you, Then they laugh at you, Then they fight you, AND THEN YOU WIN!!!

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[Fwd: Re: OHH POLE???-Didn't look like.]
by bitange＠jambo.co.ke 18 Feb '08

18 Feb '08

Dear All, This is unwarranted (below)attack and does not help us to develop a nation called Kenya. ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: Re: OHH POLE???-Didn't look like. From: "Robert Alai" <alai.robert(a)gmail.com> Date: Sat, February 16, 2008 8:12 am To: "John Walubengo" <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> Cc: "alice" <alice(a)apc.org> "Washington Odhiambo" <odhiambo(a)gmail.com> "eve kictanet" <evelyne(a)kictanet.or.ke> "bitange(a)jambo.co.ke" <bitange(a)jambo.co.ke> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- John respect when people are being forcibly circumcised. I worked in the forces and from our own intelligence Kibaki is arming the Kikuyus for a major offensive now. We have pictures and facts about this and videos of confessions. Kenya cant and wont be the same with the kind of attitude which Bitange is creating while we know that people aare being killed for not being Kikuyus. I dont have two months in forums John. I run kaziafrika fforum which has more than 5700 active members. I run jamboforums.com which iss the public watchdog for Tanzania and has 5 million hits in one month. Jamboforum is credited with revealing the Richmond scandal, Buzwagi scandal, BOT scandal, and many others. I have experiece of 6 years in UN hostile zones including and not limited to DRC, Rwanda, Burundi and Mozambique. Guys dont lick the ass of people like Bitange just because they are PSs. I personnaly wrote to my former boss who is Ban Ki Moon and sent the pics and also copied the humanitarian head who is Holmes. I believe that Kibaki and his cohorts like Ndemo are buying time to butcher Kenyans. All routes in Nairobi which matatus operat in have now see the ressurgence of Mungikis in the name of touts. These people are preparing to strike. I have witnessed in one of the routes Mungikis slashing people with razor blades. It a new attack which is ccoming up. People are now being attacked wwith razor blades and not Pangas as before. Guys lets be serrious lakini tafadhalini tusilambe tako la Ndemo. Alai On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 4:06 PM, John Walubengo <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > Robert, > > I dont know you. You dont know me, but probably by virtue > of being a moderator of the KICTAnet list I have had to > endure your 'tantrums'. I actually dont know how all this > started but all I can say is that I see you are hurting and > probably you should avoid writing/posting until you get > your cool. > > Anger is a bad partner when combined with the written word. > Infact the things you say are easily forgotten but those > you write remain forever. In my brief online life, I have > learnt never to scribble when am worked up. What I do is > to scribble, save it and review the content 12hrs later. > Most of the times, I make changes that pass the same > message in a more diplomatic and positive manner. > > And that's really what the KICTAnet list is asking of > members. Diplomacy. Try to say things with respect just as > you would in real life. > > walu. > --- Robert Alai <alai.robert(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > Alice > > > > So thats what they taught you in school? Thats what you > > do at CCK? Hey you > > are simle failure to Kenyans. You believe in solving a > > problem by running > > away from it? Let me teach you abou lists and forums. I > > see your Masters > > degree is not coming handy here. > > > > Alai > > > > On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 8:35 AM, Robert Alai > > <alai.robert(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > Alice > > > > > > Did it touch you? Who again did you warn. Do you see > > like you are cutting > > > my oxygen when you ban me? Ban, kwani? If Wainaina > > brings politics know that > > > I will answer him politically and threats from you or > > Ndemo wont scare me. > > > Kenyans know the truth and thinking that ogre mentality > > will scare me from > > > saying what it is as it is then you are in for a > > suprise. By the way how > > > important is KICTANET? > > > > > > Alice, you are just behaving like Michuki who was > > Bitange's boss. Thinking > > > that killing the messenger will stop people from > > getting the truth. Hell NO. > > > KTN and Standard are more stronger than ever and with > > or without government > > > lincenses we watch it in Kisumu through sattelite. > > > > > > Shame on you and your stooge, Ndemo. > > > > > > Alai > > > unedited > > > > > > On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 8:27 AM, alice <alice(a)apc.org> > > wrote: > > > > > > > Dear Robert... > > > > > > > > This is a warning to you. Respect KICTAnet mailing > > list rules especially > > > > these ones: > > > > > > > > *WHAT KINDS OF THINGS ARE INAPPROPRIATE FOR THE > > LISTSERV?** *The > > > > listserv should *not* be used at this time for > > personal > > > > advertising of services or the advertisement of > > services available > > > > from someone else. Please do *not* send updates > > of your addresses > > > > or other personal contact details to the > > listserv. Greetings to > > > > your friends, etc only flood mailboxes and > > should *not *be done > > > > through the listserv. Gender inappropriate or > > other references > > > > that may be offensive to some groups or > > individuals should not be > > > > posted, of course. > > > > * *Mailing list manners you must mind*: Don't send > > rude, political, > > > > tribal and offensive e-mails or postings. * Be > > polite - virtual > > > > members are real not a cyberspace dunderheads > > with no feelings.* > > > > Watch your words - We can't see your face, and > > the emotions in > > > > words can get misinterpreted.* Kick the bad > > language - People are > > > > listening.* Laws are laws - What's real in the > > real world are the > > > > same in cyberspace. Be ethical in your posting, > > don't lie, > > > > plagiarize, or deliberately do harm to another > > KICTANet forum user. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > if you repeat these offences we shall ban you from > > this list. > > > > > > > > regards > > > > > > > > alice munyua > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -------- Original Message -------- > > > > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Kenya: The Media is > > Not Innocent > > > > Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:51:59 +0300 > > > > From: Robert Alai <alai.robert(a)gmail.com> > > > > To: alice(a)apc.org > > > > CC: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions > > <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > > > > References: > > > > > > > <fb2c60220802130416x356f9e9ap82debaf42c1e8407(a)mail.gmail.com> > > > > <453375.42402.qm(a)web36201.mail.mud.yahoo.com> > > > > > > > <21ca13ee0802130755if502766jfafb1e0376853656(a)mail.gmail.com> > > > > > > > <fb2c60220802140803l3b7d322meef08c0bcd42964c(a)mail.gmail.com> > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Wainaina > > > > This is funny. On one hand you are describing how > > KTN/Standard did > > > > incite the public and ignore the fact that All Royal > > Media outlets > > > > including RamogiFM, Kameme, and KBC have gone to > > become Kikuyu > > > > chauvinist and not ready to protect the interest of > > Kenya. On another > > > > hand you claim ho the current Kenyan problem is > > political. *THE PROBLEM > > > > IS NOT POLITICAL BUT ETHNIC. *I have just come from a > > tour which took me > > > > from Tigoni, Juja, Nyeri, Naivasha, Eldoret, Kisumu, > > Yala and Busia. I > > > > travelled with the IDPs and listened and cried of > > what I heard. Kenyans > > > > are being denied their rights because they are not > > Kikuyu. I have the > > > > word of MPs and confirmed with IOM that the > > government explicitly > > > > informed the Redcross and IOM not to serve some > > communities. I have > > > > horror tales of women whose husbands were hacked with > > pangas inside > > > > Tigoni police station and the police couldnt save > > because they are not > > > > Kikuyu. I have talked to Abbas of IOM of how > > different Redcross is > > > > treating IDPs. kikuyu IDPs are treated with all care > > and others ignored. > > > > I personally snatched blankets from Pamela who is the > > regional redcross > > > > manager in Kisumu when she refused to give them to > > mothers and chidren I > > > > transported from tigoni and naivasha. I brought 17 > > buses and called > > > > redcross and informed them of my mission. I had a > > meeting with Dr Simiyu > > > > and Abbas Guled and they agreed to prepare the > > ground. After a whole day > > > > travel I got redcross not ready and when they saw the > > buses is when they > > > > started cutting the mbogas and meat. We handed over 4 > > children whose > > > > mother was admitted to Agha khan with serious illness > > and redcross took > > > > the children to a police station in Siaya. > > > > Kenyan problem is tribal and not political. We cannot > > have one tribe > > > > running roughshod and even the religious leaders from > > Kikuyu preaching > > > > the Kikuyu superiority. We cannot have one tribe > > killing and maiming > > > > Kenyans while claiming there is a genocide against > > Kikuyus. No Kikuyu > > > > was killed in Kisumu. Infact they were protected and > > even I have Mwangi, > > > > and Kuria who are my friends living and working in > > Kisumu even now when > > > > they cant work anywhere else. But Kibaki is ordering > > NGOs not to serve > > > > non Kikuyus. Kikuyus enjoy greater access to loans > > and even humanitarian > > > > assistance. Go to Kondele in Kisumu where the Kikuyu > > IDPs are housed. > > > > You will find that there is a bigger difference with > > Moi stadium where > > > > redcross dont want to even put basic facilities > > forcing the local > > > > community in Kisumu to house the IDPs at St Stephens. > > > > kenyans, these theories of Bitange and Wainaina only > > works for the few > > > > they serve. Bitange was key in selling 51percent > > shares of Telkom Kenya > > > > to the french consortium at 26 Billion Ksh. Before > > that the government > > > > cleared a debt of 69 billion. if 51% shares were sold > > at 26 it menas > > > > that Telkom Kenya was just worht 52 Billion. Why > > settle a debt of 69 > > > > billion? What is the mathematics here? telkom Kenya > > was worthless? Shame > > > > on you Bitange. Only people who dont know your inner > > dealings will > > > === message truncated === > > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > Be a better friend, newshound, and > know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. > http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ > > -- --------------------------------- www.kazi-africa.com polls2007.blogspot.com ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. --------------------------------------------- "easy access to the world" ---------------------------------------------- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. --------------------------------------------- "easy access to the world"

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Is Big Brother watching us?
by Miano Njoka 18 Feb '08

18 Feb '08

A while back, the government announced that it would prosecute anyone sending hate messages via SMS. Safaricom's CEO mentioned in a post to this list that they were working on a filtering system to stop hate messages, pornography, etc. Are these actions right? Is Big Brother (in George Orwell's 1984) watching us? I guess valid arguments can be made both for and against the government invading its citizens privacy in the interest of national security, what I'd like to know is, are these actions legal? Are there laws in Kenya to protect the right to privacy? Are communication companies bound by law to protect their customers information? Are these laws, if any, enforced? Miano Njoka.

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The Truth about Telkom
by Victor Maloi 18 Feb '08

18 Feb '08

The truth about Telkom I worked for Telkom Kenya, I know Telkom's problems from the 1980's, I knew Telkom players but last week's e-mail in this forum directed at Dr. Bitange Ndemo regarding Telkom (see the last paras of the e-mail) was purely a smear campaign. I have not met Ndemo in person but the day I meet him, I will hug him for playing part in saving this National asset. Throughout the 1980's my cousins from the Rift Valley blundered the giant telco. Nine thousand of their kin with barely standard seven certificates were employed to hang around corridors. At one point there were ten tea girls in the MD's office. Managers built magnificent real estate properties in Nairobi using the resources from Telkom. The state corporation owed everybody including KRA and employee pension fund. At one time KRA was owed 30 billion. When Alai implies that the Government used 69 billion to restructure then sold 51% of the corporation for 26 billion as rip off, he only shows us how naïve he is. Did he expect the French to retire the debts? In my view this Alai man is being used to cover up things in Telkom. Remember in the run up to the election ODM opposed the sale. Now the truth has come out. My cousins did not want anybody to unravel the blunder of public resources they had stolen. They used some of this resource to oil the ODM campaign. This the same money the Kauleis are using to pay militias in the Rift Valley. For sometime now my cousins tightly kept the secrets at Telkom and were jittery when one of theirs Munsonic was bundled out and later Kirei. To date these cousins of mine still hold the corporation at ransom having created small companies with long term contracts with the corporation. The link between these people and Alai's people was clearly articulated in a rift valley FM station by a Mr. Sang. He called the Luos the "Bridge" the Kikuyu the "weeds" the Kisiis and Luhyias "madoadoa". The Bridge was to be used to bring them to the Promised Land. The one in which most us were dubbed that we were part of the larger Kalenjin. Today we suffer in Transmara where the Kalenjin are threatening to take even our local leadership. You guess what happened to the weeds and madoadoas. This brings me to a conclusion that Alai is not alone although he may me working foolishly not knowing that he is being used as a stepping stone. We eagerly await for the Truth Commission to bring all this out before we start attacking people who may not have been party to the destruction of Telkom and other state corporations. Victor Alai's e-mail Wainaina This is funny. On one hand you are describing how KTN/Standard did incite the public and ignore the fact that All Royal Media outlets including RamogiFM, Kameme, and KBC have gone to become Kikuyu chauvinist and not ready to protect the interest of Kenya. On another hand you claim ho the current Kenyan problem is political. *THE PROBLEM IS NOT POLITICAL BUT ETHNIC. *I have just come from a tour which took me from Tigoni, Juja, Nyeri, Naivasha, Eldoret, Kisumu, Yala and Busia. I travelled with the IDPs and listened and cried of what I heard. Kenyans are being denied their rights because they are not Kikuyu. I have the word of MPs and confirmed with IOM that the government explicitly informed the Redcross and IOM not to serve some communities. I have horror tales of women whose husbands were hacked with pangas inside Tigoni police station and the police couldnt save because they are not Kikuyu. I have talked to Abbas of IOM of how different Redcross is treating IDPs. kikuyu IDPs are treated with all care and others ignored. I personally snatched blankets from Pamela who is the regional redcross manager in Kisumu when she refused to give them to mothers and chidren I transported from tigoni and naivasha. I brought 17 buses and called redcross and informed them of my mission. I had a meeting with Dr Simiyu and Abbas Guled and they agreed to prepare the ground. After a whole day travel I got redcross not ready and when they saw the buses is when they started cutting the mbogas and meat. We handed over 4 children whose mother was admitted to Agha khan with serious illness and redcross took the children to a police station in Siaya. Kenyan problem is tribal and not political. We cannot have one tribe running roughshod and even the religious leaders from Kikuyu preaching the Kikuyu superiority. We cannot have one tribe killing and maiming Kenyans while claiming there is a genocide against Kikuyus. No Kikuyu was killed in Kisumu. Infact they were protected and even I have Mwangi, and Kuria who are my friends living and working in Kisumu even now when they cant work anywhere else. But Kibaki is ordering NGOs not to serve non Kikuyus. Kikuyus enjoy greater access to loans and even humanitarian assistance. Go to Kondele in Kisumu where the Kikuyu IDPs are housed. You will find that there is a bigger difference with Moi stadium where redcross dont want to even put basic facilities forcing the local community in Kisumu to house the IDPs at St Stephens. kenyans, these theories of Bitange and Wainaina only works for the few they serve. Bitange was key in selling 51percent shares of Telkom Kenya to the french consortium at 26 Billion Ksh. Before that the government cleared a debt of 69 billion. if 51% shares were sold at 26 it menas that Telkom Kenya was just worht 52 Billion. Why settle a debt of 69 billion? What is the mathematics here? telkom Kenya was worthless? Shame on you Bitange. Only people who dont know your inner dealings will respect what you say. You really like to please masters and never acts proffesionaly. Alai

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Re: [kictanet] Fibre Optic Cables
by Eric Osiakwan 17 Feb '08

17 Feb '08

Nothing against all the big guns establishing in Kenya but what about a long term objective of building our own version of Akamai,googles, Limelights etc. Dont forget the real winners in the knowledge era are those who produce their own not use others. So our long term objective should be to have our own alongside others because it is a free market economy. Eric here ---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: Michuki Mwangi <michuki(a)swiftkenya.com> Reply-To: michuki(a)swiftkenya.com Date: Tue, 12 Feb 2008 08:14:04 +0300 > > >bitange(a)jambo.co.ke wrote: >> Good news is that Etisalat (our partners in Teams) in conjunction with >> Akamai are building an Internet Point of Presence (POP) in Fujaira thus >> eliminating long distance needs for Internet in this region. > >The long term objective should be to have the likes of Akamai, Limelight >and google collocating their nodes in Kenya. This will essentially keep >at least 50% of our Internet traffic local. > >Regards, > >Michuki. > >_______________________________________________ >kictanet mailing list >kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke >http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > >This message was sent to: eric(a)afrispa.org >Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/eric%40afrispa.org > -- Eric M.K Osiakwan Executive Secretary AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org) Tel: + 233.21.258800 Fax: + 233.21.258811 Cell: + 233.244.386792 Handle: eosiakwan Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/ Slang: "Tomorrow Now" --

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Kenya: The Media is Not Innocent
by alice 16 Feb '08

16 Feb '08

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=41049 KENYA: The Media Is Not Innocent Kwamboka Oyaro *NAIROBI, Feb 2 (IPS) - The media was partly blamed for the Rwandan genocide 14 years ago which left nearly one million people dead in 100 days. "Kill the Inkotanyi [cockroaches]!" a local radio station urged its listeners at the time. * "30 Days in Words and Pictures: Media Response in Kenya During the Election Crisis" -- a workshop organised here last week by California-based media advocacy group Internews -- enabled media professionals to conduct a "self-audit" of the role local media played in the post-election violence. The audit revealed that media -- especially vernacular radio stations -- might be partly to blame for the on-going violence sparked off by the announcement of Mwai Kibaki as winner of the Dec. 27 elections. The violence has reportedly claimed over 1,000 lives and displaced some 250,000 people since the December election. David Ochami, a commissioner with the Media Council of Kenya, told IPS that long before the elections were held, vernacular radio stations had ignited ethnic consciousness among the listeners "making them support leaders from their own tribe and harbour bad feelings about people from other communities." "The ethnic hate our radio station was propagating about those from outside the community was unbelievable. I can’t repeat any of those expressions at this forum," said a journalist with a vernacular radio station. "The unfortunate thing is we let these callers speak vile and laughed about it." "We took sides in the issue and we became subjective, forgetting our professional tenet of objectivity and neutrality. In fact, this polarization was so bad in the newsrooms that some broadcast journalists refused to cover or read news that wasn’t favourable to the candidate or party they supported," said a journalist. In fact, leading up to the elections the local media conveyed inflammatory campaign messages as advertisers’ announcements. "Both print and broadcast media put money ahead of responsibility by accepting and conveying paid-for hate material," Mildred Baraza, a Nairobi- based journalist told IPS. "This could have incited the audience, and when they got a chance they avenged as a result of the pre-election messages," she said. Redemtor Atieno, another Nairobi-based journalist who also helped to organise the workshop, is confident that the media’s biased reporting contributed to the mayhem in the country. "Professionalism was thrown to the dogs as tribe and partisanship carried the day. We failed our audience by conveying interests of politicians without questioning the impact of our stories," Atieno told IPS. Participants at the workshop also blamed media owners for playing a major role in encouraging the violence. "They had vested interests in either camp of the political divide," a reporter with Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) said, adding that he and his colleagues wanted to tell the real story but they couldn’t because the stories could portray the government in a bad light. "We had beautiful clips and stories from the field, but we went back to the newsroom knowing that the story would never be used," he said. Even privately owned media owners who backed different political parties had a hand in the stories that were carried. If it was about the party they supported, they exaggerated the story and generally depicted the opponents in negative ways. "The media organizations refrained from telling the world the truth about what was happening," Ochami told IPS. "There has been a tendency of portraying the Kenyan crisis as a problem between two ethnic groups -- where one [Kibaki’s Kikuyu] is victimized by another [opposition leader Raila Odinga’s Luo]. Any other story on the contrary is downplayed or ignored," Ochami explained. There are those who believe the media is innocent and the violence currently rocking the country was bound to happen anyway -- that historical economic inequalities among the Kenyan communities had to boil over at some point in time. "The public vented long bottled-up anger. It was meant to explode whether the media encouraged it or not," said a journalist at the workshop. "Many people voted last year for change and it was a protest vote against years of inequalities. When they realized this would not happen when Kibaki was declared winner, they exploded." Mitch Odera the moderator of the workshop and media consultant said one of the causes of Kenya’s unrest is the immaturity of its democracy. "There hasn’t been competitive democracy in our country. That is our problem," Odera told the participants at the workshop. The government was also blamed for the chaos because it slapped a blanket ban on live broadcasters soon after violence broke out in the country. "The ban did not extend to international media including the Internet which many Kenyans accessed and spread the word. This led to skewed information and hence panic and more destruction and deaths," said one journalist from the electronic media. The Editors Guild -- an organization of editors from all media organizations -- went to court this week to challenge the ban on broadcasters. Participants at the workshop also heard the first hand experiences of journalists who covered the post election violence. Practioners complained about threats to their lives and complained that they felt segregated from the rest of the country. As the workshop was taking place participants were well aware that several political writers and analysts had received death threats for writing stories that were viewed as unfavourable towards the government. (END/2008)

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Re: [kictanet] Media
by bitange＠jambo.co.ke 15 Feb '08

15 Feb '08

Dear Ms. Karretts-Makau, Perhaps I should start by thanking you and Edith. In all honesty, we want an evaluation that will attract ownership from all stakeholders. That is why we want distinguished members of the media fraternity plus a few others from organizations with high moral ground to conduct it. A lot has been writen in this forum but it is only you two who bothered to provide some guidelines. We shall ensure that the committee gets your comments and hopefully at the end of it all, we'll all be happy. Asante sana and have a great weekend. > I trust then that we can leave it in your capable hands to at least ensure > that the task force consider that structure and the format of the > questions > and that they reflect international standards in evaluation procedures. > > Permit me to reiterate Edith's comments: > > > âThe four internationally recognized evaluation standards: > > 1. Utility - who are the intended users? The evaluation should serve > the information needs of intended users, who should be defined from > the > outset. > 2. Feasibility - it should be realistic, prudent, diplomatic and > frugal. > 3. Propriety - it should be conducted legally, ethically and with due > regard for the welfare of those involved in the evaluation, as well as > those affected by its results. > 4. Accuracy - it will reveal and convey technically adequate > information about the features that determine the worth or merit of > the > subject being evaluated. > > Lastly, the purpose would need to be clear is it? "on improving rather > than > on proving, on understanding rather than on reporting, and on creating > knowledge for action/policy change rather than on taking > credit/punishing." > > > On 15/2/08 4:55 PM, "bitange(a)jambo.co.ke" <bitange(a)jambo.co.ke> wrote: > >> The format of the questions will be decided by the task force. >> >> Ndemo >> >> >> Sent from my BlackBerryÂ® >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Monica Kerretts-Makau <mkmakau(a)yahoo.co.uk> >> >> Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:02:07 >> To:<bitange(a)jambo.co.ke> >> Cc:'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions' <kict ---------------------------------------------- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. --------------------------------------------- "easy access to the world"

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Re: [kictanet] Media
by bitange＠jambo.co.ke 15 Feb '08

15 Feb '08

Edith, I have taken your views. The Task Force will collate the widest variety of views of both the producers of media content and the consumers i.e. the practitioners of journalism and the reading, viewing and listening public. It will also take into account the findings and recommendations of other independent audits of media conduct and content placed in the public domain, including the views of Kenyas worldwide Diaspora. The purpose of the study is to assit the Government come up with an appropriate policy intervention. At the Editors' forum on this subject, Government was criticised for lack of clear ploicy on Information. I promised a comprehensive review of the ICT Policy which was largely focused on the new media. We are in this together throughout because I intend to involve stakeholders in coming up with a well informed comprehensive policy framework. I must admit here that in the past I have enjoyed the discourse in this forum but if we turn it into a name-calling arena, then in my view let Government be Government and activism be what it is. We have a wonderful opportunity to change the ways things have always been done. Ndemo. > Dr Ndemo, > > It appears that you're not open to suggestions as much as you seem to ask > for suggestions from your last communication. > > In other words, I'm suggesting that the purpose of the study and how the > results would be applied be included as part of the TOR. I don't see where > I'm being critical. > > Kind regards > > -----Original Message----- > From: bitange(a)jambo.co.ke [mailto:bitange@jambo.co.ke] > Sent: 14 February 2008 18:06 > To: Edith Adera > Cc: bitange(a)jambo.co.ke; 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions' > Subject: RE: [kictanet] Media > > Dear Edith, > I can only work within my boundaries. The Clergy have made their > apologies and practically pre-empted detailed findings as to how they > behaved. The review of politicians is ongoing and are faced with a > possibility of constitutional and legal changes. Some investigative > journalist may find it interesting to put all these efforts into > perspective. > > Rather than criticise, please make recommendations. I would not be > participating in this forum if I did not want stakeholder views. The > semantics have nothing to do with the objectives of the exercise. We > simply want to make informed policy decisions. We are not ---------------------------------------------- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. --------------------------------------------- "easy access to the world"

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Re: [kictanet] [Fwd: Re: Kenya: The Media is Not Innocent]
by Bill Kagai 15 Feb '08

15 Feb '08

Hello Robert, Having googled you and realising that you have been attached at the Kigoma Logistics Base with the UN Mission in Congo, I would tend to believe that your experience has taught you processes of handling such a matters diplomatically rather than 'venting' at the wrong persons. Your accounts deserve a story and would encourage you to visit the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights to write statements. The Commission has over 40 officers in the field currently collecting evidence and am sure they would be pleased to listen to you and the victims of the violence so as to build a full picture that will eventually point to where the buck stops. http://www.eastandard.net/news/?id=1143981924&cid=4&PHPSESSID=b1d4f0299b4ea… Bill

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Re: [kictanet] Media
by bitange＠jambo.co.ke 15 Feb '08

15 Feb '08

Dear Edith, I can only work within my boundaries. The Clergy have made their apologies and practically pre-empted detailed findings as to how they behaved. The review of politicians is ongoing and are faced with a possibility of constitutional and legal changes. Some investigative journalist may find it interesting to put all these efforts into perspective. Rather than criticise, please make recommendations. I would not be participating in this forum if I did not want stakeholder views. The semantics have nothing to do with the objectives of the exercise. We simply want to make informed policy decisions. We are not Policing anybody here. The police will or may have already moved on those who broke the law. Ndemo. > Dr Ndemo, > > The wording of the TOR appears more of "an inquiry into" rather than what > has been the subject of discussion - "evaluation of". Again, the main > purpose of this "something" including how the results will be used need to > be spelt out from the outset. It's not included in the TOR. > > An integrated approach to examining the issues, in my view, would be more > helpful than specifically targeting the media per se....as the study would > appear to have pre-empted the findings without allow an objective and > holistic assessment of what occurred taken into consideration what I > called > "key boundary partners". Is there room to change the approach? > > Edith > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: bitange(a)jambo.co.ke [mailto:bitange@jambo.co.ke] > Sent: 14 February 2008 13:39 > To: Edith Adera > Cc: bitange(a)jambo.co.ke; 'KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions' > Subject: RE: [kictanet] Media > > Dear Edith, > History is always a good teacher. When Rwanda had a political crisis, > some FM station worsened the situation. In our case, no one denies the > fact that we were in a crisis towards the end of December. It was > desperate and we too desperate measures. No one can say what would have > happened if we let media inflame passions of our people. Further you very > well know that media was liberalized withou putting a legal framework in > place. We for example have no regulatory mechanism for electronic media. > We are the least regulated (electronic media) country in the World. This > is not good for a developing country like ours. > > Media h ---------------------------------------------- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. --------------------------------------------- "easy access to the world"

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Re: [kictanet] [Fwd: Re: Kenya: The Media is Not Innocent]
by Robert Alai 15 Feb '08

15 Feb '08

Alice Did it touch you? Who again did you warn. Do you see like you are cutting my oxygen when you ban me? Ban, kwani? If Wainaina brings politics know that I will answer him politically and threats from you or Ndemo wont scare me. Kenyans know the truth and thinking that ogre mentality will scare me from saying what it is as it is then you are in for a suprise. By the way how important is KICTANET? Alice, you are just behaving like Michuki who was Bitange's boss. Thinking that killing the messenger will stop people from getting the truth. Hell NO. KTN and Standard are more stronger than ever and with or without government lincenses we watch it in Kisumu through sattelite. Shame on you and your stooge, Ndemo. Alai unedited On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 8:27 AM, alice <alice(a)apc.org> wrote: > Dear Robert... > > This is a warning to you. Respect KICTAnet mailing list rules especially > these ones: > > *WHAT KINDS OF THINGS ARE INAPPROPRIATE FOR THE LISTSERV?** *The > listserv should *not* be used at this time for personal > advertising of services or the advertisement of services available > from someone else. Please do *not* send updates of your addresses > or other personal contact details to the listserv. Greetings to > your friends, etc only flood mailboxes and should *not *be done > through the listserv. Gender inappropriate or other references > that may be offensive to some groups or individuals should not be > posted, of course. > * *Mailing list manners you must mind*: Don't send rude, political, > tribal and offensive e-mails or postings. * Be polite - virtual > members are real not a cyberspace dunderheads with no feelings.* > Watch your words - We can't see your face, and the emotions in > words can get misinterpreted.* Kick the bad language - People are > listening.* Laws are laws - What's real in the real world are the > same in cyberspace. Be ethical in your posting, don't lie, > plagiarize, or deliberately do harm to another KICTANet forum user. > > > > > if you repeat these offences we shall ban you from this list. > > regards > > alice munyua > > > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Kenya: The Media is Not Innocent > Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:51:59 +0300 > From: Robert Alai <alai.robert(a)gmail.com> > To: alice(a)apc.org > CC: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > References: > <fb2c60220802130416x356f9e9ap82debaf42c1e8407(a)mail.gmail.com> > <453375.42402.qm(a)web36201.mail.mud.yahoo.com> > <21ca13ee0802130755if502766jfafb1e0376853656(a)mail.gmail.com> > <fb2c60220802140803l3b7d322meef08c0bcd42964c(a)mail.gmail.com> > > > > Wainaina > This is funny. On one hand you are describing how KTN/Standard did > incite the public and ignore the fact that All Royal Media outlets > including RamogiFM, Kameme, and KBC have gone to become Kikuyu > chauvinist and not ready to protect the interest of Kenya. On another > hand you claim ho the current Kenyan problem is political. *THE PROBLEM > IS NOT POLITICAL BUT ETHNIC. *I have just come from a tour which took me > from Tigoni, Juja, Nyeri, Naivasha, Eldoret, Kisumu, Yala and Busia. I > travelled with the IDPs and listened and cried of what I heard. Kenyans > are being denied their rights because they are not Kikuyu. I have the > word of MPs and confirmed with IOM that the government explicitly > informed the Redcross and IOM not to serve some communities. I have > horror tales of women whose husbands were hacked with pangas inside > Tigoni police station and the police couldnt save because they are not > Kikuyu. I have talked to Abbas of IOM of how different Redcross is > treating IDPs. kikuyu IDPs are treated with all care and others ignored. > I personally snatched blankets from Pamela who is the regional redcross > manager in Kisumu when she refused to give them to mothers and chidren I > transported from tigoni and naivasha. I brought 17 buses and called > redcross and informed them of my mission. I had a meeting with Dr Simiyu > and Abbas Guled and they agreed to prepare the ground. After a whole day > travel I got redcross not ready and when they saw the buses is when they > started cutting the mbogas and meat. We handed over 4 children whose > mother was admitted to Agha khan with serious illness and redcross took > the children to a police station in Siaya. > Kenyan problem is tribal and not political. We cannot have one tribe > running roughshod and even the religious leaders from Kikuyu preaching > the Kikuyu superiority. We cannot have one tribe killing and maiming > Kenyans while claiming there is a genocide against Kikuyus. No Kikuyu > was killed in Kisumu. Infact they were protected and even I have Mwangi, > and Kuria who are my friends living and working in Kisumu even now when > they cant work anywhere else. But Kibaki is ordering NGOs not to serve > non Kikuyus. Kikuyus enjoy greater access to loans and even humanitarian > assistance. Go to Kondele in Kisumu where the Kikuyu IDPs are housed. > You will find that there is a bigger difference with Moi stadium where > redcross dont want to even put basic facilities forcing the local > community in Kisumu to house the IDPs at St Stephens. > kenyans, these theories of Bitange and Wainaina only works for the few > they serve. Bitange was key in selling 51percent shares of Telkom Kenya > to the french consortium at 26 Billion Ksh. Before that the government > cleared a debt of 69 billion. if 51% shares were sold at 26 it menas > that Telkom Kenya was just worht 52 Billion. Why settle a debt of 69 > billion? What is the mathematics here? telkom Kenya was worthless? Shame > on you Bitange. Only people who dont know your inner dealings will > respect what you say. You really like to please masters and never acts > proffesionaly. > Alai > > On Thu, Feb 14, 2008 at 7:03 PM, Wainaina Mungai > <wainaina(a)madeinkenya.org <mailto:wainaina@madeinkenya.org>> wrote: > > I believe Waruru has raised an important question especially as > relates to .....should Media houses be partisan? or must Media > houses remain neutral independent of the preference of their owners? > > My take is that Media is too critical as a part of society that it > must not be partisan. We call the Press the "Fourth Estate" and we > should make the press non-partisan just as we require the judiciary > or other statutory bodies to be non-partisan even though the > individuals running those institutions may be free to support > different political leanings. > > Dear Alai, let's all admit we have erred no matter what party or > ideology we support. The political bias of the media is the problem > we turn our focus to as it has brought us to the crisis we find > ourselves in. My example of KTN/Standard also pointed out that other > media houses (the same that you mentioned), have to deal with the > fact that they are perceived as partisan in favour of the > establishment. I also chose to deflect the debate to "way forward". > Please let us not trivialise it as a matter of tribal chauvinism coz > we will lose sight of the issues at hand. Let's work together for a > win-win solution. > > I would like to venture into analysing the role of SMS and the > Internet but that would divert my atention from the unsolved problem > of a Media that can destroy Kenya if left untempered. > > > On 2/13/08, *Robert Alai* <alai.robert(a)gmail.com > <mailto:alai.robert@gmail.com>> wrote: > > Kenyans and Friends of Kenya > The Media shuldnt have media council. The media must go the way > of the SA broadcast complaints commision which must be > independent of the media and the gvernment. And guys and > especially Wainaina. Please dont bring the PNU vs ODM politics > in this forum. We are going to that direction and it wont help > us. Lets all know that KTN has a duty to inform people just the > way Royal Media and KBC and the Kameme 24 has been sending > Kikuyu enthnic chauvinism in our ears. We have situations in > this country where even Redcross and IOM have been called and > informed by the government not to transport some IDPs. Please > know that Kenya cant be in an imagined peace state. And peace > exist only where justice is. Even if Raila and Kibaki agrees > know that thre will be no peace without the people's right > protected. > Alai > > On Feb 13, 2008 2:49 PM, Kanja Waruru <kanjawaruru(a)yahoo.com > <mailto:kanjawaruru@yahoo.com>> wrote: > > hi all, > i like mungai's line of thought and i would like to > contribute an additional point. > > for media houses to be transparent during elections > the media council should insist that each media house > state their position's publicly and declare the > parties/presidential candidates that they > support/endorse or if they intend to remain neutral > and independent. > > this way the public will be making informed decision > when they tune/buy into a particular media. > Kanja > > > > > --- Wainaina Mungai <wainaina(a)madeinkenya.org > <mailto:wainaina@madeinkenya.org>> wrote: > > > Allow me to re-deflect the issue away from a > > specific media house and state > > the following as a way forward: > > > > 1. Journalists must work with all Kenyans to make > > the press free from undue > > influence from Media Owners. Press Freedom will not > > be achieved until we > > liberate the journalists from the editorial biases > > of the media owners. > > > > 2. Editors must be held responsible when media > > houses publish/broadcast in > > an unethical manner. For this to hold, we must > > ensure that the media owners > > are not the 'final' editors. > > > > 3. Journalists/reporters have developed a culture of > > accepting inducements > > in order to edit stories as requested. This must be > > treated as a crime due > > to the privileges society accords the press. > > > > 4. Media houses must employ and retrain qualified > > and ethical staff. There > > must be standards that ensure professionalism. > > Engineers, Doctors and others > > submit to standards that the media continues to > > dodge. > > > > 5. Kenya needs a Media Council "with teeth"...that > > will be a watchdog that > > acts in the interest of the public not as a > > affiliate lobby for Media > > Owners. > > > > The verdict should be a clear message to all of us > > in the media circles. > > It's time to look inwards and liberate the > > profession of journalism from the > > businessmen who own the media houses. > > > > Wainaina > > > > > > > > > > On 2/13/08, Wainaina Mungai > > <wainaina.mungai(a)gmail.com > <mailto:wainaina.mungai@gmail.com>> wrote: > > > > > > Thanks Farida, > > > > > > We should not consider the presence of lessos in > > ballot boxes in Kajiado > > > or Kamukunji as evidence that your story was true. > > The pre-marking or > > > ballots and the lesso story are what would be > > considered mutually exclusive > > > events. The use of lessos as indicator of accuracy > > is at the very least > > > speculative. The fact that [it is possible] for an > > election to be stolen > > > does not mean that and election [will be] stolen. > > > > > > For KTN/Standard, the more direct issues as you > > vouch for the integrity of > > > your story would be: > > > > > > 1. Did you have [evidence] that the ballot boxes > > were stuffed with > > > pre-marked ballot papers? or were you speculating > > because someone came > > > forward as a "witness"? > > > > > > > > > 2. Do you believe that the killings of the > > Administration Police in Nyanza > > > were a direct result of the story you authorised? > > If so, what have you done > > > to at least console the families of the bereaved > > policemen? > > > > > > > > > 3. Did you have evidence that the Citi Hoppa buses > > that were carrying APs > > > to various parts of the country were meant to be > > used for a rigging mission? > > > and would you consider that your story was > > responsible for the burning of > > > Citi Hoppa buses? > > > > > > > > > Most voters know that ballot boxes are checked > > before the start of voting > > > and sealed infront of witnesses (agents, ECK > > officials etc). It is > > > therefore unlikely that rigging would only take > > place is unless there is an > > > elaborate conspiracy involving [all] > > officials/agents at a polling station. > > > > > > Overall, the "vibes" KTN/Standard fraternity must > > contend with is not that > > > they are a model of "free press" but that it is > > biased against the > > > government or pro-ODM. The vibes stations such as > > Royal Media, Kameme and > > > KBC contend with is that they have given Kenyans > > reason to be seen as > > > pro-government/PNU. Those are the issues the press > > must address honestly and > > > not hide behind tags and clichés such as 'press > > freedom' and 'muzzling the > > > press'. > > > > > > NOTE: I work for a competing media house but that > > is not my motivation for > > > the issues i have raised on KTN/Standard. I > > respect journalists for the > > > effort that goes into writing even the simplest > > story. However, I am aware > > > that media houses and journalists have continued > > to allow their political > > > and other biases to influence the way they report > > stories. > > > > > > Wainaina > > > > > > On Feb 14, 2008 12:09 AM, Farida Karoney > > <fkaroney(a)ktnkenya.com <mailto:fkaroney@ktnkenya.com>> > wrote: > > > > > > > Wainaina > > > > I personally authorised the story you are > > blaming KTN for and can vouch > > > > for the integrity of that report any time. If > > indeed you believe it is not > > > > possible to steal an election, how come that > > ballot boxes were found with > > > > lessos, and election materials in some polling > > stations? > > > > > > > > We cannot resolve explosive issues by hiding or > > supressing the truth, > > > > and no one is trying to exonerate the press. Let > > us not pretend that we do > > > > not know why we are where we are, it is > > definately not because of KTN or the > > > > Standard Group. > > > > > > > > And it is certainly not an academic excercise, > > afterall most of us do > > > > not have another place to call home except > > Kenya. Believe me, any Country > > > > which calls itself democratic must be able to > > live with a free press, no > > > > matter how much of a nuisance it is. > > > > > > > > By all means industry players need mechanisms to > > promote responsible > > > > behaviour in the media but aggression against > > media houses in light of the > > > > current political crisis is in my opinion > > misplaced. > > > > > > > > regards > > > > Farida > > > > > > > > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > > > *From:* Wainaina Mungai > > <wainaina.mungai(a)gmail.com <mailto: > wainaina.mungai(a)gmail.com>> > > > > *To:* fkaroney(a)ktnkenya.com <mailto: > fkaroney(a)ktnkenya.com> > > > > *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions > > <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > <mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> > > > > *Sent:* Tuesday, February 12, 2008 9:53 PM > > > > *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Kenya: The Media is > > Not Innocent > > > > > > > > Like Dorcas, I am not surprised that the media > > has for the umpteenth > > > > time, failed to take responsibility for their > > role. Allow me to cut to the > > > > chase on how the media fueled the conflict. > > > > > > > > The issue of "self regulation" has come up as > > journalists remind us how > > > > effective they were during the election period. > > I would like to know what > > > > the Media Council would say about KTN/Standard > > Group having published and > > > > aired sensational stories of a very unlikely > > vote rigging two or so days > > > > before the election day. Editors must have known > > that it is no longer > > > > possible to stuff ballot boxes prior to the > > voting day and get away with it. > > > > That unsubstantiated story led to the death of > > five Administrative > > > > Policemen. How would KTN/Standard Group justify > > the deaths of the APs > > > > especially because the accuracy of that rigging > > story > === message truncated ===> > _______________________________________________ > > kictanet mailing list > > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > <mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> > > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > > > This message was sent to: kanjawaruru(a)yahoo.com > <mailto:kanjawaruru@yahoo.com> > > Unsubscribe or change your options at > > > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/kanjawaruru%40yahoo.com > > > > > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. > http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > <mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > This message was sent to: alai.robert(a)gmail.com > <mailto:alai.robert@gmail.com> > Unsubscribe or change your options at > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alai.robert%40gmail.com > > > > > -- > --------------------------------- > www.kazi-africa.com <http://www.kazi-africa.com/> > polls2007.blogspot.com <http://polls2007.blogspot.com/> > ---------------------------------- > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke <mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke > > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > This message was sent to: wainaina(a)madeinkenya.org > <mailto:wainaina@madeinkenya.org> > Unsubscribe or change your options at > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/wainaina%40madeinkenya… > > > > > -- > Made in Kenya Network > P. O. Box 72031 - 00200 > Nairobi. Kenya > Tel: +254-20-780669 > Cel: +254-722-811171 > www.madeinkenya.org <http://www.madeinkenya.org/> > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke <mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > This message was sent to: alai.robert(a)gmail.com > <mailto:alai.robert@gmail.com> > Unsubscribe or change your options at > > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alai.robert%40gmail.com > > > > > -- > --------------------------------- > www.kazi-africa.com <http://www.kazi-africa.com> > polls2007.blogspot.com <http://polls2007.blogspot.com> > ---------------------------------- > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > This message was sent to: alice(a)apc.org > Unsubscribe or change your options at > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alice%40apc.org > > > -- --------------------------------- www.kazi-africa.com polls2007.blogspot.com ----------------------------------

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Re: [kictanet] Media
by bitange＠jambo.co.ke 14 Feb '08

14 Feb '08

Dear Edith, History is always a good teacher. When Rwanda had a political crisis, some FM station worsened the situation. In our case, no one denies the fact that we were in a crisis towards the end of December. It was desperate and we too desperate measures. No one can say what would have happened if we let media inflame passions of our people. Further you very well know that media was liberalized withou putting a legal framework in place. We for example have no regulatory mechanism for electronic media. We are the least regulated (electronic media) country in the World. This is not good for a developing country like ours. Media has taken advantage of the vacum and if you recall last year we lost a case against a leading media house when we tried to stop them from airing movies of adult nature during prime time. There is no problem showing reality. However, jounalistic principals and ethics must be observed. You watched the whole episode of twin towers and inspite the fact that many people died, you did not see a single body. I rather not delve into the bribery issue which is a reflection of our society and must be dealt with by all. Why can't we be the leading light in this endeavour? Our hypothesis on the fourth estate is that its important role in society is serously threatened by multiple factors including tribalism, lack of ethics, poor training, poor pay etc. Below please find the proposed TOR for the Tast force. I would appreatiate it if you added that which we may have omitted. 1. To inquire into the role of, and make recommendations about, the conduct, performance and professionalism (or lack thereof) of the media sector prior, during and post the 10th General Election 2. To inquire into the role of, and make recommendations about, vernacular FM radio broadcasting during the same period and their contribution to, and or complicity in the preparations for violence, the conduct of violence and its aftermath 3. To inquire into, and make recommendations about, the impact and dynamics of media ownership vis a vis the 10th General Election 4. To inquire into, and make recommendations about, the employment criteria and the working conditions of journalists vis a vis their commitment to professional standards and conduct as contained in the Code of Conduct of Journalism in Kenya 5. To inquire into, and make recommendations about, the education and training of journalists and the training institutions that certify journalists as professionals 6. To inquire into, and make recommendations about, the training of journalists as regards the coverage of national democratic events such as general elections and referenda 7. To inquire into, and make recommendations about the impact of the phenomena of opinion polling and political advertising on media content and conduct 8. To inquire into, and make recommendations about, the role of foreign correspondents and news agencies during the 10th General Election 9. To inquire into and make recommendations about the accreditation of journalists both local and international. Ndemo. ---------------------------------------------- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Jambo MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. --------------------------------------------- "easy access to the world"

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