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Expensive Airtel?
by Edith Adera 06 Apr '13

06 Apr '13

Listers, It has taken me months wondering if it's real or imaginary that Airtel has become very expensive! Whether it's for calls or Internet (spectacularly expensive especially for this service). It dawned on me as I was writing this message that indeed I've not seen their aggressive adverts on favourable tarrifs etc for a while now (nor from other providers as it was a while back). Has the telecom market ceased to be competitive given our peculiar Kenyan behaviour ("sticky" consumers who do not respond to number portability, poor quality of service, high price of service etc etc). Am I alone? Wondering Edith

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Why Orange-Telkom are struggling
by robert yawe 05 Apr '13

05 Apr '13

Hi, Early this morning I contacted Orange-telkom to inquire about domains that they have been hosting for over 5 years and here is the response; "Since nowadays we do not register/host .com domains. You should arrange to move the sites to some other servers" This clearly explains why Orange-Telkom will keep struggling to remain relevant. Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

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Land Deals and Accountability in Africa
by Edith Adera 05 Apr '13

05 Apr '13

Listers, This may be of wider interest: News [Description: http://www.idrc.ca/EN/PublishingImages/LandSeries-Accountability-in-Africas…] Report sheds light on demands for accountability, transparency for large-scale land deals in Africa 05/04/2013 In Africa, large-scale land deals can bring benefits such as jobs, market access, and infrastructure, but they can also dispossess people of land and other resources and spark conflict over economic benefits. Part of the problem is that land deals are rarely transparent, with limited accountability on the part of the public authorities that decide them. People who feel wronged by such large-scale land deals in Africa are taking a variety of steps to seek justice, according to new research published by IDRC and the International Institute for Environment and Development <http://www.iied.org/> (IIED). The report, Accountability in Africa's land rush: what role for legal empowerment, is authored by Emily Polack, Lorenzo Cotula, and Muriel Côté of IIED. It examines the accountability of public authorities that preside over such deals. Asking whether legal empowerment offers citizens scope to expect fairer outcomes, the report shows that too few legal options are in fact available to local groups. This report builds on, and contributes to, a decade’s worth of research that IDRC has supported on access to land rights globally, especially for women<http://www.idrc.ca/EN/Programs/Social_and_Economic_Policy/Governance_Securi…>. Read the report<http://www.idrc.ca/EN/Documents/LandSeries-IDRC-English-web.pdf>. http://www.idrc.ca/EN/Misc/Pages/NewsDetails.aspx?NewsID=532 http://www.idrc.ca/FR/Misc/Pages/NewsDetails.aspx?NewsID=493

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Another wave of cyber attacks against Kenya?
by Brian Munyao Longwe 05 Apr '13

05 Apr '13

Yesterday the website of a legal firm specializing in intellectual property that belongs to a friend was hacked and defaced. I discovered when going to look up some materials on copyright and immediately alerted him, he has since mobilized his web designer/hosting company to deal with the issue. I managed to take a screenshot of the homepage in it's "hacked" state. As you can see the "hackers" claim to be from Saudi Arabia and (as can be expected) are very proud that they have compromised this site. In the background is the logo of Backtrack, which could is a linux distribution designed for information security that consists of a wide range of "hacker" tools. [image: Inline image 1] This incident could be evidence of the beginning of another wave of attacks against Kenyan systems on the Internet. We desperately need an awareness campaign that will alert website owners/operators to the dangers and prompt them to get themselves checked (like the HIV campaign). Best regards, Brian

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Fwd: [ISOC_KE] TechPresident on Kenyan elections
by Ali Hussein 05 Apr '13

05 Apr '13

Ali Hussein CEO | 3mice interactive media Ltd Principal | Telemedia Africa Ltd +254 773/713 601113 "The future belongs to him who knows how to wait." - Russian Proverb Sent from my iPad Begin forwarded message: > From: Joly MacFie <joly(a)punkcast.com> > Date: April 5, 2013, 5:09:33 AM GMT+03:00 > To: "isoc(a)orion.my.co.ke" <isoc(a)orion.my.co.ke> > Subject: [ISOC_KE] TechPresident on Kenyan elections > Reply-To: joly(a)punkcast.com > > http://techpresident.com/news/wegov/23691/kenya-technology-proved-useful-to… > > Why Were Kenya's Elections Peaceful? Technology Provides Only a Partial Explanation > BY KELLY GILBLOM | Thursday, April 4 2013 > > > Screenshot of the Uchaguzi map of election day events. > When Kenyan presidential candidate Raila Odinga graciously conceded to his opponent, incumbent Uhuru Kenyatta, during a Saturday television broadcast that followed a long court battle, the country breathed a sigh of relief. Fears that Kenya would spiral into crisis, as it did after the 2007 presidential elections, had not materialized. In marked contrast to the terrible violence of the last time, this post-electoral transfer of power was, with the exception of isolated incidents, peaceful. > > In the headquarters of non-profit tech company Ushahidi's Nairobi headquarters, a group of volunteers and tech professionals congratulated themselves. They had spent years working on software that would track incidences of crimes and unrest that occurred as a result of the election — and forming partnerships to get that information into the right hands. > > They believe that their efforts provided Kenyans with an important tool that helped realize their wish for peaceful elections. > > But technology alone was not the reason for peaceful elections in Kenya. "Kenyans wanted peace," said Elliott Wilkes, Kenya technical adviser at Mercy Corps, who worked with Ushahidi to monitor the 2013 elections. > > The technological tools created by Ushahidi and its partners, explained Wilkes, helped them achieve the goal of peaceful elections — but they were not necessarily the deciding factor. > > Significant role of community engagement > > Technology played a minor role in the 2007 and 2008 elections, when claims of vote-rigging stirred old tribal rivalries and led to widespread violence. This year, however, it was a hallmark of the democratic process. > > Private sector initiatives like Ushahidi's 2013 election-monitoring process, Uchaguzi (Swahili for "choice" or "elections"), involved a large network of groups reporting crime and other election-related hang-ups, mapping them online using Ushahidi software and then reporting them to the proper authorities. > > According to Daudi Were, Ushahidi's lead on the Uchaguzi project, there was a significant increase in community engagement this time around, compared to 2007. While he did not cite specific numbers, Were said, "We are happy that people were engaged. I'm not sure if we were surprised about it, we expected a lot of engagement and you know the good thing about Uchaguzi is it meets you where you are." > > Meanwhile, the government created the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to implement a raft of new technologies aimed at ensuring vote counts were legitimate. > > The IEBC introduced a biometric data system that kept track of voter ID photos and other individualized information. The goal was to prevent people from voting twice or from using the names of deceased or non-existent people to cast a ballot, as some claimed happened in 2007. It also planned to have constituencies submit votes electronically for the first time this year. > > Technology played an important role this election, and Kenya, once again, showed itself to be a leader in tech promotion, said Wilkes. > > Uchaguzi is probably the most important case study of a technology platform that made grassroots efforts more efficient and effective. In the weeks and months heading into the elections, the staff established partnerships with the IEBC, the Red Cross, the police and various first responders. By the time election season began, they were a known entity with high credibility. Rather than have ordinary citizens try to contact the authorities themselves to lodge complaints, Uchaguzi provided them with a single contact point for all issues, ranging from outbreaks of violence to polling booth irregularities. Complaints and concerns were submitted via the website, SMS, phone or email, with Uchaguzi's volunteers trained in the methodology of verifying complaints and then referring them to the appropriate authorities. Thus the NGO workers helped prevent the overload and chaos that stymied emergency response to the 2007-8 violence. > > "Uchaguzi tries to collect as much data from as many people as possible," explained Duade Were. "Once you establish the information as credible, then you escalate to the organization you know that’s responsible for that response. If it’s a law enforcement issue, we take it to the police, if it’s an electoral issue, we take it to the IEBC. If it’s something that requires first responders, we take it to a partner such as the Red Cross." > > Marrying technology to grassroots engagement > > Amongst the experts interviewed for this article, there is wide agreement that by mapping the verified complaints, Uchaguzi was able to pre-empt those who might have made exaggerated claims in order to stir up trouble, as happened in 2007-8. This time, more people were aware there was visual proof of what was going on. And since mobile and Internet access is quite widespread in Kenya, it was easy to share the map, which also provided a forum for constructive engagement. Thus the Internet went a long way toward increasing transparency, which in turn played an important role in preventing a recurrence of violence. > > Mercy Corps and others confirm that old-fashioned grassroots efforts are what provided the groundwork for a peaceful outcome, while technology was a useful tool that helped further that goal. Grassroots initiatives included face-to-face engagement with community leaders and the deployment of volunteer monitors to be physically present in voting constituencies on the day of the elections. The NGOs also invested effort in nurturing long-standing partnerships with a large cross-section of groups. But the IEBC electronic poll books that housed voters' biometric data suffered widespread technical failures on election day, leading the commission to ditch them altogether. > > The failure of the biometric voter identification system did provide Odinga with credible reason tochallenge the results, but the IEBC insisted the system was always intended to supplement old-fashioned vote counts, rather than replacing them. While some Kenyans said they were left feeling disillusioned with the electoral process, nearly everyone interviewed for this article, including Odinga supporters, seemed to believe the voting results were credible. Since Kenyatta received more than 50 percent of the vote, the country was able to avoid a potentially divisive runoff election. Perhaps most importantly, Odinga challenged the results in the court system, rather than on the street, and heaccepted the court's decision calmly. > > Grassroots efforts also proved valuable when Ushahidi had to shut down an alert system, when a glitch caused it to send and resend similar alerts. > > Because people knew about the scope and scale of the Uchaguzi project ahead of time, this one technical failure did not cause citizens to lose faith in the platform altogether, according to its founders. And while election day saw about 15 people killed in isolated skirmishes on the coast, there were no other major violent events. > > "They say that technology is only 10 percent of the story — a very important 10 percent — yet if all these other things are required for proper deployment, that's what we've been working on," said Daudi Were. > > As Sara Jerving reported for techPresident in February, technology was supplemented by creative engagement projects, such as street theater aimed at raising awareness about violence and its causes in Kibera, a sprawling Nairobi slum that was a hotbed of internecine violence in 2007-8. > > Streamlining communication > > In 2007-8 the government did deploy security forces to quell criminal activity, even as neighborhood watch groups formed to supplement police efforts. But back then there was little cohesion or coordination between the putative peace makers. Meanwhile tech platforms like Ushahidi's crowd-mapping efforts were disorganized and still in their most nascent stages. > > "One of the key challenges in 2007 was that everything was so fragmented. Everyone was doing their own thing, there weren't really any collective efforts taking place," said Were. > > He said that Ushahidi's goal during these elections was to correct the big gaps in communication and bring all interested parties together on one platform so they could benefit from one another's efforts. > > Were said: "It's always hard to measure something that didn't happen, but the fact that we didn't have a big humanitarian, a big security crisis this time I think speaks to the partnerships that were developed and how effective they were in working together." > > A report by a research team at Nairobi's iHub showed just how much Ushahidi used scale to its advantage this time around. It contacted at least half a dozen aid agencies and NGOs ahead of time to serve as on-the-ground foot soldiers during the elections. > > Aid and NGO workers sent in reports to a team of more than 200 trained volunteers at the Uchaguzi situation room in Nairobi and also served as eyewitnesses to verify almost 5,000 reports sent in by regular citizens via SMS or email. Complaints ran the gamut from logistical problems at polling stations to concerns about potential outbreaks of violence. > > Another group was deployed to geo-locate the report and map it, while a team of translators ensured that those who could not speak English were heard, too. A technology team kept the servers from crashing and fixed unexpected glitches when they occurred. An analysis and research team then filtered the raw data into a visually appealing and useful form and other volunteers reported violence, crime, hate speech and logistical issues to authorities as needed. > > "Civil society enlightens citizen(s) on their rights and responsibilities while the technology community develops tools to ease daily life processes. Bringing the two together for an election-monitoring project amplified citizens' voices, enabling the world to gauge the Kenyan election atmosphere and mood of the nation," the report said. > > Increased credibility of government institutions > > But private-sector efforts, such as Uchaguzi, are not the only ways technology was used to advance Kenya's election process. > > While it is unclear exactly why the IEBC's technology efforts failed during the elections, experts say the fact that Kenya invested significant effort in modernizing its election process is a big deal. For ordinary citizens, seeing that their government was committed to transparency went a long way toward increasing the trust they placed in their institutions. > > The government also invested major effort over the past few years in restoring the credibility of the courts and police. The payoff was illustrated on March 30, when the Supreme Court handed down its decision about the election results. On Twitter, Kenyan 'netizens talked about remaining peaceful, with many saying they had voted for Odinga, but now supported Kenyatta because he had legitimately been elected president. > > "Only five years ago, Raila and many Kenyans rightly regarded the courts as corrupt. The courts were also regarded as handmaidens of the government of the day," said James Gathii, a law professor at Loyola University, who is writing a book on the Kenyan judiciary and is also a native Kenyan. > > Gathii added, "Today, the progress made in transforming the judiciary is paying tangible dividends. Violence has been avoided." > > Kelly Gilblom is an American freelance journalist based in Nairobi. > > > > > -- > --------------------------------------------------------------- > Joly MacFie 218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast > WWWhatsup NYC - http://wwwhatsup.com > http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com > VP (Admin) - ISOC-NY - http://isoc-ny.org > -------------------------------------------------------------- > - > _______________________________________________ > isoc mailing list > isoc(a)orion.my.co.ke > http://orion.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/isoc

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Re: [kictanet] Opinion Technology, transparency, and the Kenyan general election of 2013
by Dick Omondi 05 Apr '13

05 Apr '13

Now that we have a court decision that clears the matter of the presidency, perhaps it is now time to remove the emotions of the decision, turn away from politics and get down to the core issues in real institutional management and those surrounding the processes and the people around the IEBC lest we sit back and get through another four years and put together another unit in the last year of the 5 and go back to the same merry go round. ________________________________ From: kictanet To: Dick Omondi Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Sent: Sat Mar 30 21:40:14 2013 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Opinion Technology, transparency, and the Kenyan general election of 2013 Thank you Ali. I appreciate your comments. Shukran. On Sat, Mar 30, 2013 at 1:38 PM, Ali Hussein <ali(a)hussein.me.ke> wrote: Wariga Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed the read. I want to however object to the words:- '...the election results show that technology has failed them.' I humbly submit that what failed us in this case is a mix of partisan politicking, a knack for jostling to see how each proponent could manipulate the process for their own benefit and lastly the failure of the IEBC leadership to accept and tell Kenyans to our faces that the most expensive technology ever bought for elections in Kenya (and Probably Africa) was designed to fail before it landed in the country. I would replace the sentence '...the election results show that technology has failed them.' with the sentence '...the election results show that leadership has failed them.' The saving grace is that we have a sober Supreme Court and we thank God for them. Ali Hussein CEO | 3mice interactive media Ltd Principal | Telemedia Africa Ltd +254 773/713 601113 "The future belongs to him who knows how to wait." - Russian Proverb Sent from my iPad On Mar 29, 2013, at 11:05 PM, Warigia Bowman <warigia(a)gmail.com> wrote: I thought you guys might enjoy this piece. http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/03/2013329135519365308.html Take a look, and tell me what you think. :-) Warigia _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/info%40alyhussein.com The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development. KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications. -- Dr. Warigia Bowman Assistant Professor Clinton School of Public Service University of Arkansas wbowman(a)clintonschool.uasys.edu ------------------------------------------------- View my research on my SSRN Author page: http://ssrn.com/author=1479660 -------------------------------------------------- This email and any file(s) transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. Unauthorised distribution, copying, use or disclosure of the contents to any other person is prohibited. Airtel Networks Kenya Limited does not accept any legal liability for the contents of this message. If you have received this email in error please notify the Systems Administrator, mailadmin(a)ke.airtel.com. This email and any file(s) transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. Unauthorised distribution, copying, use or disclosure of the contents to any other person is prohibited. Airtel Networks Kenya Limited does not accept any legal liability for the contents of this message. If you have received this email in error please notify the Systems Administrator, mailadmin(a)ke.airtel.com.

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Measurement lab in Kenya
by Ory Okolloh 04 Apr '13

04 Apr '13

* Dear listers, A few weeks ago, Measurement Lab Research Consortium (M-Lab) launched one of its first locations in Africa, in partnership with KENET Kenya, Google Africa, and many other industry and academic partners. M-Lab is a collaborative effort working to provide an open, global, publicly available source of data on network performance. To accomplish this M-Lab takes a completely open approach, managing a purpose-built global server platform designed specifically for network measurement. Researchers deploy open-source measurement tools on this platform, and each time a test is run using one of these tools, data is collected. Currently M-Lab makes over 700 terabytes of raw, rich measurement data available to anyone who’s interested. M-Lab’s presence in Kenya (and also South Africa) mean that this data is now being collected on African networks, giving a new and valuable source of information about the health and performance of African infrastructure. A more public launch will happen in a few weeks, for now I'm hoping to drive some initial research ahead of that and invite you to look into<http://measurementlab.net/data>the data, and to access it here <https://storage.cloud.google.com/?arg=m-lab&pli=1#m-lab>. If you’re interested in learning more about M-Lab, please visit measurementlab.net. Finally, M-Lab has a full time staff dedicated to answering questions and promoting research. Please don’t hesitate to contact them with any questions: http://measurementlab.net/contact Best, Ory *

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Internet - Slow
by Edith Adera 04 Apr '13

04 Apr '13

Listers, I wonder if I'm the only one who's experiencing slow Internet since yesterday - both official and personal connection. Anyone knows what's going on? Edith

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Lots of buzz as mobile phone in Kenya turns 40 years
by Grace Mutung'u (Bomu) 04 Apr '13

04 Apr '13

See attached picture. -- Grace L.N. Mutung'u (Bomu) Kenya Skype: gracebomu Twitter: @Bomu Website: http://www.diplointernetgovernance.org/profile/GraceMutungu

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CORRECT ATTACHMENT FOR KENYATTA UNIVERSITY JOBS
by charles nduati 04 Apr '13

04 Apr '13

Hi Listers, Here are the correct attachments for the Kenyatta University Job adverts sent earlier Regards, Charles CHARLES N. NDUATI DIRECTOR, REVENUE GENERATION AND ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT -KENYATTA UNIVERSITY MOBILE:254-722728815 EMIAL:[email protected],[email protected],

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