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Ethical Issue - content gifts to replace corporate gifts?
by John Kieti 04 Apr '13

04 Apr '13

People, Some of you might have struggled with ethical concerns around receiving corporate gifts or bluntly bribes from suppliers or other people courting you in a corporate sense. From a corporate governance sense such gifts can pause challenges. Read an article here - http://mpull.blogspot.com/2013/03/content-is-it-new-corporate-gift.html and am beginning to wonder, does is become easier or more acceptable if the gift is content? Am curious to hear thoughts from ICT professionals here - esp. those in offices. Regards -- My Blog - www.gmeltdown.com ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' The ordinary just won't do

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Re: [kictanet] kictanet Digest, Vol 70, Issue 201 - Re: Opinion Technology, transparency, and the Kenyan general Election
by Aquinas Wasike 03 Apr '13

03 Apr '13

Forgive me for the long post that I am just about to make! I would like to chip in with my comments to the on-going discussion about IEBC and Technology. The IEBC shortfalls were not about technology. It was about people and process and the risk mitigations put around the whole effort! Some of you are aware that we were mentioned several times as a player around the technology failures. This is not to placate our position. We had no position to defend as our systems were fully and properly delivered and performed 100% to expectation. We are very proud of our work at IEBC. Yes, it was a massive IS (Information Systems) effort where literary tonnes of cash (yes, I say this with some form of sarcasm as we did not need to spend in the manner we did) was availed. The fiasco surrounding the BVR voter registration procurement (Biometric & AFIS - to avoid double registration/dead voters) has been well documented and written about. Our previous elections (2007) were marred by a resultant election violence catalysed by a claimed election fraud/theft that is said to have been caused by claims that the then manual voter registration system was porous and may have been manipulated allowing double registration in some areas and even ballot box stuffing in many others. So all this spending was in an attempt to avoid a repeat of this. On 9th November 2012 in an email conversation with some colleagues who I know are also active on this list I said and I quote ".......I must say that IEBC now remains the single largest threat to the security and safety of Kenya in the way they are managing this very sensitive matter. This is my personal opinion; it is not the opinion of LANTech (my employer) which is currently engaged in a business transaction with IEBC. I would say very frankly that their level of preparedness is appalling!" Still earlier on, on 30th October I had expressed the very same similar sentiments where I said, ".....I wonder whether IEBC will not use this as an excuse to scuttle any hope for the Kenyan Diaspora to vote. I must say that the level/state of preparedness by IEBC is shocking to say the least. It is a classic case of how not to! Some of us who are doing some work there are just shocked at how things have been left to the very last minute and with this you can be sure that a lot of stuff will fall through their fingers. We pray for Mother Kenya!". As it happens both my predictions have come to pass. There numerous goofs were mostly self-inflicted, few others quite external and even others very expected on a project of this nature in which you will expect that they will anticipate and take corrective action or plan for risk mitigation. Let us say that the main and biggest self-inflicted risk was procuring the systems very late into the calendar of the already known election date (I will not also go into the details of vested interests which was well reported about). For example the BVR Kit should have been procured and delivered by May 2012 to allow for 90days voter registration period. In the end the voter registration was only conducted in 30days deep into the election calendar and other milestones on the calendar were equally reduced. Even then Kenyans were very eager and more than 14.5m of us registered to vote! And we must do away with this practise of registration for elections when they are nigh. Voter registrations should be a continuous exercise (as our new constitution states) and even then anybody with an ID, having registered by the Registrar of Persons (as an adult Kenyan) should by default have a right to vote. The registration of persons should not be any business of IEBC as you will see in my other discussion that I will start asking for the Ministry of Immigration to stop the current tender for the AFIS/Civil Registration systems and instead take over the systems just newly procured by IEBC. The IEBC enjoyed massive goodwill both locally and multi-lateral partners who ensured that it had all the resources (fiscal) and otherwise to run the elections. This is probably where the expectations were not matched evenly with the delivery (call it reality). It may seem that the IEBC was lacking in that other resource that may not have been anticipated or planned i.e. its human resource capacity to deliver on the expectations. The 2013 Elections were the most complicated ever with 6 different seats being voted/vied for at the same time. This was akin to running six different elections in parallel. This is a huge logistical exercise by any measure! Thus the decision and rightly so to use technology as an enabler to deliver the election. If we analyse the Technology dimension, the ICT infrastructure at IEBC was discredited and archaic having been largely inherited from the old ECK. No clean voter database existed. It had to be recreated afresh with a fresh voter registration exercise, the reason for procuring the BVR voter registration system (worth close to Kshs. 9b as reported in some circles - US$105m). Then the EVID system (Electronic Voter Identification System/poll-books) and other technology that went largely un-reported. Even though the EVID system was supposed to be leading-edge, in reality it isn't. This was supposed to identify you at the polling station and then immediately update the database that you have indeed accessed your polling station where you registered/are supposed to vote and that you have cast your ballot. This was the "closest" we would come to electronic voting (as envisaged by the Kriegler commission) which was not possible because of the reality of the communication infrastructure challenge and the general level of literacy of the voting population which may not be at a high enough level to allow for a seamless electronic election voting. As we are all aware, these poll-books failed massively, sinking close to $40m down the drain! I would say that the risk mitigation applied was in the form of manual forms 34 & 36 that we are now familiar with. Talking about the process dimension of the election, IEBC would have had to apply a mix of in-house and external persons to conduct the elections including taking the route of sub-contracting and outsourcing to conduct most of its core mandate i.e. conducting elections. Internally it needed to have the requisite skilled people to manage the out-source/sub-contract operations while ensuring contracted services are delivered. This would be risk transference at work. An election is a massive exercise in its very nature. IEBC knew that at the election period itself, it would require close to 400,000 people working for the few days to the run-up to the elections and few days after (say a week). This is a huge logistical process and part of the discussion would have been to allow the BVR and EVID equipment suppliers to also recruit and train the head count that will be used for this period as part of the ways of managing this process. This would have probably ensured that these gadgets worked and not the excuses that the batteries failed or password were forgotten. >From the above, we see that the mitigation actions that should have been taken would not only be qualitative but also quantitative. A mix of technical and social actions should have been deployed. The human factor "failed" this election and one would say that the technology integration to the whole election exercise failed except the case of the BVR Voter registration which mercifully went well/successfully and only due to the Kenyans own desire to register and not necessarily that the IEBC did anything spectacular about it (as we have seen the voter registration systems were delivered very late in the day!). So then we see the need for a hybridisation of not only the management practise but also the actions taken to mitigate the risks. The human element in the whole exercise failed to adequately weld together all the various elements to deliver a flawless election. We are now discussing that technology failed when it is actually that the people tasked with ensuring the integration of all the systems together largely did not make this happen. What I am now concerned about is what we do with this huge investment in information technology (close to US$ 150m in value). This is huge spend. We must find a way in which this investment must be deployed in other departments e.g. the Civil Registration Bureau for a complete new and clean civilian database and hence issuance of a new 3rd generation ID card that should ideally serve as your voter's card at any time that an election may be called. I hope that this has not been a boring post. Regards Aquinas ----------------------------------------------------------------- Aquinas Wasike Chief Executive Officer LANTech (Africa) Limited PO Box 6384 - 00200 11th Floor, Pension Towers Loita Street Nairobi, Kenya Mobile: +254 722 511120 DL : +254 20 2245476 Fax : +254 20 316747 Email: aquinasw(a)lantech.co.ke Website: www.lantech.co.ke ----------------------------------------------------------------- -----Original Message----- From: kictanet [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Sent: Sunday, March 31, 2013 7:05 PM To: Aquinas Wasike Subject: kictanet Digest, Vol 70, Issue 201 Send kictanet mailing list submissions to kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:[email protected]> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit https://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<mailto:[email protected]> You can reach the person managing the list at kictanet-owner(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:[email protected]> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of kictanet digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: Opinion Technology, transparency, and the Kenyan general election of 2013 (Jotham Kilimo Mwale) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2013 09:03:49 -0700 (PDT) From: Jotham Kilimo Mwale <jokilimo(a)yahoo.com<mailto:[email protected]>> To: "S.M. Muraya" <murigi.muraya(a)gmail.com<mailto:[email protected]>> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Opinion Technology, transparency, and the Kenyan general election of 2013 Message-ID: <1364745829.35382.YahooMailNeo(a)web122004.mail.ne1.yahoo.com<mailto:[email protected]>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" @Brian - well said in your response to @Walu and also in the article. Ours is a manual voting system, and in 2013 some processes (voter registration and identification, results transmission and tallying) were enhanced (not replaced) by deploying technology. This technology failed (voter identification and RTS) on voting day thus removing the enhancement but, in my opinion, not affecting the integrity of the manual voting system. Others saw it differently, hence the petitions. Detailed Supreme Court judgement may shed light on this. @ Muraya - the high voter turn out in 2013 can be attributed to several factors, chief among them that it was a fresh register compiled only 3 months to the election. Chances are the people who registered intended to vote and even if one accounts for natural attrition, chances of well over 90% turnout should not raise any eyebrows. This was not the situation in 2002, 2007 and 2010 when an old register was updated but the dead over the years were never/rarely removed. ? Jotham? ________________________________ From: S.M. Muraya <murigi.muraya(a)gmail.com<mailto:[email protected]>> To: jokilimo(a)yahoo.com<mailto:[email protected]> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:[email protected]>> Sent: Sunday, March 31, 2013 3:56 PM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Opinion Technology, transparency, and the Kenyan general election of 2013 Even as conspiracy theories (continue to) abound, let us note age old wisdom stating: "Every matter/case must be established by two or three witnesses" Over 3 elections/witnesses exist as to how many votes were probably cast on March 4th, 2013. Looking at Nairobi votes, (i) the presidential, (ii) governor and (iii) senator -- total votes cast were?over 1.3 million (over 72% voter turnout) in all 3 races. If voter turnout in Nairobi has averaged 50% in past elections (2002, 2007, 2010 - referendum), this was an over 40% increase.... On Sun, Mar 31, 2013 at 2:03 PM, Brian Munyao Longwe <blongwe(a)gmail.com<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: @Walu > >A forced marriage is very different from a marriage between consenting partners. I venture to say that the "marriage" between Kibaki and Raila was forced. > >The "marriages" in this election were consensual. Night and day difference. > >As for the RTS system - I beg to differ. Not matter how much we may WANT the electronic system to have been there as a parallel verification system the truth (and the fact) is that RTS was merely for transmission of PROVISIONAL results (as clearly indicated in practically all official specifications for the RTS). As per the Supreme Court the real vote was the paper ballot count along with the various checks and balances. > >Nevertheless your reasoning is spot on in terms of one of the ways in which technology *can* be used to enhance the vote. Hopefully if anything comes out of this dialogue, some of these points will be included in the design of future systems intended to support the election. > > >Best regards, > > >Brian > > > > >On Sun, Mar 31, 2013 at 12:52 PM, Walubengo J <jwalu(a)yahoo.com<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > >@Brian, >> >>Coalition Govt will be with us forever.?? Our current govt, Jubilee is a coalition between TNA and URP.? So expect "nusu-mkate" politics to be with us for a while and it is not necessarily a bad thing.? Even UK, Germany, Israel and many other mature democracies have these types of governments.? Perhaps we just need to learn how to manage them. >> >> >>@Rigia, >>Nice piece on the technology and election processes.? But it misses one fundamental that most analysts, legal counsel and I dare say the Supreme court may have missed.? The fact that the Results Transmission System (RTS) is not just useful in "speeding-up" the announcement of results but its fundamental and more useful role is by acting as a PARALLEL verification mechanism.? >> >> >> >>What this means is that once the tallying has been done and announced at the LOCAL Polling station, those very (Presidential) results are supposed to be instantly transmitted to the NATIONAL Level and thereof made public to the wider national community. In essence the "local" data is no longer just local but becomes "global", and any attempt to modify the same at a later stage,? by way of agreement, error or outright corruption will require a good amount of explanation. This is because what was Transmitted and displayed electronically is expected to match the physical election Forms 34 as they arrive at the National level, 2-3days later. >> >> >> >>Remember, just because all agents did sign the election documents >>(Form34) maybe good but it is not sufficient evidence that what was >>countersigned is indeed what was announced (each signatures has a >>price?).? It is much stronger and a better? check if what has been >>countersigned manually is cross-checked against another parallel >>system - the Results Transmission System. One may then ask, what if >>the RTS is also compromised? i.e. Agents collude with the Returning >>Officer to sends fictitious results instanteneously over the RTS?? >>This is unlikely to happen because as our outgoing President, Mwai >>Kibaki once rightly put it, you need Intelligence to rig elections >>:-).? Most of this "intelligence" only occurs after a period of time >>(1-2-3days) later when 60-70-80% of the results at various polling >>stations is locally? known? but remains globally or nationally unkown >>(awaiting physical arrival of Form36) . It will not be very >>intelligeny to start rigging an election, when you are yet to gather the general trend(intelligence) of the results since one can easily over-rig and get caught :-). So you can bet your salary that instantly transmitted results are likely to be more reliable/correct results as compared to the physical ones that will arrive 3days later.? >> >> >> >>Put differently "instantaneous" transmission of? results at the >>polling stations distributes widely what is otherwise "local" >>knowledge and DENIES potential election riggers the opportunity and >>the time to leverage on this type of intelligence. The Results >>Transmission System ensures that no single candidate enjoys the >>monopoly of local knowledge (Results at? Polling Station that are not >>yet in the national public domain) and thus eliminates the temptation >>to abuse the same to their advantage. Knowledge is indeed power and >>local knowledge is even more powerful - I should add.? If politician's >>Agents knew that Polling results were no longer "local" but widely >>known across the country - courtesy of the instantaneous Results >>Transmission System - then the temptation to sign against >>fictitious/edited result figures will be greatly reduced.? Indeed this >>fact alone, will diminish any Politician's desire to even begin to >>compromise Agents at the Polling station since it is futile to do so upon knowing that the Results are already "out and about" in the public domain.? >> >> >> >>So my prayer for 2017/18 is that as an ICT community, we must ask and indeed demand that IEBC ensures that as a minimum tech-input to the elections, the Results Transmission System must work.? >> >> >>Lets Enjoy our Easter and the Jubilee years ahead. >> >> >> >>walu. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>? >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>________________________________ >> From: Brian Munyao Longwe <blongwe(a)gmail.com<mailto:[email protected]>> >>To: jwalu(a)yahoo.com<mailto:[email protected]> p >>Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:[email protected]>> >>Sent: Saturday, March 30, 2013 11:11 PM >> >>Subject: Re: [kictanet] Opinion Technology, transparency, and the >>Kenyan general election of 2013 >> >> >> >>Since I have developed a reputation for saying the unpopular things that people think but are either too shy or too conflicted to talk about I will make a simple point that I have observed over the past few years. >> >>While the coalition government was lauded as a reasonable way of dealing with the electoral debacle that we faced in 2007, the truth is that for the past 5 years there have been some very strange and unusual dynamics at work in the operations and makeup of Government departments and agencies. A massive plus has been the much higher levels of scrutiny and accountability. But I would like to suggest that the benefits have been outweighed by the disadvantages. >> >>A good example, and one that I would like to use here is the IEBC - it is no secret that the two principals had to "share out" the various positions that needed to be filled both a commissioner as well as senior management. This has been the pattern for almost all appointments and recruiting exercises across Government. >> >>I venture to say that this approach has been counterproductive and aside from yielding teams that can work together in planning, policy, strategy and implementation within their departments/agencies has yielded a replica of the competitive, antagonistic, selfish and almost vindictive tension that has been evident between the two principals since day one. >> >>It is my sincere hope that the next government will be marked by a complete change in attitude, with more of a genuine team-based dynamic in terms of setting and achieving organizational goals. >> >>My two cents, >> >>Brian >> >> >> >> >>On Sat, Mar 30, 2013 at 10:21 PM, Dick Omondi <Dick.Omondi(a)ke.airtel.com<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> >>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<mailto:[email protected]>> 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<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>>> >>>>>I thought you guys might enjoy this piece. >>>>> >>>>>http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/03/201332913551936530 >>>>>8.html >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>Take a look, and tell me what you think. :-) >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>Warigia >>>>> >>>>_______________________________________________ >>>>> >>>>>kictanet mailing list >>>>>kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:[email protected]> >>>>>https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet >>>>> >>>>>Unsubscribe or change your options at >>>>>https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/info%40alyhus >>>>>sein.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<mailto:[email protected]> ------------------------------------------------- >>>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<mailto:[email protected]>. >>>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<mailto:[email protected]>. >>>_______________________________________________ >>>kictanet mailing list >>>kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:[email protected]> >>>https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet >>> >>>Unsubscribe or change your options at >>>https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/blongwe%40gmail >>>.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. >>> >> >>_______________________________________________ >>kictanet mailing list >>kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:[email protected]> >>https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet >> >>Unsubscribe or change your options at >>https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jwalu%40yahoo.co >>m >> >> >>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. >> >> > >_______________________________________________ >kictanet mailing list >kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:[email protected]> >https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > >Unsubscribe or change your options at >https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/murigi.muraya%40g >mail.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. > _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:[email protected]> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jokilimo%40yahoo.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.

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ICT Value to the Counties
by robert yawe 03 Apr '13

03 Apr '13

Hi, I was hoping that now that we have a new dispensation that traffic flow on Uhuru Highway will have been handed back to the traffic lights unfortunately this is not the case and the police keep competing with the traffic lights. Can we take this up as the first campaign by KICTANET to show that we are truly committed to seeing technology applied to improving the lives of Kenyans beginning with the long suffering drivers in the County of Nairobi? 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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Fwd: Request for Nominations - Young Technology Entrepreneurs: April 4 Deadline
by Michael Bullut 03 Apr '13

03 Apr '13

Greetings Listers, Know anyone who is interested? Warm regards, Michael. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jillian Usagi <jillianausagi(a)yahoo.com> Date: 3 April 2013 14:33 Subject: Request for Nominations - Young Technology Entrepreneurs: April 4 Deadline To: "main(a)kipsang.com" <main(a)kipsang.com>, Ondari Mogeni <dmogeni(a)yahoo.com>, "mushiyid(a)yahoo.com" <mushiyid(a)yahoo.com>, "mercymasiza(a)gmail.com" < mercymasiza(a)gmail.com> DEAR ALL, Could any of you be knowing some entrepreneurs in Science and techlology? Please find below an opportunity from the us embassy. if you know any pls send them the below details and ask them to answer the questions and send them to me for forwarding to the us embassy by latest tomorrow afternoon. pls read all the way till last sentence. thanks Jillian Entrepreneur name(s): Contact Information: Venture name(s): Brief description of the startup(s): *For the purposes of this boot camp, we define Early and Growth Stage as (please respond to one, either ‘Early Stage or Growth Stage’ ):* *Early Stage: * Is venture is for-profit : Is your product or service in testing or pilot stage?: Has it generated some revenue?: How long have you been in business? : Do you have least one team member currently working full time with the venture?: Have you already received at least one round of financing from friends and family or other sources?: Have you demonstrated that customers will buy from you? *Growth Stage: * Is the product or service in production?: Is it commercially available?: Does the company demonstrate significant revenue growth (but may or may not be showing a profit)?: How long have you been in business?: Do you have a team working full time?: Would you now know whether your product or services is highly scalable?: Hi Jillian, I just received this email whose deadline is tomorrow, would you know any Kenyans out there who would benefit from the program. Take care, Halima *Subject:* Request for Nominations: Young Technology Entrepreneurs Hello Colleagues, I am delighted to let you know that the Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) initiative is organizing an *East Africa Regional Startup Boot Camp in Dar es Salaam on May 7-8, 2013*. This event assists 100 to 150 young science and technology entrepreneurs with developing skills, such as pitching their startups to investors, bringing together a good team to start their company, and accessing startup funding. Among our esteemed American speakers/mentors is *Jeff Hoffman, co-founder of Priceline.com*. This event will be similar to the highly successful GIST West Africa Regional Startup Boot Camp<http://gist.crdfglobal.org/docs/i-dare/senegal-brochure-web-version-july5-(…>held in Dakar last year. There are a number of travel scholarships available for participants from Kenya, Uganda, Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, and Ethiopia. *We would greatly appreciate your nominations of the most promising Early or Growth Stage tech startups from your network for possible participation in this event.* Please send the entrepreneur name(s) and contact information, the venture name(s), and a brief description of the startup(s) you would recommend for this event by COB Wednesday April 3rd. For the purposes of this boot camp, we define Early and Growth Stage as: Early Stage: - Your venture is for-profit - Your product or service in testing or pilot stage and may already generate some revenue - Usually in business less than three years - At least one team member is currently working full time with the venture - You may have already received at least one round of financing from friends and family or other sources - You have demonstrated that customers will buy from you Growth Stage: - Product or service is in production and commercially available - The company demonstrates significant revenue growth, but may or may not be showing a profit - Usually in business for between three and five years - Has a team working full time - You now know that your product or services is highly scalable Thank you very much for your assistance! We look forward to working with the excellent entrepreneurs from your countries. Please let us know if you have any questions. Best, Anna

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PIVOT East 2013: Call for Applications.
by Moses Kemibaro 02 Apr '13

02 Apr '13

*PIVOT East 2013: East Africa's Mobile Start-ups Competition & Conference.* m:Lab East Africa will be holding the finalists conference of the third PIVOT East on 25th - 26th June 2013 in Kampala, Uganda. PIVOT East is East Africa’s premier mobile start-ups pitching competition and conference held annually since 2011. PIVOT East aims to catalyse the growth of mobile start-ups, so as to amplify and consolidate the gains of East Africa’s Mobile developer and entrepreneurship ecosystem. The key objective for this year's event is “to facilitate the discovery of the next wave of high potential mobile start-ups”. The main difference between this year's competition and the previous years’ is its focus on start-ups becoming sustainable enterprises as opposed to merely showcasing mobile applications and their mobile developers. PIVOT East 2013 has five competitive categories for Mobile Finance, Mobile Enterprise, Mobile Entertainment, Mobile Society and Mobile Utilities. Each category will feature five finalists who will pitch to Investors, Development Partners, Government Representatives, Telecom Operators and other key industry players from East Africa and beyond. Finalists will also secure business incubation for their start-ups, virtually or physically at m:lab East Africa. Applications to the competition are being received at entries.pivoteast.com. *Applications close on the 15th April 2013.* For more information on PIVOT East 2013, please visit our website at www.pivoteast.com, follow us on Twitter @PivotEast, find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PivotEast or visit us on Google+ at PivotEast. Please email us on pivot(a)mlab.co.ke if you require any additional information about PIVOT East 2013.

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An Open Letter on the ICT Sector to President Uhuru and Deputy President Ruto
by Ali Hussein 02 Apr '13

02 Apr '13

Dear Mr.President and Deputy President As you embark on your journey to transform Kenya into a Digital Country here are a few suggestions, humby submitted:- 1. The idea of giving every child a laptop is a good one but it must be followed by real efforts to encourage and incubate local content otherwise we will loose control of what our children read. 2. We have made great efforts in improving ICT infrastructure but alot still needs to be done. Some great initiatives have already been started. They need your personal attention:- a. KENET - Kenya Education Network (KENET) is a National Research and Education Network that promotes the use of ICT in Teaching, Learning and Research in Higher Education Institutions in Kenya. KENET is already rolling out high speed internet in Universities. This needs to be expanded to all institutions of learning. It is a shame for example that schools in informal settlements do not have either computers or internet access in Nairobi. I shudder to think what happens when we move beyond Nairobi. b. The Universal Access Fund - The Kenya Communications (Amendment) Act, 2009, provides for the establishment of a Universal Service Fund (USF), administered and managed by CCK. The purpose of the Fund is to support widespread access to ICT services, promote capacity building and innovations in ICT services in the country. Sources of Funds come from Licensees, appropriations form Government as well as grants and donations. The USF act of 2009 has been just that....an Act until recently when the Board was constituted. I humbly ask that this be in your To Do List for the forseeable future. c. Husband the formation of the new Independent Communications Commission of Kenya (ICCK) which will replace the current CCK. This is in line with the new constitution and will go a long way in adding much needed gravitas in the regulation of this important sector (Which I daresay your campaign ably borrowed from during the electioneering period with the word 'Digital'). This new look ICCK will have seven commissioners selected through competitive interview process by the Public Service Commission and the names forwarded to the President for final approval. Each of the Commissioners will have specific roles like compliance, spectrum among other roles. d. Enhance the Ministry of Information and ensure that the Technocrats leading it are steeped in the industry, have a track record and able to navigate and steer the country to truly be the Silicon Savannah of Africa. 3. Without a strong educational infrastructure and a culture of learning all the above will be for nought. I humby request that we relook closely the current practice of turning all Polytechnics into Universities. There is a place for all in the educational space. We need academics, enterpreneurs, professional managers and artisans for us to move this great nation of ours towards Vision 2030. We must ensure that the whole educational ecosystem serves all these different needs. 4. We must inculcate and encourage a research oriented Higher Education (Universities) system deeply entrenched in social needs, business, health etc. Universities should not be set up as profit centres but centres of excellence where we go to draw from to feed our various needs. Businesses should be encouraged to partner with Universities to bring out the best talent and ideas for our country. I am sure that there are other issues to be dealt with but I humbly submit that this would be a good starting point. *Ali Hussein* *CEO, 3mice interactive media ltd* *Partner, Telemedia Africa Ltd * Tel: +254713601113 Twitter: @AliHKassim Skype: abu-jomo LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim<http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim> Blog: www.alyhussein.com

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Re: [kictanet] Opinion Technology, transparency, and the Kenyan general election of 2013
by ICT Researcher 01 Apr '13

01 Apr '13

Amidst these candid, informative, knowledge exchange discussions it was once suggested that “mobile phone voting“ system, with m-pesa analogy given, should be used in future. Considering mobile phone and SIM cards registrations vs. “secret ballot“ principle, I wish to be educated on how privacy, guranteed by the constitution, would be ensured on voting through such requisite personally identifiable information and communication devices, plantforms and infrastructure? Thank you. ------------------------------ On Sun, Mar 31, 2013 3:03 PM MSKS Brian Munyao Longwe wrote: >@Walu > >A forced marriage is very different from a marriage between consenting >partners. I venture to say that the "marriage" between Kibaki and Raila was >forced. > >The "marriages" in this election were consensual. Night and day difference. > >As for the RTS system - I beg to differ. Not matter how much we may WANT >the electronic system to have been there as a parallel verification system >the truth (and the fact) is that RTS was merely for transmission of >PROVISIONAL results (as clearly indicated in practically all official >specifications for the RTS). As per the Supreme Court the real vote was the >paper ballot count along with the various checks and balances. > >Nevertheless your reasoning is spot on in terms of one of the ways in which >technology *can* be used to enhance the vote. Hopefully if anything comes >out of this dialogue, some of these points will be included in the design >of future systems intended to support the election. > >Best regards, > >Brian > > >On Sun, Mar 31, 2013 at 12:52 PM, Walubengo J <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > >> @Brian, >> Coalition Govt will be with us forever. Our current govt, Jubilee is a >> coalition between TNA and URP. So expect "nusu-mkate" politics to be with >> us for a while and it is not necessarily a bad thing. Even UK, Germany, >> Israel and many other mature democracies have these types of governments. >> Perhaps we just need to learn how to manage them. >> >> @Rigia, >> Nice piece on the technology and election processes. But it misses one >> fundamental that most analysts, legal counsel and I dare say the Supreme >> court may have missed. The fact that the Results Transmission System (RTS) >> is not just useful in "speeding-up" the announcement of results but its >> fundamental and more useful role is by acting as a PARALLEL verification >> mechanism. >> >> What this means is that once the tallying has been done and announced at >> the LOCAL Polling station, those very (Presidential) results are supposed >> to be instantly transmitted to the NATIONAL Level and thereof made public >> to the wider national community. In essence the "local" data is no longer >> just local but becomes "global", and any attempt to modify the same at a >> later stage, by way of agreement, error or outright corruption will >> require a good amount of explanation. This is because what was Transmitted >> and displayed electronically is expected to match the physical election >> Forms 34 as they arrive at the National level, 2-3days later. >> >> Remember, just because all agents did sign the election documents (Form34) >> maybe good but it is not sufficient evidence that what was countersigned is >> indeed what was announced (each signatures has a price?). It is much >> stronger and a better check if what has been countersigned manually is >> cross-checked against another parallel system - the Results Transmission >> System. One may then ask, what if the RTS is also compromised? i.e. Agents >> collude with the Returning Officer to sends fictitious results >> instanteneously over the RTS? This is unlikely to happen because as our >> outgoing President, Mwai Kibaki once rightly put it, you need Intelligence >> to rig elections :-). Most of this "intelligence" only occurs after a >> period of time (1-2-3days) later when 60-70-80% of the results at various >> polling stations is locally known but remains globally or nationallyunkown (awaiting physical arrival of Form36) . It will not be very >> intelligeny to start rigging an election, when you are yet to gather the >> general trend(intelligence) of the results since one can easily over-rig >> and get caught :-). So you can bet your salary that instantly transmitted >> results are likely to be more reliable/correct results as compared to the >> physical ones that will arrive 3days later. >> >> Put differently "instantaneous" transmission of results at the polling >> stations distributes widely what is otherwise "local" knowledge and DENIES >> potential election riggers the opportunity and the time to leverage on this >> type of intelligence. The Results Transmission System ensures that no >> single candidate enjoys the monopoly of local knowledge (Results at >> Polling Station that are not yet in the national public domain) and thus >> eliminates the temptation to abuse the same to their advantage. Knowledge >> is indeed power and local knowledge is even more powerful - I should add. >> If politician's Agents knew that Polling results were no longer "local" but >> widely known across the country - courtesy of the instantaneous Results >> Transmission System - then the temptation to sign against fictitious/edited >> result figures will be greatly reduced. Indeed this fact alone, will >> diminish any Politician's desire to even begin to compromise Agents at the >> Polling station since it is futile to do so upon knowing that the Results >> are already "out and about" in the public domain. >> >> So my prayer for 2017/18 is that as an ICT community, we must ask and >> indeed demand that IEBC ensures that as a minimum tech-input to the >> elections, the Results Transmission System must work. >> >> Lets Enjoy our Easter and the Jubilee years ahead. >> >> walu. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> *From:* Brian Munyao Longwe <blongwe(a)gmail.com> >> *To:* jwalu(a)yahoo.com p >> *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> >> *Sent:* Saturday, March 30, 2013 11:11 PM >> >> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Opinion Technology, transparency, and the >> Kenyan general election of 2013 >> >> Since I have developed a reputation for saying the unpopular things that >> people think but are either too shy or too conflicted to talk about I will >> make a simple point that I have observed over the past few years. >> >> While the coalition government was lauded as a reasonable way of dealing >> with the electoral debacle that we faced in 2007, the truth is that for the >> past 5 years there have been some very strange and unusual dynamics at work >> in the operations and makeup of Government departments and agencies. A >> massive plus has been the much higher levels of scrutiny and >> accountability. But I would like to suggest that the benefits have been >> outweighed by the disadvantages. >> >> A good example, and one that I would like to use here is the IEBC - it is >> no secret that the two principals had to "share out" the various positions >> that needed to be filled both a commissioner as well as senior management. >> This has been the pattern for almost all appointments and recruiting >> exercises across Government. >> >> I venture to say that this approach has been counterproductive and aside >> from yielding teams that can work together in planning, policy, strategy >> and implementation within their departments/agencies has yielded a replica >> of the competitive, antagonistic, selfish and almost vindictive tension >> that has been evident between the two principals since day one. >> >> It is my sincere hope that the next government will be marked by a >> complete change in attitude, with more of a genuine team-based dynamic in >> terms of setting and achieving organizational goals. >> >> My two cents, >> >> Brian >> >> >> On Sat, Mar 30, 2013 at 10:21 PM, Dick Omondi <Dick.Omondi(a)ke.airtel.com>wrote: >> >> 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 >> -------------------------------------------------- >> [image: http://www.airtelappportal.com/banner/254KenyaMailbanner.jpg] >> 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 <mailadmin(a)ke.airtel.com.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 <mailadmin(a)ke.airtel.com.com>. >> **** >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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/blongwe%40gmail.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. >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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/jwalu%40yahoo.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. >> >>

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Re: [kictanet] Opinion Technology, transparency, and the Kenyan general election of 2013
by ICT Researcher 01 Apr '13

01 Apr '13

Amidst these candid, informative, knowledge exchange discussions it was once suggested that “mobile phone voting“ system, with m-pesa analogy given, should be used in future. Considering mobile phone and SIM cards registrations vs. “secret ballot“ principle, I wish to be educated on how privacy, guranteed by the constitution, would be ensured on voting through such requisite personally identifiable information and communication devices, plantforms and infrastructure? Thank you. ------------------------------ On Sun, Mar 31, 2013 3:03 PM MSKS Brian Munyao Longwe wrote: >@Walu > >A forced marriage is very different from a marriage between consenting >partners. I venture to say that the "marriage" between Kibaki and Raila was >forced. > >The "marriages" in this election were consensual. Night and day difference. > >As for the RTS system - I beg to differ. Not matter how much we may WANT >the electronic system to have been there as a parallel verification system >the truth (and the fact) is that RTS was merely for transmission of >PROVISIONAL results (as clearly indicated in practically all official >specifications for the RTS). As per the Supreme Court the real vote was the >paper ballot count along with the various checks and balances. > >Nevertheless your reasoning is spot on in terms of one of the ways in which >technology *can* be used to enhance the vote. Hopefully if anything comes >out of this dialogue, some of these points will be included in the design >of future systems intended to support the election. > >Best regards, > >Brian > > >On Sun, Mar 31, 2013 at 12:52 PM, Walubengo J <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > >> @Brian, >> Coalition Govt will be with us forever. Our current govt, Jubilee is a >> coalition between TNA and URP. So expect "nusu-mkate" politics to be with >> us for a while and it is not necessarily a bad thing. Even UK, Germany, >> Israel and many other mature democracies have these types of governments. >> Perhaps we just need to learn how to manage them. >> >> @Rigia, >> Nice piece on the technology and election processes. But it misses one >> fundamental that most analysts, legal counsel and I dare say the Supreme >> court may have missed. The fact that the Results Transmission System (RTS) >> is not just useful in "speeding-up" the announcement of results but its >> fundamental and more useful role is by acting as a PARALLEL verification >> mechanism. >> >> What this means is that once the tallying has been done and announced at >> the LOCAL Polling station, those very (Presidential) results are supposed >> to be instantly transmitted to the NATIONAL Level and thereof made public >> to the wider national community. In essence the "local" data is no longer >> just local but becomes "global", and any attempt to modify the same at a >> later stage, by way of agreement, error or outright corruption will >> require a good amount of explanation. This is because what was Transmitted >> and displayed electronically is expected to match the physical election >> Forms 34 as they arrive at the National level, 2-3days later. >> >> Remember, just because all agents did sign the election documents (Form34) >> maybe good but it is not sufficient evidence that what was countersigned is >> indeed what was announced (each signatures has a price?). It is much >> stronger and a better check if what has been countersigned manually is >> cross-checked against another parallel system - the Results Transmission >> System. One may then ask, what if the RTS is also compromised? i.e. Agents >> collude with the Returning Officer to sends fictitious results >> instanteneously over the RTS? This is unlikely to happen because as our >> outgoing President, Mwai Kibaki once rightly put it, you need Intelligence >> to rig elections :-). Most of this "intelligence" only occurs after a >> period of time (1-2-3days) later when 60-70-80% of the results at various >> polling stations is locally known but remains globally or nationallyunkown (awaiting physical arrival of Form36) . It will not be very >> intelligeny to start rigging an election, when you are yet to gather the >> general trend(intelligence) of the results since one can easily over-rig >> and get caught :-). So you can bet your salary that instantly transmitted >> results are likely to be more reliable/correct results as compared to the >> physical ones that will arrive 3days later. >> >> Put differently "instantaneous" transmission of results at the polling >> stations distributes widely what is otherwise "local" knowledge and DENIES >> potential election riggers the opportunity and the time to leverage on this >> type of intelligence. The Results Transmission System ensures that no >> single candidate enjoys the monopoly of local knowledge (Results at >> Polling Station that are not yet in the national public domain) and thus >> eliminates the temptation to abuse the same to their advantage. Knowledge >> is indeed power and local knowledge is even more powerful - I should add. >> If politician's Agents knew that Polling results were no longer "local" but >> widely known across the country - courtesy of the instantaneous Results >> Transmission System - then the temptation to sign against fictitious/edited >> result figures will be greatly reduced. Indeed this fact alone, will >> diminish any Politician's desire to even begin to compromise Agents at the >> Polling station since it is futile to do so upon knowing that the Results >> are already "out and about" in the public domain. >> >> So my prayer for 2017/18 is that as an ICT community, we must ask and >> indeed demand that IEBC ensures that as a minimum tech-input to the >> elections, the Results Transmission System must work. >> >> Lets Enjoy our Easter and the Jubilee years ahead. >> >> walu. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> *From:* Brian Munyao Longwe <blongwe(a)gmail.com> >> *To:* jwalu(a)yahoo.com p >> *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> >> *Sent:* Saturday, March 30, 2013 11:11 PM >> >> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Opinion Technology, transparency, and the >> Kenyan general election of 2013 >> >> Since I have developed a reputation for saying the unpopular things that >> people think but are either too shy or too conflicted to talk about I will >> make a simple point that I have observed over the past few years. >> >> While the coalition government was lauded as a reasonable way of dealing >> with the electoral debacle that we faced in 2007, the truth is that for the >> past 5 years there have been some very strange and unusual dynamics at work >> in the operations and makeup of Government departments and agencies. A >> massive plus has been the much higher levels of scrutiny and >> accountability. But I would like to suggest that the benefits have been >> outweighed by the disadvantages. >> >> A good example, and one that I would like to use here is the IEBC - it is >> no secret that the two principals had to "share out" the various positions >> that needed to be filled both a commissioner as well as senior management. >> This has been the pattern for almost all appointments and recruiting >> exercises across Government. >> >> I venture to say that this approach has been counterproductive and aside >> from yielding teams that can work together in planning, policy, strategy >> and implementation within their departments/agencies has yielded a replica >> of the competitive, antagonistic, selfish and almost vindictive tension >> that has been evident between the two principals since day one. >> >> It is my sincere hope that the next government will be marked by a >> complete change in attitude, with more of a genuine team-based dynamic in >> terms of setting and achieving organizational goals. >> >> My two cents, >> >> Brian >> >> >> On Sat, Mar 30, 2013 at 10:21 PM, Dick Omondi <Dick.Omondi(a)ke.airtel.com>wrote: >> >> 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 >> -------------------------------------------------- >> [image: http://www.airtelappportal.com/banner/254KenyaMailbanner.jpg] >> 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 <mailadmin(a)ke.airtel.com.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 <mailadmin(a)ke.airtel.com.com>. >> **** >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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/blongwe%40gmail.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. >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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/jwalu%40yahoo.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. >> >>

1 0

KeNIC Site down
by Ali Hussein 01 Apr '13

01 Apr '13

Can someone at KeNIC look into this? The KeNIC site seems to have been down for the last 48hours.. 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

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Raila Odinga
by Eric Osiakwan 31 Mar '13

31 Mar '13

Raila Odinga has earned my respect as a real African statesman -- in my view he has set a precedent that changes the dynamics of African politics.......#AfricaRising Eric here Eric M.K Osiakwan +233244386792

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