- KICTANet - KICTANet

Laptops promise feasible if revenue collection goes digital
by Grace Githaiga 18 Apr '13

18 Apr '13

N SUMMARYPS says adopting electronic methods will seal existing loopholes so that all the cash goes to the TreasuryNdemo says converting to digital payments will lead to revenue going up by about 60pc http://www.nation.co.ke/business/news/Laptops-promise-feasible-if-revenue-c…

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A home for KICTANET
by robert yawe 17 Apr '13

17 Apr '13

Hi, Please find attached the details on the Kenya ICT Federation, I believe this is the answer to our getting a real platform. The organisation is going through a revival and there is a ready opportunity to take over control. 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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Re: [kictanet] kictanet Digest, Vol 71, Issue 79
by Michael Bullut 17 Apr '13

17 Apr '13

*@Ory:* If the model is also adopted here in Kenya, I see a lot more people (youth included) taking up agriculture as a source of livelihood... On 11 April 2013 17:32, <kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote: > Send kictanet mailing list submissions to > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > 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 > > You can reach the person managing the list at > kictanet-owner(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of kictanet digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: kictanet Digest, Vol 71, Issue 78 (Ory Okolloh) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:30:36 +0200 > From: Ory Okolloh <ookolloh(a)gmail.com> > To: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Subject: Re: [kictanet] kictanet Digest, Vol 71, Issue 78 > Message-ID: > <CABWH-6q7qHjQP_eoxVTVZ2kkkyMzR3PPDApM9SCYDV8= > n36qow(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > Meanwhile away from the "Silicon Savannah" noise, guys are quietly building > regional IT businesses and doing big things e.g. Cellulant has > impressed me< > https://twitter.com/bytebandit/status/322237172604354561/photo/1> > . > > > On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 4:14 PM, <kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > >wrote: > > > Send kictanet mailing list submissions to > > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > > > 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 > > > > You can reach the person managing the list at > > kictanet-owner(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > > than "Re: Contents of kictanet digest..." > > > > > > Today's Topics: > > > > 1. Innovationville: Where all the good money making African > > start ups go to die (Andrea Bohnstedt) > > 2. Re: Innovationville: Where all the good money making African > > start ups go to die (Ali Hussein) > > 3. Re: Innovationville: Where all the good money making African > > start ups go to die (Agosta Liko) > > 4. Re: Fwd: Laptops for 2014 class 1 entrants (robert yawe) > > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > Message: 1 > > Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:29:34 +0300 > > From: Andrea Bohnstedt <andrea.bohnstedt(a)ratio-magazine.com> > > To: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > > Subject: [kictanet] Innovationville: Where all the good money making > > African start ups go to die > > Message-ID: > > < > > CAFaobUCR1g4kz3Cre3FpCAf4B6qf5RmOAZGtKx5EmufLXg2zFg(a)mail.gmail.com> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > > > Fun read: > > > > > > > http://ventureburn.com/2013/04/innovationville-where-all-good-money-making-… > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > Message: 2 > > Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:57:21 +0300 > > From: Ali Hussein <ali(a)hussein.me.ke> > > To: Andrea Bohnstedt <andrea.bohnstedt(a)ratio-magazine.com> > > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Innovationville: Where all the good money > > making African start ups go to die > > Message-ID: <2E4A336C-BAE2-4C64-95BE-AEFD260C20D7(a)hussein.me.ke> > > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > > > Interesting read Andrea. And of course Africa is no different from most > > start up environments..there is the hype and then there is the > > business..both feed on each other.. > > > > Thanks for sharing. > > > > 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 Apr 11, 2013, at 3:29 PM, Andrea Bohnstedt < > > andrea.bohnstedt(a)ratio-magazine.com> wrote: > > > > > Fun read: > > > > > > > > > http://ventureburn.com/2013/04/innovationville-where-all-good-money-making-… > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > 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. > >

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Kenya as perceived in the Caribbean press
by Paul Kukubo 17 Apr '13

17 Apr '13

Listers Following my recent visit to represent Dr Ndemo in Kingston Jamaica, on invitation from faculty at the University Of West Indies, Mona School of Business, the following article appeared in their leading local daily and online. The visit included presentations to the Business Leaders including meetings with CEOs of some of their leading companies, (including publicly listed Gracekennedy), visits to their university campus, meetings with the software developer groups including sitting through presentations by applications developers and an evening at the national stadium to watch the Technology Univeristy track and field games. (Incidentally the story of their athletics development is another story on its own, considering that Mona Campus hosts Usain Bolt's training track and the schools is developing a sports science and sports management degree). Jamaica GDP per capita 9100usd. Kenya 1200usd. Country feels and looks like Kenya in the 80s. One marked thing was the university students ability to articulate suggested that their English language instruction was very good and the University student lecturer relationship was very respectful. The quality of technical skills seemed very high, our developers see, a lot more business savvy from most of the tech fests I have attended here. We agreed to conclude partnership that would allow us to expose our developer community to theirs and vice versa. They have a deep interest in Kenyan developers and entrepreneurs who's have mobile application experience because they are just finalizing their regulations to allow mobile payments. It was an eye opener with respect to where opportunity may lie. Anyway, here is a link to the story. http://www.ict-pulse.com/2013/04/5-key-takeaways-ict-development-caribbean-… I shared this on tweeter and Facebook quite widely as it happened. Paul Kukubo CEO, Kenya ICT Board -- Paul Kukubo Chief Executive Officer, Kenya ICT Board PO Box 27150 - 00100 Nairobi, Kenya 12th Floor, Teleposta Towers Koinange Street Tel +254 20 2089061, +254 20 2211960 Fax: +254 20 2211962 website: www.ict.go.ke local content project: www.tandaa.co.ke, www.facebook.com/tandaakenya twitter:@tandaaKENYA BPO Project: www. doitinkenya.co.ke Digital Villages Project: www.pasha.co.ke personal contacts _______________ Cell: + 254 717 180001 skype: kukubopaul googletalk: pkukubo personal blog: www.paulkukubo.co.ke personal twitter: @pkukubo ____________________ Vision: Kenya becomes a top ten global ICT hub Mission: To champion and actively enable Kenya to adopt and exploit ICT, through promotion of partnerships, investments and infrastructure growth for socio economic enrichment

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Google Kenya hacked?
by Brian Munyao Longwe 16 Apr '13

16 Apr '13

Hi folk, This trend is getting worrying.... full story on Standard at http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000081625&story_title=Kenya-Goog… "Global technology giant Google<http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?searchtext=Google&searchbutton=SEARCH> has been the victim of a cyber-attack. On Monday morning, their Kenyan domain google.co.ke did not have the usual doodle and search bar, instead the page splayed a black background âhackedâ stamped in red across it." [image: Inline image 1]

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Scramble for Fibre Optic Infrastructure in Kenya. When will Telcos embrace the Frenemy Concept and stop individual build out?
by Ali Hussein 15 Apr '13

15 Apr '13

Listers Am I naive in thinking that the Telco sector needs to come together and stop individual build out of fibre optic networks across the country? We should be concerned because the normal Return on Investment principals suggest that for them to recoup the cost of this infrastructure the customer needs to pay for it? Is this a case for a Private Public Partnership? Does the Information Ministry have an opinion on this? Does TESPOK have an opinion on this? Wasn't the government involved in this at some point? Or is my memory not serving me right? I know these are many questions...Which need to be answered.. http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/business/MTN-Kenya-drops-partners-and-lays-… *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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Digital Stealing
by Edith Adera 15 Apr '13

15 Apr '13

Forwarded Message Are you aware of this? "I locked my car As I walked away I heard my car door unlock''.I went back and locked my car again three times.Each time, as soon as I started to walk away, I could hear it unlock again!! Naturally alarmed, I looked around and there were two men sitting in a car next to the Store. They were obviously watching me intently, and there seemed no doubt they were somehow involved in this very weird situation. I quickly abandoned my errand, jumped into my car and sped away. I went straight to the police station, told them what had happened, and found out I was part of a new, and very successful, scheme being used to gain entry into parked cars. Two weeks later, my friend's son had a similar experience... While traveling, he stopped at a motorway service area to use the toilet. When he came out to his car less than 5 minutes later, someone had managed to get into his car and had stolen his mobile phone, laptop computer, sat-nav, briefcase and other belongings. He called the police and since there were no signs of his car having been broken into, the police told him he had probably been a victim of the latest robbery tactic - there is a device that robbers are using now to clone your security code when you lock your doors on your car using your remote locking device. They sit a distance away and watch for their next victim. They know you are going inside the Store, restaurant, or whatever and that they now have a few minutes to steal and run.* The police officer said always to lock your car manually with the key when parking in a public area. That way if there is someone sitting in a car nearby watching for their next victim, it will not be you. When you lock up with the key upon exiting, it does not send the security code, but if you walk away and use the remote button, it sends the code through the airwaves where it can be easily intercepted by the device" This is very real. Be aware of what you just read and pls pass this information. Thanks

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China – The Sleeper Awakens (innovation in china)
by John Gitau 15 Apr '13

15 Apr '13

a great 5 part series describing the chinese innovation/funding process. http://steveblank.com/2013/04/10/china-the-sleeper-awakens/ http://steveblank.com/2013/04/11/chinas-torch-program-the-glow-that-can-lig… http://steveblank.com/2013/04/12/the-rise-of-chinese-venture-capital/ http://steveblank.com/2013/04/13/zhongguancun-in-beijing-chinas-silicon-val… http://steveblank.com/2013/04/14/china-startups-the-gold-rush/ Some interesting statistics like: For a hundred years the fantasy of global marketers was, “ if only everyone in China would buy one…” That day is final here. The numbers of mobile subscribers are staggering – 1.18 billon, 260 million are 3G<http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&ie=UTF8&la…>. Chinese Internet companies live in a large closed, self-contained ecosystem with 564 *million* web users with *420 million* having mobile web access. 309 million use microblogs and 242 million shop online..... While not running a startup myself, Steve Blanks books have been an interesting read. With thanks, John Gitau

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Orange to stop hosting non .ke domains
by robert yawe 15 Apr '13

15 Apr '13

Hi, Just in case there are people as crazy as me to have hosted their domains with orange please note that they will not be renewing hosting for any domains that are not .ke. It is not life threatening as Safaricom and GoDaddy still do but doesn't this go against the objective of keeping local content local? What is the take on this by the Government of Kenya and the CCK? Regards PS. Just in-case I am missing a point here can somebody explain to me what the difference is between hosting a .ke or .com domain. Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

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Opinion split on whether laptops are a priority in schools
by Grace Githaiga 14 Apr '13

14 Apr '13

IN SUMMARYCritics say the idea is noble but many schools lack basics and laptops are a mere luxuryReport shows that as high as 90 per cent of teachers are computer illiterate; who will aid pupils?http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Opinion-split-on-whether-laptops-are-a-priority-in-schools/-/1056/1747588/-/item/1/-/sxhoh3/-/index.html

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Software Developers stick to your proffession
by Paul Roy Owino 13 Apr '13

13 Apr '13

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2013/04/04/the-25-tech-companies… Sent from my Windows Phone

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Innovationville: where good money-making African startups go to die
by Gideon 13 Apr '13

13 Apr '13

+1 on the article its quite a sobering write up on innovation and technology, here is an interesting video Hardly Working: Start-up Guys https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMmdl4VltD4 "So for one unthinkable moment let’s forget building the next Facebook, Google or Apple. Think about using your vast technical knowledge to for example, solve the simplest problem Africa faces — service delivery. Think of the innovation that would come with that." Gideon Rop. > Message: 2 > Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2013 10:25:23 +0300 (EAT) > From: "Bitange Ndemo" <bitange(a)jambo.co.ke> > To: "Andrea Bohnstedt" < > andrea.bohnstedt(a)ratio-magazine.com> > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Innovationville: Where all the good money > making African start ups go to die > Message-ID: > <86f4368bc72c3c848f90f5230290b458.squirrel(a)mail.jambo.co.ke> > Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1 > > Talk about innovation. > > < > http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_turere_a_peace_treaty_with_the_lions.html? > ?utm_medium=social&source=email&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=ios-share> > > > Ndemo. > > > > > > Fun read: > > > > > http://ventureburn.com/2013/04/innovationville-where-all-good-money-making-… > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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/bitange%40jambo.co.ke > > > > 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. > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > > ------------------------------ > > End of kictanet Digest, Vol 71, Issue 88 > **************************************** >

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Innovationville: Where all the good money making African start ups go to die
by Andrea Bohnstedt 13 Apr '13

13 Apr '13

Fun read: http://ventureburn.com/2013/04/innovationville-where-all-good-money-making-…

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School visit
by Mark Elkins 12 Apr '13

12 Apr '13

Today, Thursday 11th April, 2013, I visited the Sunward Park High School, Sonskyn Rd, Sunward Park, Boksburg (Johannesburg). The school has recently embarked on a one tablet per child project. My purpose was to simply visit the place to satisfy my own curiosity. The School is an old Model-C school, teachers are generally white or indian and the lerners are about 90% black. It is by no means a rich school. There are about 1250 children - excluding the matric learners. There are three double story blocks of classrooms and a further block which houses administration and a school hall. Classes are usually just under 40 learners. This school has achieved some interesting goals. They have a very active soccer program with an on-site dormitory for 20 or so learners. I understand the team has travelled around Europe and that a number of the learners are already pre-signed to play at various clubs in Europe. I understand that the Teachers were all equipped with Laptops a year or so ago. The Classrooms all seemed to have VGA projectors and there is a smart white board as well as a traditional blackboard in every classroom. Towards the end of last year, a plan was formulated by a businessman to provide a Wifi access point in every classroom and to provide every learner with either a 7" or 10" Android tablet. There was initial Headmistress and staff buy-in followed by parent buy-in to the project. The Wifi units are switched back to a central server via UTP copper cable. The Server provides the content. There is a localised e-mail server. A Firewall connects just the staff to the public Internet. The Businessman arranged with various publishers to obtain all the learners curriculum in an electronic format. For example, McMillian, one of the primary publisher, has provided a three year licence for half the price of paper based books. There is also a lot of other electronic media available, Wikipidia, Learn channels video content, Mindset Learning material and educational media from more than twenty other sources. I first spoke to the business man and the vice head of the school. Hardware costs were: Server R70,000 Wifi R250,000 Other R50,000 Total R320,000 or just under R300 per student. The E-Media costs are R300 per student per year and the 7” Tablet R1000. The cost thus for the first year is R1600 followed by R300 a year for two years. The usual fee cost for a student was given as R2000 a year using traditional methods - so fees have actually come down by half if you look at a two year cycle. There was some initial theft of tablets in the first day or two. Since then, no theft. After a month, only a handful of students had not purchased tablets so these students were "loaned" devices. About one third of students purchase the 7" tablet, the remainder purchased a more expensive 10" tablet. The choice of device is governed more by security and the ability to hide a smaller tablet than of cost. There have been breakages - Tablets dropped or used in lieu of a book to hit a fellow learner over the head. I then visited some classes. In a "Life Science" classroom, the teacher was presenting a class on the water cycle (sea->evaporation->rain->river). He presented from his laptop via the VGA projector and the students were looking at two equivalent presentations via their Tablets. Some of his comments were: End of class tests are easy, I get instant feedback on whether my teaching is being effective and so can react immediately. I spend more time teaching and less time doing administration and marking. I can teach in short bursts to match the learners attention span rather than give a half hour monologue from the front of the class and instead of spoon feeding them, I get them to research the subject. Its easier to handle learners of different ability, the quick I can give more work to and the slow can continue the work in their own time. He also believed that learners were becoming smarter and more interested in what was being taught. I then entered a History lesson where Martin Luther King was being discussed. The learners (a class of boys, one of the most difficult classes due to the presence of a large proportion of the successful football team) were using the Tablets as book-readers. This teacher also was in full support of the Table. She claimed the boys were much easier to keep in control than before (last year). She indicated that some work has still to be written in text books to comply with the educational department rules but students now have much thinner text books - saving money. I then talked to a small gathering of learners outside who seemed to have a spare lesson. They were Matric learners. As they are leaving at the end of this year, they are not a part of the Tablet program - though about 60% of them have Tablets. One, who has a younger sibling, remarked that she is envious of her sister. Homework seems much easier and more interesting now. Also, she still has to carry a full bag of books where as all the non-matric learners just carry Tablets. All of this crowd had Tablets and do use them unofficially at school. The "experiment" has only been running for three months but the results so far look very promising. I would like to visit the same school in a year. Mark Elkins -- . . ___. .__ Posix Systems - (South) Africa /| /| / /__ mje(a)posix.co.za - Mark J Elkins, Cisco CCIE / |/ |ARK \_/ /__ LKINS Tel: +27 12 807 0590 Cell: +27 82 601 0496

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Re: [kictanet] Laptops for 2014 class 1 entrants
by Paul Roy Owino 12 Apr '13

12 Apr '13

Am happy we are entertaining tablets this is the way to go. I believe we can do local assembly of these tablets further creating jobs for thousands. In anyway if one has a market for over 1million users why shouldn't they setup assembly operation locally? Sent from my Windows Phone ------------------------------ From: robert yawe Sent: 4/11/2013 6:07 PM To: Paul Roy Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Laptops for 2014 class 1 entrants Hi Brian, It seems that we have a consensus that the traditional laptop is not the way to go, touch is critical and rich multimedia. I took the next step and searched for a sub $100 tablet and got very many http://www.ainovo.com/elfii.html, http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/president-launches-low-cost-aakash-2-tabl… is a major issue but I am sure someone out there will offer a workable solution preferably based on solar. We do not need to try and bring manufacturing in initially as the we still cannot get to the economies of scale that China has achieved but KQ could offer free shipping. The critical issue will be what will come pre-installed in device and how do we make sure that the headmasters or teachers do not decide to keep them in safe custody? Definitely a very feature rich drawing and painting program is essential with a photo editor. I believe a local app-store will be another essential component with local developers throwing out applications in the thousands and then leave the rest to the children. regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696 ------------------------------ *From:* Brian Munyao Longwe <blongwe(a)gmail.com> *To:* robertyawe(a)yahoo.co.uk *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> *Sent:* Thursday, 11 April 2013, 11:01 *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Laptops for 2014 class 1 entrants Hi Edith, "Failure" in the context of the OLPC project needs to be clearly defined. I think that what the media have largely trumpeted as a failure was that the goal of coming out with a sub $100 laptop was not achieved. The costs of producing the OLPC devices is higher than $100 per piece. However, the fact that these devices are designed *from the ground up* with children (and learning) in mind has been a huge success in terms of yielding devices that are more appropriately suited to the vagaries of youth, both in terms of ruggedness as well as look and feel. The examples I gave earlier where countries like Uruguay with a tiny population of 3m have rolled out 500,000 over the past 5 years is a resounding success to me. Rather than reinvent the wheel - let us take one that works, modify it to better suit us, and fit it into the right mix of complementary hardware, software and systems to make the overall undertaking a success. Best regards, Brian On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 11:47 PM, Edith Adera <eadera(a)idrc.ca> wrote: Brian,**** ** ** It appears the “one laptop per child” program (OLPC) failed as widely touted, so important to learn lessons from that failure. **** ** ** Edith **** ** ** *From:* kictanet [mailto:kictanet-bounces+eadera= idrc.ca(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke] *On Behalf Of *Brian Munyao Longwe *Sent:* April 10, 2013 9:34 AM *To:* Edith Adera *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Laptops for 2014 class 1 entrants**** ** ** Hi Robert,**** Good points. We actually don't need to look very far. The "One Laptop per Child" program has been on this issue for a while now and has a few models of laptop (including a tablet) that can be offer at a price of +/- $100.**** The OLPC project has already delivered over 200,000 laptops in Rwanda and over 500,000 in Uruguay via government driven programs. Considering these are relatively small countries (7m and 3m total populations respectively). The goal of 1 million laptops per year for std1 entrants is not unnattainable.**** As for content - this is where the opportunity lies. All of the current education materials exist in soft form with the varioius printing presses, it would not take much effort to process these into eBook format and push them onto a digital library along with related material such as story books, dictionaries, encyclopediae etc.**** In addition to the above, there is a huge opportunity to create educational games for all school going ages. Research has shown that children learn much faster when the knowledge is conveyed in a "fun" way.*** * Kazi kwetu?**** Brian**** ** ** On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 7:56 AM, robert yawe <robertyawe(a)yahoo.co.uk> wrote:**** Hi, I like the confirmation by the President - sworn and his deputy on the issue of laptops for class 1 students from next year, it is commendable and quite easily achievable but as ICT experts are laptops the ideal items or would low power touchscreen tablets be more practical and appropriate? However .com that the two principles are I suspect that they might not be up to speed on devices. Here again for the umpteenth time the opportunity for us to become relevant presents itself, shall we take action or sit back to carry out a forensic analysis when only 80% of the students get the devices? Regards PS. A new dispensation, a new dedication and new vigor **** ** ** **** Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya**** Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696**** _______________________________________________ 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/robertyawe%40yahoo.co… 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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PIVOT East Application Deadline Extended to 22nd April 2013.
by Moses Kemibaro 12 Apr '13

12 Apr '13

Everyone, Good morning. Over the last few weeks, the team from PIVOT East 2013 has been conducting weekly outreach workshop for applicants in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania. The last workshop was in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania earlier this week at KINU. Based on the feedback we have received from numerous PIVOT East 2013 applicants after each workshop, it became apparent that more time is needed to prepare their applications. On this basis, we are pleased to announce that we are extending the application deadline for PIVOT East 2013 by one more week from the 15th of April 2013 to the 22nd of April 2013. The additional week will enable PIVOT East 2013 applicants to submit their applications on time, as well as be as complete as possible. In addition, a good number of mobile developers throughout East Africa have only recently become aware of PIVOT East 2013 and as a result the extension of the deadline will assist them in finalising their applications for the competition in good time. Entries for PIVOT East 2013 are being received at http://entries.pivoteast.com Best regards, Moses Kemibaro Producer - PIVOT East 2013 www.pivoteast.com

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Jubilee - Freedom of Information?
by S.M. Muraya 12 Apr '13

12 Apr '13

Where are we with Freedom of Information in Kenya? The Law + Rules + Regulations? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/9942442/Police-officer… Will it not improve public services + increase sensitivity :=) In addition to web portals (access to general information) some go.ke orgs have been providing for some years now, we need e-mail addresses for all case officers in central & county governments. This will help in auditing services, communications and delays which are often retaliation or neglect for "not talking properly". Ghost employees should not have e-mail addresses unless.... Beyond email, we move on to CRMs :=) http://www.futuregov.asia/articles/2009/feb/04/crm-citizen-centric-governme…

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Re: [kictanet] School visit
by Paul Roy Owino 12 Apr '13

12 Apr '13

Thanks for sharing this. Great lesson for our upcoming laptop per child project. Sent from my Windows Phone ------------------------------ From: Brian Munyao Longwe Sent: 4/12/2013 2:37 AM To: Paul Roy Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] School visit Hi Mark, Thank you so very much for sharing this with us. What I like the most about this model you have shared is the quasi Public-Private-Partnership where the businessman has taken the risk element, innovated with the publishers, and worked out a way of putting more than 1,000 tablets into the students' hands WITHIN 1 MONTH! 1,000 units a month is godd business for any type of company - if the margins have been designed right and the costs of finance are not too high. Best regards, Brian On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 6:01 PM, Mark Elkins <mje(a)posix.co.za> wrote: > Today, Thursday 11th April, 2013, I visited the Sunward Park High > School, Sonskyn Rd, Sunward Park, Boksburg (Johannesburg). The school > has recently embarked on a one tablet per child project. My purpose > was to simply visit the place to satisfy my own curiosity. > > The School is an old Model-C school, teachers are generally white or > indian and the lerners are about 90% black. It is by no means a rich > school. There are about 1250 children - excluding the matric learners. > There are three double story blocks of classrooms and a further block > which houses administration and a school hall. Classes are usually > just under 40 learners. > > This school has achieved some interesting goals. They have a very > active soccer program with an on-site dormitory for 20 or so learners. > I understand the team has travelled around Europe and that a number of > the learners are already pre-signed to play at various clubs in > Europe. > > I understand that the Teachers were all equipped with Laptops a year > or so ago. The Classrooms all seemed to have VGA projectors and there > is a smart white board as well as a traditional blackboard in every > classroom. > > Towards the end of last year, a plan was formulated by a businessman > to provide a Wifi access point in every classroom and to provide every > learner with either a 7" or 10" Android tablet. There was initial > Headmistress and staff buy-in followed by parent buy-in to the > project. The Wifi units are switched back to a central server via UTP > copper cable. The Server provides the content. There is a localised > e-mail server. A Firewall connects just the staff to the public > Internet. > > The Businessman arranged with various publishers to obtain all the > learners curriculum in an electronic format. For example, McMillian, > one of the primary publisher, has provided a three year licence for > half the price of paper based books. There is also a lot of other > electronic media available, Wikipidia, Learn channels video content, > Mindset Learning material and educational media from more than twenty > other sources. > > I first spoke to the business man and the vice head of the school. > > Hardware costs were: > Server R70,000 > Wifi R250,000 > Other R50,000 Total R320,000 or just under R300 per student. > > The E-Media costs are R300 per student per year and the 7” Tablet R1000. > > The cost thus for the first year is R1600 followed by R300 a year for > two years. The usual fee cost for a student was given as R2000 a year > using traditional methods - so fees have actually come down by half if > you look at a two year cycle. > > There was some initial theft of tablets in the first day or two. > Since then, no theft. After a month, only a handful of students had > not purchased tablets so these students were "loaned" devices. About > one third of students purchase the 7" tablet, the remainder purchased > a more expensive 10" tablet. The choice of device is governed more > by security and the ability to hide a smaller tablet than of cost. > There have been breakages - Tablets dropped or used in lieu of a > book to hit a fellow learner over the head. > > I then visited some classes. > > In a "Life Science" classroom, the teacher was presenting a class on > the water cycle (sea->evaporation->rain->river). He presented from > his laptop via the VGA projector and the students were looking at two > equivalent presentations via their Tablets. > > Some of his comments were: > End of class tests are easy, I get instant feedback on whether my > teaching is being effective and so can react immediately. I spend > more time teaching and less time doing administration and marking. I > can teach in short bursts to match the learners attention span rather > than give a half hour monologue from the front of the class and instead > of spoon feeding them, I get them to research the subject. Its > easier to handle learners of different ability, the quick I can give > more work to and the slow can continue the work in their own time. > He also believed that learners were becoming smarter and more interested > in what was being taught. > > I then entered a History lesson where Martin Luther King was being > discussed. The learners (a class of boys, one of the most difficult > classes due to the presence of a large proportion of the successful > football team) were using the Tablets as book-readers. > > This teacher also was in full support of the Table. She claimed the > boys were much easier to keep in control than before (last year). She > indicated that some work has still to be written in text books to > comply with the educational department rules but students now have > much thinner text books - saving money. > > I then talked to a small gathering of learners outside who seemed to > have a spare lesson. They were Matric learners. As they are leaving > at the end of this year, they are not a part of the Tablet program - > though about 60% of them have Tablets. One, who has a younger > sibling, remarked that she is envious of her sister. Homework seems > much easier and more interesting now. Also, she still has to carry a > full bag of books where as all the non-matric learners just carry > Tablets. All of this crowd had Tablets and do use them unofficially at > school. > > The "experiment" has only been running for three months but the > results so far look very promising. I would like to visit the same > school in a year. > > Mark Elkins > > > -- > . . ___. .__ Posix Systems - (South) Africa > /| /| / /__ mje(a)posix.co.za - Mark J Elkins, Cisco CCIE > / |/ |ARK \_/ /__ LKINS Tel: +27 12 807 0590 Cell: +27 82 601 0496 > > _______________________________________________ > 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. >

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Obama budget favors Cyber Security
by Brian Munyao Longwe 11 Apr '13

11 Apr '13

Federal spending by USA on cyber security will increase to $13 billion. The funds will be allocated towards Cyber security programs operated by the following agencies: 1. Department of Homeland Security 2. Department of Defense 3. Intelligence Community 4. Department of Commerce 5. Department of Justice Funding also includes amounts allocated for key basic research such as $754 million for National Institute of Standards and Technology laboratories and $500 million to promote innovation and economic growth to fund research and development advances in cybersecurity, explosives detection and chemical/biological response systems. Full article here: http://www.govinfosecurity.com/obama-budget-favors-cybersecurity-a-5673?rf=…

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Laptops for 2014 class 1 entrants
by robert yawe 11 Apr '13

11 Apr '13

Hi, I like the confirmation by the President - sworn and his deputy on the issue of laptops for class 1 students from next year, it is commendable and quite easily achievable but as ICT experts are laptops the ideal items or would low power touchscreen tablets be more practical and appropriate? However .com that the two principles are I suspect that they might not be up to speed on devices. Here again for the umpteenth time the opportunity for us to become relevant presents itself, shall we take action or sit back to carry out a forensic analysis when only 80% of the students get the devices? Regards PS. A new dispensation, a new dedication and new vigor Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

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Re: [kictanet] kictanet Digest, Vol 71, Issue 78
by Ory Okolloh 11 Apr '13

11 Apr '13

Meanwhile away from the "Silicon Savannah" noise, guys are quietly building regional IT businesses and doing big things e.g. Cellulant has impressed me<https://twitter.com/bytebandit/status/322237172604354561/photo/1> . On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 4:14 PM, <kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke>wrote: > Send kictanet mailing list submissions to > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > 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 > > You can reach the person managing the list at > kictanet-owner(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of kictanet digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Innovationville: Where all the good money making African > start ups go to die (Andrea Bohnstedt) > 2. Re: Innovationville: Where all the good money making African > start ups go to die (Ali Hussein) > 3. Re: Innovationville: Where all the good money making African > start ups go to die (Agosta Liko) > 4. Re: Fwd: Laptops for 2014 class 1 entrants (robert yawe) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:29:34 +0300 > From: Andrea Bohnstedt <andrea.bohnstedt(a)ratio-magazine.com> > To: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Subject: [kictanet] Innovationville: Where all the good money making > African start ups go to die > Message-ID: > < > CAFaobUCR1g4kz3Cre3FpCAf4B6qf5RmOAZGtKx5EmufLXg2zFg(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > Fun read: > > > http://ventureburn.com/2013/04/innovationville-where-all-good-money-making-… > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:57:21 +0300 > From: Ali Hussein <ali(a)hussein.me.ke> > To: Andrea Bohnstedt <andrea.bohnstedt(a)ratio-magazine.com> > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Innovationville: Where all the good money > making African start ups go to die > Message-ID: <2E4A336C-BAE2-4C64-95BE-AEFD260C20D7(a)hussein.me.ke> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Interesting read Andrea. And of course Africa is no different from most > start up environments..there is the hype and then there is the > business..both feed on each other.. > > Thanks for sharing. > > 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 Apr 11, 2013, at 3:29 PM, Andrea Bohnstedt < > andrea.bohnstedt(a)ratio-magazine.com> wrote: > > > Fun read: > > > > > http://ventureburn.com/2013/04/innovationville-where-all-good-money-making-… > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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. >

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Chipuka Software Developer Certification
by Dorcas Muthoni 11 Apr '13

11 Apr '13

The Chipuka Software Developer Certification (SDC) is a credentialing program developed at Carnegie Mellon University in conjunction with the Kenya Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Board Does anyone know if the Chipuka Software Developer Certification is now part of the exams that IT and Computer Science students are sitting before graduation? More information: http://www.softwaredevelopercertification.com/the-sdc-program -- Muthoni My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/ -------------------------------------------- Mahatma Gandhi once said:- First they ignore you, Then they laugh at you, Then they fight you, AND THEN YOU WIN!!!

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Re: [kictanet] Laptops for 2014 class 1 entrants
by Walubengo J 11 Apr '13

11 Apr '13

@Ikua, Indeed it is never too early for ICTs. As the tweeting class, all our Kids have these gadgets at home and its largely beneficial. But trust me, the 'private' experience takes a whole new shape when done nationally and on a public basis. Other than the well known economic concept of the 'tragedy of the commons' there are those are other challenges I highlighted earlier. These risks/challenges are 10 times lower under our high school system when compared to our primary school system. Our high schools already have curricula beyond IT (Harry H?), theres already a small but emerging community of ICT high school teachers and quite a good group of high schools already have substantial Computer Lab Management experience. As a risk management consultant, @Ikua, you will agree with me that this project has a better chance of success and bigger social dividends if it kicked off at high school level rather than at primary level. After all, by the time these standard 1s get to high school, they will get this free device/ict ystem extremely mature. And as these form1s get to University, we shall be ready to graduate the true knowlege workers in just another 8yrs rather than in the next 20yrs- when std1s graduate. So guys, am not fighting the idea, am just increasing its chance of success by suggesting changes to its point of entry within our educational system. walu. ------------------------------ On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 2:36 PM AST (Arabian) Evans Ikua wrote: >A good place to start would be to get the laptops installed with Qimo for >Kids. > >Qimo is a desktop operating system designed for kids. Based on the open >source Ubuntu Linux <http://www.ubuntu.com/> desktop, Qimo comes >pre-installed with educational games for children aged 3 and up. Qimo’s >interface has been designed to be intuitive and easy to use, providing >large icons for all installed games, so that even the youngest users have >no trouble selecting the activity they want. >My kids use it and the one in class 1 has really improved his grades >because of its educational games that improve memory, language and maths >skills, not mention that his keyboarding and mouse skills are very good. >For those who think class 1 is too early, he started using this about 2 >years ago. and i wish I had discovered it earlier. > >Also, I hope and pray that my tax money will not be used to pay for any >software that we do not need at all. > > >On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 1:28 PM, Dorcas Muthoni <dmuthoni(a)gmail.com> wrote: > >> +1 Harry! >> >> As you can see on literacy (*age 15 and over can read and write*) here: >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate , Kenya >> is one of the leading countries in Africa but still a distant from getting >> it to the best level. >> >> There is no world map indicating IT literacy by country >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_literacy, we should support this >> move by the new government so that come 2030, we shall be leading on this >> space. >> >> We should begin now. >> >> >> On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 11:49 AM, Harry Hare < >> harry(a)africanedevelopment.org> wrote: >> >> Hey Walu et al, >> >> I do not expect the President to have answers to your questions below. >> You know the workings in government, what has been made is a high level >> policy pronouncement now it will be unto the technocrats like yourself to >> craft a working strategy and plan for this to work. >> >> I expect that a team within the Ministry (may be include KIE and the ICT >> Integration Unit) will be set up to work on the detail of how to deliver >> this policy. And on your point "1", shouldn't we be targeting IT for >> Eduction and not IT education? Why would yu need an IT curriculum for class >> one? >> >> Kindest Regards >> >> Harry Hare >> >> Director | African eDevelopment Resource Centre >> PO Box 49475 00100 | Nairobi, Kenya >> Tel +254 20 4041646 | Cel +254 725 650044 >> >> >> From: Owino Jakakaeta <mpodhiambo(a)yahoo.com> >> Reply-To: Owino Jakakaeta <mpodhiambo(a)yahoo.com> >> Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:24:38 -0700 (PDT) >> To: Cio_Magazine Hare <harry(a)africanedevelopment.org> >> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> >> >> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Laptops for 2014 class 1 entrants >> >> 50 + 1 @ walu >> >> Owino Jakakaeta >> Life is too SHORT to eat Green BANANAS! >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> *From:* Walubengo J <jwalu(a)yahoo.com> >> *To:* "mpodhiambo(a)yahoo.com" <mpodhiambo(a)yahoo.com> >> *Cc:* kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke >> *Sent:* Tuesday, April 9, 2013 10:40 PM >> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Laptops for 2014 class 1 entrants >> >> >> @Yawe, >> >> I was on travel (not to SA :-) but caught up with our two new >> Principals. Great speeches. But if there's someone already in the new >> Presidents kitchen cabinet plse pass the following news. Just drop the >> laptop business or at least modify it because of the following reasons. >> >> 1. Curriculum. >> Ok. So the kids have laptops next year. What to do with them? Play games, >> watch porn? In other words do we have an IT curriculum for these youngsters >> or we believe they will automatically become Bill Gates once we throw >> gadgets at them.? >> >> 2. IT Teachers. >> Assuming we cobble together some curriculum before next year. How soon >> can we get out primary teachers upto speed on the same? Do we have a ToT >> program in place. ToT= Training of Trainers for the non-academics. >> >> 3. Examinations. >> It is known that Kenyans learn ONLY when it is examinable. Indeed >> teachers make space in their timetables if they know the unit is >> examinable. Otherwise you can as well do your IT lessons at home as your >> hobby since the lesson will NOT be scheduled at the expense of say >> Mathematics which is examinable. So is the KNEC ready with this exam? >> >> 4. Security/Theft. >> If folks can still IEBC laptops from secure strongrooms, what about >> laptops hanging either in staffrooms or on standard 1 pupils? What about >> a poor parent who opts to trade in the laptop in favour of cash to use for >> other purposes? This is not far fetched since even the largely successful >> Wezesha Laptop initiative were University students got subsidized Laptops >> and quite a number sold them off at market price. >> >> 5. Maintenance\Disposal program. >> Usually laptops are rarely maintained. Just dump them after 3-4yrs. So we >> need to think efficient disposal mechanism for 1million+ gadgets across >> rural and urban Kenya. Worse still those Kids will now be in standard 4 and >> so our buget for laptops will double -both for Sdt1s and the Std4s. >> >> But I have a simple solution for our new digital President. Just traget >> Form1s and perharps forget Laptops and adopt Networked >> PCs. The ecosytem described above is more mature to take on this great >> idea. Our Primary schools will just drain this initiative with little >> returns to the taxpayer. >> >> walu. >> >> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 7:56 AM AST (Arabian) robert yawe wrote: >> >> >Hi, >> > >> >I like the confirmation by the President - sworn and his deputy on the >> issue of laptops for class 1 students from next year, it is commendable and >> quite easily achievable but as ICT experts are laptops the ideal items or >> would low power touchscreen tablets be more practical and appropriate? >> However .com that the two principles are I suspect that they might not be >> up to speed on devices. >> > >> >Here again for the umpteenth time the opportunity for us to become >> relevant presents itself, shall we take action or sit back to carry out a >> forensic analysis when only 80% of the students get the devices? >> > >> >Regards >> > >> >PS. A new dispensation, a new dedication and new vigor >> > >> > >> > >> >Robert Yawe >> >KAY System Technologies Ltd >> >Phoenix House, 6th Floor >> >P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 >> >Kenya >> > >> > >> >Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696 >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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/mpodhiambo%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. >> >> >> _______________________________________________ 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/harry%40africanedevel… 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/dmuthoni%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. >> >> >> >> >> -- >> Muthoni >> >> My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/ >> -------------------------------------------- >> Mahatma Gandhi once said:- >> >> First they ignore you, >> Then they laugh at you, >> Then they fight you, >> AND THEN YOU WIN!!! >> >> _______________________________________________ >> kictanet mailing list >> kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke >> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet >> >> Unsubscribe or change your options at >> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ikua.evans%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. >> > > > >-- >*---------------------------------------------------- >Kind Regards, >Evans Ikua,* >lanetconsulting.com, >lpi-eastafrica.org, >ict-innovation.fossfa.net, >Skype: @ikuae >Cell: +254-722-955831

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Re: [kictanet] kictanet Digest, Vol 71, Issue 65
by James Kimani 10 Apr '13

10 Apr '13

I highly think giving laptops to class 1 kids is not bad at all.My son uses my ipad very well and in most cases he teaches me new things.He is 4 yrs but he started using it when 2 yrs 9 months.My main problem is "who will teach the kids from village schools since even majority of teachers including their principals are computer illiterate? On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 2:38 PM, <kictanet-request(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke>wrote: > Send kictanet mailing list submissions to > kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > 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 > > You can reach the person managing the list at > kictanet-owner(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of kictanet digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Ethiopia and Tunisia reaping the fruit of a rejuvenated > copper plant (Dorcas Muthoni) > 2. Re: Laptops for 2014 class 1 entrants (Evans Ikua) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:30:48 +0300 > From: Dorcas Muthoni <dmuthoni(a)gmail.com> > To: Brian Munyao Longwe <blongwe(a)gmail.com> > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Ethiopia and Tunisia reaping the fruit of a > rejuvenated copper plant > Message-ID: > < > CACFhaS71Ua23erEowsF8qs9Hjn9RBLXSPjN+ypxUv7DAk6MQXg(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > I have said this before and i fully agree with you Brian.... > > > On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 at 7:05 AM, Brian Munyao Longwe <blongwe(a)gmail.com > >wrote: > > > Ethiopia and Tunisia deliver high speed data over wireline while here in > > Kenya we have allowed France Telecom who have management of Telkom Kenya > to > > basically neglect and "throw away" our copper plant - and yet it could be > > the basis for providing affordable high speed access to hundreds of > > thousands. The new government *must* review this counterproductive > > "strategic investment" from France. Preferably show them the door and let > > us rebuild our national carrier. Full story here http://ictafrica.info/ > > FullNews.php?id=8231< > http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fictafrica.info%2FFullNews.php%… > > > > > > Best regards, > > > > Brian > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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/dmuthoni%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. > > > > > > -- > Muthoni > > My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/ > -------------------------------------------- > Mahatma Gandhi once said:- > > First they ignore you, > Then they laugh at you, > Then they fight you, > AND THEN YOU WIN!!! >

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Re: [kictanet] Laptops for 2014 class 1 entrants
by Walubengo J 10 Apr '13

10 Apr '13

@Yawe, I was on travel (not to SA :-) but caught up with our two new Principals. Great speeches. But if there's someone already in the new Presidents kitchen cabinet plse pass the following news. Just drop the laptop business or at least modify it because of the following reasons. 1. Curriculum. Ok. So the kids have laptops next year. What to do with them? Play games, watch porn? In other words do we have an IT curriculum for these youngsters or we believe they will automatically become Bill Gates once we throw gadgets at them.? 2. IT Teachers. Assuming we cobble together some curriculum before next year. How soon can we get out primary teachers upto speed on the same? Do we have a ToT program in place. ToT= Training of Trainers for the non-academics. 3. Examinations. It is known that Kenyans learn ONLY when it is examinable. Indeed teachers make space in their timetables if they know the unit is examinable. Otherwise you can as well do your IT lessons at home as your hobby since the lesson will NOT be scheduled at the expense of say Mathematics which is examinable. So is the KNEC ready with this exam? 4. Security/Theft. If folks can still IEBC laptops from secure strongrooms, what about laptops hanging either in staffrooms or on standard 1 pupils? What about a poor parent who opts to trade in the laptop in favour of cash to use for other purposes? This is not far fetched since even the largely successful Wezesha Laptop initiative were University students got subsidized Laptops and quite a number sold them off at market price. 5. Maintenance\Disposal program. Usually laptops are rarely maintained. Just dump them after 3-4yrs. So we need to think efficient disposal mechanism for 1million+ gadgets across rural and urban Kenya. Worse still those Kids will now be in standard 4 and so our buget for laptops will double -both for Sdt1s and the Std4s. But I have a simple solution for our new digital President. Just traget Form1s and perharps forget Laptops and adopt Networked PCs. The ecosytem described above is more mature to take on this great idea. Our Primary schools will just drain this initiative with little returns to the taxpayer. walu. ------------------------------ On Wed, Apr 10, 2013 7:56 AM AST (Arabian) robert yawe wrote: >Hi, > >I like the confirmation by the President - sworn and his deputy on the issue of laptops for class 1 students from next year, it is commendable and quite easily achievable but as ICT experts are laptops the ideal items or would low power touchscreen tablets be more practical and appropriate? However .com that the two principles are I suspect that they might not be up to speed on devices. > >Here again for the umpteenth time the opportunity for us to become relevant presents itself, shall we take action or sit back to carry out a forensic analysis when only 80% of the students get the devices? > >Regards > >PS. A new dispensation, a new dedication and new vigor > > > >Robert Yawe >KAY System Technologies Ltd >Phoenix House, 6th Floor >P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 >Kenya > > >Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

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Ethiopia and Tunisia reaping the fruit of a rejuvenated copper plant
by Brian Munyao Longwe 10 Apr '13

10 Apr '13

Ethiopia and Tunisia deliver high speed data over wireline while here in Kenya we have allowed France Telecom who have management of Telkom Kenya to basically neglect and "throw away" our copper plant - and yet it could be the basis for providing affordable high speed access to hundreds of thousands. The new government *must* review this counterproductive "strategic investment" from France. Preferably show them the door and let us rebuild our national carrier. Full story here http://ictafrica.info/ FullNews.php?id=8231<http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fictafrica.info%2FFullNews.php%…> Best regards, Brian

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County Executive Committes
by robert yawe 10 Apr '13

10 Apr '13

Hi, As we inaugurate our new president let us not drop the ball on keeping ICT relevant especially since all class one pupils joining next year will be walking in with a laptop in hand. Over the past few days I have taken a keen interest in the county executive committee recruitment exercises going on and to date only Uasin Gishu County has placed ICT as its number one issue as indicated by the listing of positions. In many others ICT is number 10 which means that for those counties that qualify for only 9 members ICT is dropped. 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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Catalog of the mass surveillance industry
by Gideon 09 Apr '13

09 Apr '13

You Only Click Twice: FinFisher’s Global Proliferation *March 13, 2013* Download PDF version<https://citizenlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/15-2013-youonlyclicktwice…> *Authors:* Morgan Marquis-Boire, Bill Marczak, Claudio Guarnieri, and John Scott-Railton. *This post describes the results of a comprehensive global Internet scan for the command and control servers of FinFisher’s surveillance software. It also details the discovery of a campaign using FinFisher in Ethiopia used to target individuals linked to an opposition group. Additionally, it provides examination of a FinSpy Mobile sample found in the wild, which appears to have been used in Vietnam.* Summary of Key Findings - We have found command and control servers for FinSpy backdoors, part of Gamma International’s FinFisher “remote monitoring solution,” in a total of 25 countries: Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Latvia, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, Qatar, Serbia, Singapore, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam. - A FinSpy campaign in Ethiopia uses pictures of Ginbot 7, an Ethiopian opposition group, as bait to infect users. This continues the theme of FinSpy deployments with strong indications of politically-motivated targeting. - There is strong evidence of a Vietnamese FinSpy Mobile Campaign. We found an Android FinSpy Mobile sample in the wild with a command & control server in Vietnam that also exfiltrates text messages to a local phone number. - These findings call into question claims by Gamma International that previously reported servers were *not* part of their product line, and that previously discovered copies of their software were either stolen or demo copies. https://citizenlab.org/2013/03/you-only-click-twice-finfishers-global-proli… http://surveillance.rsf.org/en/gamma-international/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FinFisher https://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00002114.html http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/finfisher.pdf (in arabic)

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US Airforce Increases cyber workforce to 7, 200 by adding 1, 200
by Brian Munyao Longwe 09 Apr '13

09 Apr '13

...and this is the cyber workforce in the *air force*, other millitary units have their own detachments, and so do specialized agencies including the Department of Justice, State and Federal Police, Immigration etc... In Kenya we have? Mmm, I think I can probably count on one hand :) The article where I got this makes an interesting read, the scary part is that the US has 6 cyber-tools that have now been classified as weapons. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57578567-83/u.s-air-force-designates-six-c… Best regards, Brian

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AFRINIC 101 Issue 1 - Policy Development Process
by Babusha Radhakissoon 09 Apr '13

09 Apr '13

Dear Colleagues, Please find below the first issue of AFRINIC 101, the first of a series of summaries of various AFRINIC services and operations. The 101 series will act as a guide, to enable all members of the community to understand our activities. The first edition has been published in view of the coming Public Policy Meeting, AFRINIC-18, to be held on 15 - 21 June 2013, in Lusaka, Zambia. Enjoy the read. Regards, Babusha Radhakissoon *If you cannot view this email properly please click here* <http://afrinic.net/multimedia/email/social_101/Social_101.html> Ever wondered what the Policy Development Process is all about? I remember when I first joined AFRINIC, the main thing I retained after my first week, was that AFRINIC’s main activity was the management and distribution of IP addresses and this was facilitated by policies, defined and adopted by the community, for the community. At the time that seemed like an over rehearsed, generic line that was thrown around and I too memorised the text. But, with time and interactions with the community, I learnt that as an integral part of the AFRINIC team, we all need to know about our core activity and be able to talk about it with anyone. Enter AFRINIC 101! This series of mini articles on AFRINIC processes will help guide each and every one of you through many of our operations, which you might not be fully conversant with. Since our main mandate is the management and distribution of Internet resources, what better way to start the series than by the Policy Development Process (PDP)? *A**FRINIC 101 on Policy Development Process (PDP)* * * This document will walk you through the steps via which proposals for number resource management policies are submitted, considered, debated and adopted by AFRINIC. Important to know, policies are developed by a member or the broader Internet community through a bottom-up process of consultation and consensus. You may want to implement a new policy or change and existing one; to do so the PDP must be respected. You can refer to the PDP blueprint here <http://www.afrinic.net/en/community/policy-development> for the detailed process. The forums for policy development are our bi-annual AFRINIC Public Policy meetings and discussions on the rpd(a)afrinic.net mailing list. Our meetings are open to all and anyone may participate in discussions and decision making. The PDP is a well elaborated sinequanone of steps leading to the implementation or rejection of any policy. *So what are Policy Proposals?** * Policy proposals are basically any new, innovative idea that would ultimately simplify or enhance Internet Number Resource management. They are officially submitted for discussion by members of the community. They propose either a new policy or changes to an existing policy. Upon adoption, these policies will apply directly to the way AFRINIC manages and distributes Internet number resources to all AFRINIC current and prospective members. *And why do we need them?* Policies are implemented to guide AFRINIC towards managing Internet Number Resources for the community in a transparent, fair and neutral way for the proper usage of these resources. Policies serve this purpose as all issued Internet number resource allocations and assignments must match and comply with their content. *So, what we must remember is that the PDP is above all:* **- Open - Transparent - Bottom-up *6. You still with me? Here are some proposals currently under discussion ** * With this proposal, SM’s idea is to attempt to update the existing IPv4 Address Allocation Policy (AFPUB-2005-v4-001) <http://www.afrinic.net/en/library/policies/126-afpub-2005-v4-001> by introducing and incorporating changes that will enhance IPv4 address allocations based on the experience acquired since 2006 when AFRINIC started registry operations. a. IPv4 Address Allocation and Assignment AFPUB-2013-V4-002-DRAFT-01 Author: S. Moonesamy, sm+afrinic(a)elandsys.com In a nutshell, this proposal aims at improving IPv4 allocations by putting into practice all the know-how accumulated. “There have been complaints on the rpd mailing lists about the time it takes to process an IPv4 allocation or the amount of information that needs to be provided. So the aim of this proposal would be to address such issues”, says S. Moonesamy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Andrew and Sunday bring us a proposal defining a process that will guide AFRINIC while evaluating IPv4 address requests from higher education institutions (HEIs). Their proposal wants to define concurrency usage limits that will count towards calculating the maximum prefix size to be issued to the HEI. The main motivation is getting rid of NAT and consequently renumbering out of any NAT’ted networks at the HEI. Oh and Ernest has it at his fingertips if you are lost. b. Academic IPv4 Allocation AFPUB-2013-GEN-001-DRAFT-01 Authors: Andrew Alston, aa(a)alstonnetworks.net Sunday Folayan, sfolayan(a)skannet.com.ng ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This proposal sets the procedures for transferring IPv4 address space from AFRINIC to out-of-region organisations (and vice versa). According to Chad Abizeid, after the proposal is ratified, African companies will be able to participate in an IPv4 address transfer market already available to ARIN and APNIC LIRs by allowing them to transfer their excess or unneeded IPv4 addresses to companies in other RIR regions. This type of policy actually exists at ARIN <https://www.arin.net/resources/request/transfers_8_4.html> and APNIC <http://www.apnic.net/policy/transfer-policy#rir-transfer>. c. Inter RIR IPv4 address Transfers AFPUB-2013-V4-001-DRAFT-01 Author: Chad Abizeid, chad(a)logicweb.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Our very own Jean Robert likes things tidy, and his proposal calls for AFRINIC to maintain accuracy of WHOIS data through periodical and routine clean-up of the WHOIS database. The data needing to be “cleaned-up” mainly concerns contact information that is no longer accurate or up-to-date. d. AFRINIC WHOIS Database Clean-up AFPUB-2012-GEN-001-DRAFT-02 Author: Jean Robert Hountomey, jrhountomey(a)gmail.com With the advent of cybercrime and related misdemeanours, Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) constantly want to identify the origin (and location) of cybercriminals, and their first stop (after identify an abusive IP address) is the WHOIS database so as to know which company was issued that IP address. When the information therein is not accurate and credible, LEAs will not find it easy to look up these offenders. Apart from combating cybercrime, many businesses and services depend on the WHOIS database for services targeted for different countries, like iTunes. This is called IP address geo-location, and it depends heavily on accuracy of WHOIS data. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In a nutshell, the team of authors, McTim, Mark and Mauritz are requesting that any organisation may obtain a /24 IPv4 prefix for anycast or GRX (exchange points for Internet and mobile networks respectively), from AFRINIC or from the organisation they get their IP addresses from. In case of the latter, and upon adoption of the proposal, such a /24 is considered by AFRINIC as "fully utilised" when auditing the LIR’s utilisation of previous allocations. e. Anycast Assignments in the AFRINIC region. AFPUB-2012-V4-001-DRAFT-01 Authors: Tim McGinnis, dogwallah(a)gmail.com Mark J Elkins, mje(a)posix.co.za Mauritz Lewies, mauritz(a)three6five.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This proposal, brought to you by McTim is very straightforward. Basically, he is suggesting that we should limit LIRs from obtaining reverse delegation (rDNS) unless the LIR has properly registered all assignments and sub-allocations from its allocations for its customers, end-sites and own network infrastructure. e. AFPUB-2012-DNS-001-DRAFT-02 AFPUB-2012-V4-001-DRAFT-01 Author: Tim McGinnis (McTim), mctimconsulting(a)gmail.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Before I pen off, I would strongly recommend that all of you go through the full policy proposals on the policy page <http://www.afrinic.net/en/community/policy-development> of our website. As ambassadors of AFRINIC, we ought to know what we are working on to better represent ourselves in the community. Stay tuned for more... -- Ms. Babusha Radhakissoon Tel: +230 403 51 00 Social Media/Online Engagement Officer Fax: +230 466 67 58 babusha(a)afrinic.net - www.afrinic.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join us at the Africa Internet Summit'13 for our Public Policy Meeting in Lusaka, Zambia on 9 – 21 June 2013 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Fastest way to get to Silicon Savannah
by Mark Mwangi 07 Apr '13

07 Apr '13

Dear Listers, The notion that grand ideas need grand schemes and subsequently grand mega projects may be what confuses us and the resultant complications grind the idea to a stop. We are all shouting ourselves hoarse about how digital the new establishment is and the associated mega projects such as Konza that have been both shot at and polished in equal stride. I think the solution to achieving first world tech hub status is very basic indeed and can be done now without the need of building a gleaming new city. I remember meeting Chrystal Watley Kigoni when she was embarking on putting an internet connected computer in remote villages. I remember her being asked why she would take inernet to people who weren't even literate and what she hoped to achieve with it. Her answer was that not having the connection was not helping them either. Prof. Mitra has demonstrated what access to resources with no training can enable children to teach themselves. http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html In light of this maybe the fastest way to attain our tech-literate goals is to get everyone an internet connection and see what happens. In my opinion the easiest way to do this is to get KPLC to do it. Make it a requirement to drop dark or live fiber to each and every premises that they supply power to. If the power distribution gets devolved in future then compel the new players to do the same. In short get every single building that is connected to the national power grid be connected to a parallel national fiber grid. Leaving matters of internet connectivity to market forces have gotten us to where we are now. Multiple fibers at the coast, insignificant drop in prices or increased access to the public. Arguments about cost will always arise but what is the cost of not doing it? Do we want to be a nation that only knows of internet through the lens of mobile network dongles and bundles? Using radio spectrum to deliver high quality internet is not sustainable and we know it. Besides downloading and uploading terabytes of data will clog up the spectrum. The telcos will have the most to gain. They do not need to worry about cable cuts and just pay KPLC a fee to use their capacity. Consumers choose their preferred provider and the internet companies finally settle down to core business. This would also create one of the biggest national networks and should be an interesting case study. Ofcourse privacy and democracy advocates could argue that this also affords a totalitarian government an easy plug to pull to shutdown everyones internet but we can find ways around this in the law or in its design. -- Regards, Mark Mwangi markmwangi.me.ke

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Re: [kictanet] Expensive Airtel?
by Caroline Michuki 07 Apr '13

07 Apr '13

Sent from Samsung Mobile "Song, Stephen" <stephen.song(a)gmail.com> wrote: An interesting aside from the Canadian telecommunications sector. In 2009, Industry Canada (the ministry responsible for telecommunications) spent tens of thousands of dollars developing a mobile plan comparison tool to assist frustrated consumers in choosing the right plan/service/operator. It was well-designed and had received praise from the focus groups it was tested on. Despite this the project was killed weeks before it was due to launch. Why? Lobbying and threats of lawsuits from mobile operators. http://www.thestar.com/business/2009/08/31/ottawa_killed_cellphone_cost_cal… Complex pricing tariffs only serve the operators not the customers. The mobile operators clearly feared people actually being able to properly compare tarifs. IMO, the problem is not whether or not to have a plan comparison tool. The problem is that the mobile operators are allowed to use such perniciously complex plans. Some supermarkets post the price/100g of products on their shelves to stop companies from altering sizes slightly to create the appearance but not the reality of a discount. Perhaps operators should be obliged to post the average cost of a plan according to a standard OECD price basket. Free telecom disrupted the entire telecom industry in France in part by coming up with a 1 price approach to their service. http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/03/how-the-telecom-company-free-disrupted-the… If the CCK ought to do anything at all, perhaps it should be in the realm of enforcing simplicity and comparability of plans rather than trying to develop complex tools to analyse complex plans. -Steve Song On 5 April 2013 12:39, Mark Mwangi <mwangy(a)gmail.com> wrote: I do not think it is the CCK's Job to tell you the cheapest/most affordable/the most understanding telco. We may be over stretching the bodies responsibilities while not giving it more funding. If you find them too expensive there are other options. I for instance keep most of my traffic on Orange and only keep Safaricom for the M-pesa. There are choices. On Fri, Apr 5, 2013 at 5:11 PM, Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo(a)gmail.com> wrote: The regulator: 1. Issues Licenses 2. Determines Interconnection fees 3. Lords over the Telcos stopping them from "tabia mbaya" - like unfair competition There is nowhere where the consumer surfaces in the mind of the regulator, if you ask me. On 5 April 2013 16:28, Edith Adera <eadera(a)idrc.ca> wrote: Great idea! However, my question would then be what’s the role of the Regulator – CCK? This information, processed in this manner should be in the public domain and comparable across operators as one of CCK’s roles is to check not only on quality of service, but also price of service. Edith From: Odhiambo Washington [mailto:odhiambo@gmail.com] Sent: April 5, 2013 2:52 PM To: Edith Adera Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Subject: Re: [kictanet] Expensive Airtel? Hi Edith, Do it like a Standard 1 kid would: 1. Load 50bob airtime 2. Set phone to show phone duration 3. Make a call lasting N minutes 4. Check airtime balance after the call. Do the same on your Safaricom/Yu/Orange Tarrif. Show the comparison. Ditto for data. Buy bundle. Download the same file on 3 different networks. Check bundle balance. Tabulate and show us how they compare:-) On 5 April 2013 13:29, Edith Adera <eadera(a)idrc.ca> wrote: 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 _______________________________________________ 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/odhiambo%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. -- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223 "I can't hear you -- I'm using the scrambler." -- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223 "I can't hear you -- I'm using the scrambler." _______________________________________________ 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/mwangy%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. -- Regards, Mark Mwangi markmwangi.me.ke _______________________________________________ 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/stephen.song%40gmail.… 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. -- Steve Song +1 902 529 0046 http://manypossibilities.net http://villagetelco.org

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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:charlesnduati2002@yahoo.co.uk,cnduati@gmail.com,

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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:kictanet-bounces+aquinasw=lantech.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] 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:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> 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:kictanet-request@lists.kictanet.or.ke> You can reach the person managing the list at kictanet-owner(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet-owner@lists.kictanet.or.ke> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of kictanet digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: 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:jokilimo@yahoo.com>> To: "S.M. Muraya" <murigi.muraya(a)gmail.com<mailto:murigi.muraya@gmail.com>> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> 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:1364745829.35382.YahooMailNeo@web122004.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>> 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:murigi.muraya@gmail.com>> To: jokilimo(a)yahoo.com<mailto:jokilimo@yahoo.com> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> 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:blongwe@gmail.com>> 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:jwalu@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 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:blongwe@gmail.com>> >>To: jwalu(a)yahoo.com<mailto:jwalu@yahoo.com> p >>Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@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<mailto:Dick.Omondi@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<mailto:ali@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<mailto:warigia@gmail.com>> 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:kictanet@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%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:wbowman@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<mailto:mailadmin@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<mailto:mailadmin@ke.airtel.com>. >>>_______________________________________________ >>>kictanet mailing list >>>kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@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<mailto:kictanet@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.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:kictanet@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/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:kictanet@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/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.

10 13

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

4 7

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

1 0

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.

1 0

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

1 0

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. >> >>

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