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Regarding the Girls who created social network for farmers
by Matunda Nyanchama 11 Jan '11

11 Jan '11

Congratulations are in order for these young girls in the above story; kudos. My reading is that there are many such stories and potential successes that could happen. This was reinforced when I saw presentations at the most recent AITEC event in Nairobi. We just need the right environment and our tech sector will take off to even higher heights than the present trend suggests. Couple of things that could help: * Protection of Intellectual Property: I marveled at the ease with which those at the conference shared their creations and even creations that were on the drawing board! Question: how do they know who the prying eyes are in the public event? And prying eyes with deeper pockets and better knowledge of the business of IT? * Risk Capital: Silicon Valley wouldn't have been without risk capital? RIM (that produces the blackberry), one of the most successful Canadian tech creations, would not have happened without risk capital. For the longest time, the latter depended on government grants, which allowed them to go thru' teething stages! In Kenya, we may not have the kind money Canada has thrown into R&D in form of grants. However, we can have a variation of this. One possibility I have shared with friends relates to incentives, i.e. tax credits, R&D Levy Fund from which companies can get back some of the money invested in R&D, and even some form of "insurance" where risk capital would be compensated at a given % should a venture not materialize! * Active scouting of ideas for development in science fairs, tech conferences, etc and investing in those that offer promise. Ukiona vyalea vimeundua or words to that effect from the wisdom of the old.Development cannot be left to chance. It reminds of a science project we did in high school: powering a radio using stored energy in a wind up spring! We got good marks; and off we went later to university, forgot about it and lo! years later, someone was selling wind up radios in rural Africa! Shukrani. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matunda Nyanchama, mnyanchama(a)aganoconsulting.com Agano Consulting Inc.; www.aganoconsulting.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”- George Bernard Shaw ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This e-mail, including attachments, may be privileged and may contain confidential or proprietary information intended only for the addressee(s). Any other distribution, copying, use, or disclosure is unauthorized and strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and permanently delete the message, including any attachments, without making a copy. Thank you.

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Call for Papers - ITU Telecom World 2011 Technical Symposium
by Alice Munyua 11 Jan '11

11 Jan '11

http://www.itu.int/WORLD2011/forum/technical_symposium.html?WT.mc_id=cfa Do you have something to say to the global ICT community on future communications technologies & enablers? We invite you to submit your papers for the ITU Telecom World 2011 technical symposium <http://www.itu.int/world2011/forum/technical_symposium.html?WT.mc_id=cfa>. ITU Telecom World 2011 <http://www.itu.int/world2011/index.html?WT.mc_id=cfa> brings with it a new focus for ITU Telecom events, with emphasis on networking, knowledge sharing and consensus building. The technical symposium <http://www.itu.int/world2011/forum/technical_symposium.html?WT.mc_id=cfa> will be a crucial part of knowledge sharing activities. It will bring together experts from across the ICT spectrum to share and exchange views on topics such as /cloud computing, cognitive networks, e-everything, future access networks, interworking & interoperability, mobile broadband, smart grids, spectrum management, traffic management and many more/. This is your opportunity to have your say on the world's future ICT landscape. Be sure your views are represented. Click here <http://www.itu.int/world2011/forum/technical_symposium.html?WT.mc_id=cfa> for further details and information on how to submit your paper. Important dates * *Deadline for Submission of Review Manuscripts: 7th March* * Notification of Paper Acceptance: May 27th, 2011 * Final Paper: July 30th, 2011 --

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New "The 411..." Posts...
by Mike Bullut 10 Jan '11

10 Jan '11

Greetings, I hope this reaches you in the best of health & highest of spirits today. I've written some new posts on my *blog <http://kipsang.wordpress.com/>* & I'd like you guys to let me know what you think. I got them from material I come across the Net & in my e-mail. Here they are: Facebook: - *Inside A Facebook Server Farm...*<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/inside-a-facebook-server-farm/> - *Facebook Now Has 30,000 Servers...*<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/facebook-now-has-30000-servers/> - *15 Scary Facebook Statistics...*<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/15-scary-facebook-statistics%e2%80%…> Effects of Social Networking: - *The Young & The Connected...*<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/11/29/the-young-the-connected/> Societal Awareness: - *Improving Human Behaviour Key To Improving Road Safety...<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/improving-human-behaviour-key-to-im…> (sorry if the audio is a bit off)* Security: - *Kenya Police website hacked...<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/kenya-police-website-hacked/> * - *Creating E-mail Filters in Yahoo!...*<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/08/18/creating-e-mail-filters-in-yahoo/> The Workforce: - *10 dirty little secrets you should know about working in IT...*<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2011/01/03/10-dirty-little-secrets-you-should-…> - *Employee Monitoring...<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/employee-monitoring/> * - *Frustrated Employees...<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/frustrated-employees/> * - *I.T. Life... Interesting! <http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/04/29/i-t-life-interesting/> * Humour: - *Wikileaks... <http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/12/08/wikileaks/>* - *Evolution of Man...<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/evolution-of-man/> * Events: - *Christmas 2.0...<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/12/23/christmas-2-0/> * - *Nokia C3 Chaos at Sarit Centre...*<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/nokia-c3-chaos-at-sarit-centre/> - *Nokia C3 Chaos at I&M Building...<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/nokia-c3-chaos-at-im-building/> * - *Nokia C3 lands in Indonesia...<http://kipsang.wordpress.com/2010/10/04/nokia-c3-lands-in-indonesia/> * Warm regards, Mike. *-- "The computer programmer . . . is a creator of universes for which he alone is the lawgiver. . . . No playwright, no stage director, no emperor, however powerful, has ever exercised such absolute authority to arrange a stage or a field of battle and to command such unswervingly dutiful actors or troops."* * ~ Joseph Weizenbaum... --*

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Programmer
by Eric Aligula 08 Jan '11

08 Jan '11

Colleagues Happy New Year to you all. I am looking for a Programmer to assist in developing a User Interface for an Energy Demand Projection model we have developed. If you know of anyone, kindly request them to liaise with me off the list. Kind regards Eric Aligula Magolo, PhD Programmes Coordinator & Ag. Head, Infrastructure and Economic Services Division Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) P.O. Box 56445, 00200 Nairobi, Kenya Telephone: +254-20-2719933/4 Fax: +254-20-2719951 E-mail: jairah(a)kippra.or.ke <mailto:jairah@kippra.or.ke> URL: www.kippra.org <http://www.kippra.org/> Proudly Kenyan "In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility..........I welcome it." John F. Kennedy "To allow other people's assessment of you to determine your own self-assessment is a very big mistake" Columbia University President Lee Bollinger "Far better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory, nor defeat." Theodore Roosevelt "Ex Africa semper aliquid novi"

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Google appoints Kenyan Ory okolloh to manage its Africa policy
by Alice Munyua 07 Jan '11

07 Jan '11

Congratulations Ory! best alice -------------------------- Google recently appointed Ory Okolloh, an online activist and co-founder of Ushahidi <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ushahidi>, as Policy Manager for Africa. Ushahidi <http://www.ushahidi.com> is a famed crowd sourcing site dedicated to information collection, visualisation and interactive mapping. Google's appointment shows its confidence in Africa's digital growth and recognises the continent as a future tech giant. Okolloh is a TED <http://www.ted.com> fellow, Global Voices contributor <http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/author/ory/>and a Harvard-educated lawyer. She is a regular speaker at prestigious conferences such as TED, World Economic Forum <http://www.weforum.org>, Poptech <http://www.poptech.org>, CGI, Techonomy <http://www.techonomy.com>, Mobile Web Africa <http://www.mobilewebafrica.com>, and the Monaco Media Forum <http://www.monacomediaforum.org/>on issues around citizen journalism. She has been very active in building Africa's technological landscape. Okolloh comes into the role with a strong background in law having worked as a corporate lawyer for an organisation in support of entrepreneurs in South Africa. She has also been at the helm of Ushahidi for the last three years. Okolloh steps down as Ushahidi's Executive Director and will take up her new position in Johannesburg, South Africa mid January. According to a recent post on her blog Kenyan Pundit <http://www.kenyanpundit.com/2010/12/23/stepping-down-as-ushahidi-executive-…> she writes "the role will involve developing policy/strategies on a number of areas of relevance to Google and the Internet in Africa and will involve working with different parties including government leaders, policy makers, regulators, industry groups and so on. "It is a huge opportunity to bring Google's resources to bear as far as the growth and development of the internet in Africa. I'm very excited about the move and I hope I can continue to lean on your support and insight in my new role." ReadWriteWeb <http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_hires_kenyan_activist_to_shape_…> noted that Okolloh's portfolio will include the whole of Sub-Saharan Africa. "Overall, I'll be working to get more people online and policies favourable to that, also (cultivate) support for local content and an environment which supports innovation," she tells ReadWriteWeb. -- --

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IP Theft, a scam or both?
by Francis.Hook＠gmail.com 07 Jan '11

07 Jan '11

I saw a facebook ad about pencil sketches and followed it since I have been thinking of getting one done of my Mum. http://www.pencilportraits.co.ke/index.html Hmm...looks good...at the back of my mind I thought "How sure are we the sketches are not photoshopped or paintbrushed or whatever graphic-apped... you could do a scan, render a black and white, add pencil effects, smudge, smoothen, etc.... Price range between kshs 4000 and 12000....so I decided to click on the "Letters from clients link" http://www.pencilportraits.co.ke/letters_from_clients.html Then I knew for sure it was a rip off after reading the quote at the top of the page....can't be original. So I took an excerpt of the quote and googled it...and voila...two results: that site given above and http://www.pencil-portrait-drawing-artist.com/pencilportraitclients.html A near verbatim reproduction of it (the letters from clients are identical except for the names and cities). Being someone who earns part of his living off original work, I have written to both addresses and given both links in one email... It may be that one is imitating the other....it may also be that BOTH are doing photoshop portraits. Having said that, I will rasterise, vectorise, smudge and smoothen your pictures at 400 bob each incl 50 bob postage. To make it look real, I'll go over it with an HB2 pencil.... Special offer for the first 10 clients I will enhance any body features you desire ;-)

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Man Faces Five Years in Prison for Snooping Through Wife's E-Mails
by Alice Munyua 06 Jan '11

06 Jan '11

Happy 2011 to everyone. -------------------- Here's an interesting case that could end up setting new boundaries in the area of privacy. And it confirms that in most cases marriages do belong to the government:-) best Alice Man Faces Five Years in Prison for Snooping Through Wife's E-Mails http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/email-snooping-wife-brings-michigan-man-fe… Could someone face prison time for snooping through a spouse's e-mails? <http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebook-infidelity-cheating-spouses-onlin…> For Leon Walker of Michigan, the answer was yes. Suspecting that his wife was involved with another man, and worried that it was affecting their daughter, Walker logged into Clara Walker's Gmail account last summer. Walker, 33, said it was easy for him to log in because his wife kept the password in a book next to the computer. "I definitely felt it was OK to confirm [the affair] by reading her e-mail in our home," said Walker. While Walker believed it was OK, Oakland County prosecutors did not and have charged Walker with felony misuse of a computer. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison. This is Michigan's first criminal prosecution for snooping through a spouse's e-mails. So far, two Michigan judges have refused to toss out the charges in the potentially precedent-setting case. "It's outrageous. It's insane," Walker, who is now divorced, told ABC News. Prosecutors contend that Walker -- who is a computer technician -- illegally hacked into his wife's computer after she had filed for divorce, but Walker's lawyer calls the prosecution's claim an overzealous application of a law meant to protect trade secrets and credit card data. "People who live under the same roof, be they married or not, and who share a computer -- as in this instance -- they may have some personal privacy lines that they adhere to. And if they don't, that's between the two individuals," defense attorney Leon Weiss said. "The word 'e-mail' does not appear in this statute. This is an anti-hacking statute," Weiss said. "It does not, in any way, shape or form encompass reading somebody's e-mail." Prosecutors scoff at defense claims that Walker is a victim. "Apparently, they are trying the case in the media, because they are not doing so well in the courts," Oakland County prosecutor Jessica Cooper said in a statement. While Walker's case is a first for Michigan, it is not the first time the privacy between a husband and wife has become a matter for the courts. Federal privacy laws state that even with a shared computer, password protected e-mail accounts are private, unless one of the parties allows access. "The law is a simple unauthorized access law: It prohibits unauthorized viewing of someone else's password-protected files," said Orin Kerr, an Internet legal expert. "The legal issue here would be whether the wife gave the man permission to view her account. If she did not, this is a pretty straightforward." And experts say the same law would apply to other forms of communication, including a letter addressed to your spouse. "If you give them permission, you can do anything you want to. But if you don't, it might be a crime," said Perry Aftab, a privacy lawyer. Walker will face trial Feb. 7 in a case that could set bold new boundaries in the murky area of privacy between a husband and a wife. <http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/facebook-infidelity-cheating-spouses-onlin…>

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DIASPORA ORGANIZATIONS PRESENT FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER WITH PETITION FOR INCLUSION ON MATTERS OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE – WEDNESDAY, 5TH JANUARY, 2010
by Shem Ochuodho 06 Jan '11

06 Jan '11

Several Diaspora organizations today presented a petition to the Government of Kenya through the Minister for Foreign Affairs seeking their rightful inclusion in all matters of national importance. The petition, signed by 5 Diaspora and Diaspora-centred groups including Diaspora Movement of Kenya (DMK), Kenya Community Abroad (KCA), Kenyans for Change (K4C), Kenya Global Unity (KGU) and New Vision Kenya (NVK-Mageuzi), together among them representing more than 90% of Kenyans belonging to recognized, registered global associations was received on the behalf of the Acting Minister Prof. George Saitoti by the Substantive Assistant Minister, Hon. Richard Moima Onyonka, among other senior Ministry and government officials, including an officer from the Government Communications Office in the Presidency. The open petition, addressed to the entire leadership of the Republic beginning with H.E. the President, Rt. Hon. Prime Minister, H.E. the Vice President, Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Justice Minister, the Chief Justice, etc, is also copied to All Hon. Members of Parliament and Media Houses. It stipulates the growing importance of Diaspora contribution to our socio-economic, technological and cultural development as a people, noting that more than 3 million Kenyans are presently domiciled beyond our borders, remitting into the country in excess of KShs 150 billion (US$ 1.8 billion) into the economy every year according to official figures, way above what any donors or sector of the economy (agriculture or tourism included) brings in terms of foreign exchange, yet the place of Diaspora is yet to be appropriately recognized and anchored. The group, led by NVK-M’s Convenor, Dr Shem Ochuodho, KCA’s Outgoing President, Mr Gichane Muraguri, and K4C’s Global Treasurer, Mr Peter Arasa and including representatives from nearly all the world’s 5 continents – North America, Europe, Asia (including the Pacific), Middle East and Africa – highlighted five major issues requiring urgent government intervention, namely:- 1. Immediate arrangements by the Interim Independent Electoral Commission of Kenya (IIECK) to seek ways of registering Kenyan Diaspora in next year’s general elections either by declaring embassies and consulates as polling centres, or even better by introducing electronic and online voting (e-voting). The group recognized that in a court ruling during the recent constitutional referendum, the IIECK and other relevant arms of government were actually directed to do this; 2. Involvement of eligible Diaspora in strategic national commissions and committees, including the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), the Constitutional and Legal Reforms Implementation and Monitoring Committees, and other existing and future trade, economic, scientific, cultural and professional committees and commissions. In so doing, they reiterated that merit should prevail over any other considerations and that Diaspora should not be favoured in such appointments, but equally they should not be excluded or discriminated against being treated as second-rate citizens; 3. Based on the principle of ‘No Taxation without Representation’, they urged the Government and in particular the successor to the Ligale Commission (the anticipate Independent Boundaries and Electoral Commission) and Parliament in creating the 80 additional constituencies to reserve 5 (for the 5 continents) for Diaspora Representatives. Indeed, recognizing that numerically they are more than any single constituency or County, within the context of the new constitutional dispensation they should be considered as Kenya’s 48th county. They enumerated several countries where such provisions already exist world over; 4. They called for mindset-change among all Kenyans – whether Diaspora or home-based – in the way each group perceives and treats the other. They committed to continue with engagement among their members who might look down upon in any way some of their home-based counterparts to forthwith see all Kenyans as one integral people, and in the same vein appealed to the Government and home-based counterparts, relatives and colleagues to also inculcate positive attitude about their countrymen and women domiciled beyond Kenya’s jurisdiction; and 5. To improve engagement with the Government and home-based counterparts, they called for the establishment of Diaspora Liaison Offices in all sections of the world where there are significant numbers of Kenyans, and the consideration of Honorary Consuls where qualified and meriting Kenyans have become ‘senior citizens’ of countries of domicile. In his response, Minister Onyonka, himself a former Diaspora appreciated the delegation, welcomed the petition and promised to bring it to the attention of the relevant government authorities. He indicated that some of the matters raised are already within the purview of the Ministry, including the plan to appoint a few Honorary Consuls in deserving areas once the legal and administrative instruments are complete. He further indicated that in recognition of the importance of Diaspora not only in numerical and socio-economic terms, but also as Kenya’s unofficial ambassadors, the Ministry has already created a Diaspora Desk with a senior officer as its head, and that the Government is already working on a Diaspora Bill which will look into most of the issues raised. He further confirmed that the Ministry is holding preliminary consultations with the IIECK in how best realistically to have Kenyans abroad participate in future in the governance of the country, including in elections and referenda. Further engagement is expected in the future, even as the Diaspora organizations themselves explore more effective, efficient and inclusive ways of engagement, with the possibility of an Umbrella Diaspora Alliance emerging. They thanked the Ministry for the warm reception, looking forward to deserving attention and speed in tackling the matters raised. Attached is a copy of the Official Petition. ---- Begin Attachment --- Inclusion of Kenya’s Diaspora Representatives in the new Judicial Service Commission (JSC), other constitution implementation committees, and generally in Kenya’s socio-economic and cultural development PETITIONERS REQUIREMENT:Inclusion of Kenyan Diaspora Representatives in strategic committees, commissions and other national duties of paramount importance. To: 1. H.E. THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA HARAMBEE HOUSE, HARAMBEE AVENUE P.O. BOX 62345 – 00200 NAIROBI, KENYA 2. THE RT. HON. PRIME MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA SHELL HOUSE, HARAMBEE AVENUE P.O. BOX 74434 NAIROBI, KENYA 3. H.E. THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA JOGOO HOUSE ‘A’, TAIFA ROAD P.O. BOX 30478 – 00100 NAIROBI, KENYA 4. HON. SPEAKER OF THE OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS P.O BOX 41842 – 00100 NAIROBI, KENYA clerk(a)parliament.go.ke (254-2) 2221291 or 2848000 (254-2) 2243694 5. HON. MINISTER OF JUSTICE & CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS COOPERATIVE BANK HOUSE, HAILE SELASSIE AVENUE P.O. BOX 56057 - 00200 NAIROBI, KENYA 6. HON. MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS OLD TREASURYBUILDING, HARAMBEE AVENUE P.O. BOX 30551 - 00100 NAIROBI, KENYA 7. HON. ATTORNEY GENERAL SHERIA HOUSE, 2ND FLOOR P.O. BOX 40112 - 00100 NAIROBI, KENYA TEL. 227461 EXT 37419 8. THE HON. CHIEF JUSTICE HIGH COURT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA LAW COURTS, TAIFA ROAD P.O. BOX 30041 NAIROBI, KENYA 9. HON. CHAIRPERSON PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE ON JUSTICE & LEGAL AFFAIRS PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS P.O BOX 41842 – 00100 NAIROBI, KENYA 10. HON. CHAIRPERSON PARLIAMENTARY OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONSTITUTION PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS P.O BOX 41842 – 00100 NAIROBI, KENYA PETITION BACKGROUND Importance of the Judiciary, the Legal Sector and the Place of the Diaspora: The passage and promulgation of the New Constitution lends Kenya a unique and rare opportunity to correct the wrongs of the past, including inequality and injustice, to become once again a leading light among nations of the world. As is widely acknowledged, whereas a nation can thrive with an under-performing executive or legislature, it can hardly survive with a below-expectation judiciary. It is with this importance that we view the ongoing legal and constitutional reforms with great keenness. With over 3 million Kenyans believed to be in foreign lands, remitting on average over US$ 1 billion (KShs 80 billion) a year, their importance to our present and future needs no gainsaying. Hitherto, the Government of Kenya has largely turned a blind eye on them. Yet this is in spite of being a signatory to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (among others), whose Article 25 holds that:- Every citizen shall have the right and opportunity … without unreasonable restrictions: (a) to take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives; etc. Article 2(1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights avers that:- Each State Party …. undertakes to take steps, individually and through international assistance and cooperation, and especially economic and technical, to the maximum of its available resources, with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the rights recognized in the Covenant by all appropriate means…. We are deeply perturbed not only at the apparent throwing merit out of the window in the ongoing appointments of Committees and Commissions, instead replacing it with deal-making between the two major partners in the Coalition, patronage, dynasty and other known ills that have over the years denied Kenya the opportunity to excel, but also the total exclusion of Diaspora representation in all this. JSC role and importance of Diaspora inclusion in the decision making process: In the recently promulgated constitution of Kenya Articles 171 to 172, the Establishment of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), its functions and the mechanisms of appointments of the commissioners are well explained. Briefly, the Commission should consist of the Chief Justice, who shall be the chairperson, one Supreme Court judge elected by the judges of the Supreme Court; one Court of Appeal judge elected by the judges of the Court of Appeal, one High Court judge and one magistrate, one a woman and one a man, elected by the members of the association of judges and magistrates, the Attorney-General, two advocates, one a woman and one a man, each of whom has at least fifteen years’ experience, elected by the members of the statutory body responsible for the professional regulation of advocates; one person nominated by the Public Service Commission; and one woman and one man to represent the public, not being lawyers, appointed by the President with the approval of the National Assembly. The duties of Commission includes:- promotion and facilitation of the independence and accountability of the judiciary, promotion of transparent administration of justice, recommending persons for appointment as judges, receiving complaints, investigating and removing judicial officers, preparing and implementation of programmes for the continuing education of judges and judicial officers, advising the national government on improving the efficiency of the administration of justice among others. These duties are primary to all Kenyans hence the appointments should net a wide range of talents including the already known reservoir of the highly trained/qualified Kenyans currently fitting the description of a Kenyan Diaspora – or at a minimum, seek their views on the same. The justification of the Kenyan Diaspora consideration is based on the current statistics on the Diaspora constituency and their contribution to running of the economy of our country. With remittances ranking the second highest source of foreign exchange and contributor to growth of our national economy only after tourism we cannot continue to treat them with disdain. Among the Kenyan Diasporas are highly qualified Lawyers, Engineers, Scientists, Medical Doctors and others currently constituting the well documented brain drain phenomenon observed in many African countries. While this constituency has worked very hard in development of the country and has publicly indicated their interest in being contracted/included in the processes that are of high value to Kenya such as JSC committee constitution, it appears the government has some level of lethargy when it comes to their inclusion in the Kenya decision making process. Indeed it saddens many that expatriates who absolutely lack the passion and patriotism for Kenya have been preferred over them. Kenya is losing a battle that every country would love to win if it continues to exclude some of her brightest brains. Many cases abound to learn from in terms of maximizing Diaspora input: India, Malaysia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, China, UK, just to mention a few. The purpose of this petition therefore is to ask His Excellency the President, the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister, the entire Executive Branch of Government, and the Legislature to ensure inclusion of Diaspora Representatives in strategic committees and commissions including JSC for the purposes of (1) Recognizing the Kenyan Diaspora Constituency (2) Utilizing patriotic highly qualified human resources. In so doing, merit and diversity should never be compromised under any circumstance, and replaced instead with mediocrity, political expediency and ethnic bigotry. We seem to forget that we can have no better or worse ‘Ambassadors’ in foreign lands than these Diaspora. PETITION We the undersigned call upon the President of Kenya, Prime Minister of Kenya and the Kenya Legislature to ensure inclusion of Kenyan Diaspora Representatives into the JSC and all other future and existing strategic committees and commissions. We believe this is in the spirit of recognizing the Kenyan Diaspora constituency contributions to Kenya’s development and working towards attracting highly trained patriotic services and investment. LEAD PETITIONERS 1. KENYA GLOBAL UNITY (KGU) 438 EAST 29TH STREET PATERSON NEW JERSEY-USA 07515 2. NEW VISON KENYA (NVK-MAGEUZI) P.O. BOX 333, JUBA, SUDAN OR P.O. BOX 58638-00200, NAIROBI, KENYA 3. KENYANS FOR CHANGE (K4C) 3317 FINLEY RD #257 IRVING, TX 75062 USA OR CORNER HOUSE, NAIROBI, KENYA 1. DIASPORA MOVEMENT OF KENYA (DMK) 33 PILOT HILL DRIVE SAINT PETERS, MISSOURI 63376 USA 5. KENYAN COMMUNITY ABROAD (KCA) P.O. BOX 850431, BRAINTREE, MA 02185, USA SIGNATURES ORGANIZATION AUTHORIZED OFFICER POSITION SIGNATURES 1. Kenya Global Union Mr. Alex P. Momanyi President Attached 2. New Vision Kenya - Mageuzi Dr Shem Ochuodho Co-Convenor Signed 3. New Vision Kenya - Mageuzi Mr. Robert Kimathi Co-Convenor E-Signature 4. Kenyans for Change Mr. Hebron Mosomi Chairperson Attached 5. Diaspora Movement of Kenya Mr. Robinson Gichuhi Global Chair E-Signature 6. Kenya Community Abroad Mr. David Otwoma Member Rep Signed 7. Kenya Community Abroad Ms Margaret Wamuhu Member Rep Signed 8. Kenya Community Abroad Mr. Gichane Muraguri Member Rep Signed 9. Kenyans for Change Mr. Peter Arasa Finance Dir Signed 10 Kenyans for Change Mr. Peter Ndolo Local Rep Signed 11 New Vision Kenya - Mageuzi Mr. Ochieng’ Nyamogo Member Rep In person 12 Kenya Global Union Mr. Evans Machera Member Rep E-Signature 13 New Vision Kenya - Mageuzi Mr. Mike Osio Org Secretary In person COPIES: ALL HON. MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT LAW SOCIETY OF KENYA (LSK) MEDIA HOUSES Dated: 15th December, 2010 ---- end -----

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Internship Opportunity
by Barrack Otieno 06 Jan '11

06 Jan '11

Dear Colleagues, Afriregister LTD is a growing e-commerce company with branches in Burundi and Nairobi, we are looking for interns to join our team for a 3 months period in Marketing, Accounts and Web development. For those interested in Web the following will be desirable qualities: - Good in OOP PHP - Good in atleast one php framework(MVC) preferably Zend - A good designer(graphics and flash)....desirable - Excellent css skills If you are interested in the opportunity please send your CV to admin(a)afriregister.co.ke and send a copy to the undersigned by 10th January 2011. -- Barrack O. Otieno Afriregister Ltd (Kenya) www.afrire <http://www.afriregister.com>gister.bi, www.afriregister.com<http://www.afriergister.com> <http://www.afriregister.com>ICANN accredited registrar +254721325277 +254-20-2498789 Skype: barrack.otieno

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Software Testing Courses in Kenya
by Roland Omoresemi 05 Jan '11

05 Jan '11

Just a reminder with regards to our upcoming SOFTWARE QUALITY ASSURANCE & TESTING COURSES Attached please find our 2011 Course Catalog plus the brochures for our upcoming courses in January: JANUARY 17-19 | 830 AM - 500 PM: Software Quality Assurance & Testing Boot camp (ISTQB Certification class http://softwaretestingafrica.com/cdetails.php?detail=c26841cc98f760f636f2c4d 9d827e18c <http://softwaretestingafrica.com/cdetails.php?detail=c26841cc98f760f636f2c4 d9d827e18c&pg=&> &pg=& JANUARY 20-21 | 830 AM - 500 PM: How to Test Commercial Off-The-Shelf Applications http://softwaretestingafrica.com/cdetails.php?detail=62da6c7c15cfa1aedbf7d2e 2ecc84c54 <http://softwaretestingafrica.com/cdetails.php?detail=62da6c7c15cfa1aedbf7d2 e2ecc84c54&pg=&> &pg=& We also have Testers who can assist you during your next project implementation - we offer Staff Augmentation services (either for UAT, System or Integration Testing or Test Automation and do System Integration work as well. Thank you so much! ----------------------------------------------- Roland Omoresemi | CEO tezza business solutions Ltd KENYA OFFICE PLOT 87 RHAPTA ROAD P.O. BOX 14068 - 00800 WESTLANDS, NAIROBI M: +254 719.616.900 | 0: +254 20 816 4340 | 0: +254 20 816 4341 ------------------------- UGANDA Plot 9 Martyrs Road P.O. Box 5871 Ntinda P: +256 312 108 322 | M: +256 772 583 788 ------------------------ USA OFFICE 9530 Oswald Lane Charlotte NC 28277 M: 704.604.4668 p: 913.961.2234 e: roland(a)tezzasolutions.com w: http://www.softwaretestingafrica.com w: http://www.tezzasolutions.com/technology.php ------------------------------------------------- UPCOMING TRAINING: January 17-19: Software Quality Assurance & Testing Boot Camp - Kenya January 20-21: Testing Commercial Off-The-Shelf Applications - Kenya January 24-26: Software Quality Assurance & Testing Boot Camp - Tanzania January 27-28: Testing Commercial Off-The-Shelf Applications - Tanzania January 31-Feb 2: Software Quality Assurance & Testing Boot Camp - Uganda February 3-4: Testing Commercial Off-The-Shelf Applications - Uganda ----------------------------------------------------- EMAIL DISCLAIMER: This email and any attachments to it may be confidential and are intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. Any views or opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of TEZZA BUSINESS SOLUTIONS. If you are not the intended recipient of this email, you must neither take any action based upon its contents, nor copy or show it to anyone. Please contact the sender if you believe you have received this email in error. Warning: Although reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure no viruses are present in this email, no responsibility for any loss or damage arising from the use of this email or attachments is accepted.

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Re: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade
by S.Murigi Muraya 28 Dec '10

28 Dec '10

Some time ago, software developer I consult wrote a Windows service that reads & records what is transacted via safaricom sim card. Pity he did not continue to develop the software. SMM -----Original Message----- From: muriuki mureithi <mureithi(a)summitstrategies.co.ke> Sent: Monday, 20 December 2010 15:46 To: murigi.muraya(a)gmail.com Cc: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade Thanks Betty When I pay for a service using mpesa , I would like to get something that shows payment – our accountants need a paper print out It is not possible to be it from mpesa system cheers Muriuki Mureithi What can u do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family. -Mother Teresa From: Betty Mwangi [mailto:bmwangi1@Safaricom.co.ke] Sent: 20 December 2010 13:39 To: mureithi(a)summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade Please qualify what you mean by transaction print outs? Thanks and rgds BlackBerry® powered by Safaricom From: muriuki mureithi To: Betty Mwangi Cc: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Sent: Mon Dec 20 11:08:41 2010 Subject: RE: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade Betty Can you give us a sense of when print-out of transactions can be possible - lack of printouts reduce the aura of mpesa to informality yet the direction you are heading is increasingly formal transactions. we need a trail cheers Muriuki Mureithi What can u do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family. -Mother Teresa From: kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Betty Mwangi Sent: 19 December 2010 17:25 To: mureithi(a)summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade Preston Thanks for your mail. There was a technical fault on Tuesday and Wednesday last week that resulted in delays with SMS confirmations and in some cases no confirmation at all. However, there was a process initiated to ensure completion of all such cases and customers and agents were advised of the completion so that transactions could be processed successfully. The fault is now resolved. We apologise for the inconvenience and assure customers that their funds are safe. Indeed we are under close oversight by CBK which we welcome. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you experience any further problems. As safaricom we are committed to ensuring that we meet and respond to customer needs - indeed the platform upgrade that we performed was of huge magnitude and you shall see the benefits as we continue to respond to more of your feedback. Today you will see that we have increased the bands so that you can now send up to 140000 ksh per day (max 70000ksh per transaction) and you can now hold up to 100000ksh in your MPESA e value account - doubled from previous. We have also enabled a minimum deposit, transfer and withdrawal amount of Ksh 50 ...more to come. Thank you for your feedback and thank you for staying with the better option. Best rgds Betty Mwangi-Thuo Chief Officer - New Products Safaricom ltd BlackBerry® powered by Safaricom From: kictanet-bounces+bmwangi1=safaricom.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke To: Betty Mwangi Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Sent: Sat Dec 18 09:38:26 2010 Subject: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade The current challenges consumers are going thru on the M-Pesa after upgrade seem not to have been shared with the consumers. Can the CEO of Safaricom explain what is going on. There are delays on money sent. I sent money and only received the message after six hours. The recepient never received any message. There are cases where the recipient does not receive a message although the money is there they cannot withdraw. Can Safaricom explain how many cases of this nature have been experienced and what are the security implications? Preston Odera Executive Director K-Ninety East Africa Limited Tel +254 20 3544352 Note: All emails sent from Safaricom Limited are subject to Safaricoms Email Terms & Conditions. Please click here to read the policy. Note: All emails sent from Safaricom Limited are subject to Safaricoms Email Terms & Conditions. Please click here to read the policy.

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Re: [kictanet] Congratulations MJ new KTB chairman
by benmakai＠yahoo.com 26 Dec '10

26 Dec '10

I think the tourism industry can now expect revolution. Its the highest time information technology is highly embraced and targeting modern age tourists aka dot com in this industry to complement traditional tourists. All the best MJ and congratulations:::0:b09522a45d002ea03ec209ce543e40dc:-1:x:::

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Sharing the airwaves: can Kenya’s 4G partnership work?
by Alice Munyua 24 Dec '10

24 Dec '10

http://www.analysysmason.com/About-Us/News/Insight/Kenya_4G_partnership_Dec…, Sharing the airwaves: can Kenya’s 4G partnership work? 20 December 2010 <http://www.analysysmason.com/People/Robert-Schumann/> “Making this 4G plan work will be a challenge for the selected network manager ... and for those charged with monitoring its performance.” The Kenyan government has recently put forward a plan to simultaneously promote cost-effective use of the 2.6GHz band and save operators from having to spend money in an auction. The plan is to offer the management of the band (up to 190MHz of spectrum, which is suitable for high-speed mobile data services) to an independent company in order to create an open access wholesale network. Operators would purchase capacity from the company, and bundle it into packages and products that they would sell in a competitive market to retail customers. The end result would be a single, highly utilised network with low unit costs. The plan sounds good, but the country’s government could be ‘jumping from the frying pan into the fire’. The frying pan may not have been that bad, after all Why does the Kenyan government feel wary of assigning spectrum to individual operators? The reasons suggested by Bitange Ndemo, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Communications, include: * high prices paid in an auction lead to high prices charged to consumers * operators failing to honour roll-out commitments * an auction would have 19 potential buyers and room for only three winners, so would discriminate against those that could not afford it. Do high auction prices lead to high prices for consumers? Actually, it is the other way around: if operators can charge high prices, they will be willing to place high bids at auction. Service providers can charge high prices if there is limited supply of their product or of reasonable substitutes – and low auction prices do not guarantee low service prices. Furthermore, it is possible to design award processes to achieve ends other than extracting maximum revenue. The 2.6GHz spectrum is unlikely to attract 19 serious bidders, given that it is relatively poor for providing coverage outside urban areas. A new entrant operator that aims to launch services based on this spectrum may be aiming to target a niche, such as medium-sized and large enterprises in urban areas. Giving them a chance to do this may be useful, but not as useful in expanding access to broadband as, for example, raising money in an auction to fund rural access. Think carefully before jumping into the fire Kenyan policymakers have correctly identified that greater supply (and more competition) is the key to reducing mobile broadband prices. They have also commendably declined to squeeze auction revenue out of operators. However, their solution turns away from infrastructure-based competition, which has revolutionised the telecoms industry during the past few decades. Will their alternative approach, which focuses on retail competition, work? The bad news is that pure wholesale business models for mobile data have not done well in the past. Reasons include difficulty in developing ‘one-size-fits-all’ wholesale tariffs, absence of profitable voice services, and dependence on the strategy and performance of other operators. The better news is that network-sharing deals can work. Operators around the world are signing deals to share radio access networks.^1 In all likelihood the critical feature is that the retail operators have a strong interest in the entity that runs the network: financial interest to ensure that it makes a success of the services, and management interest to allow flexibility and tailored ‘tariff plans’. Tantalisingly, the arrival of Indian-style telecoms in Africa (led by Airtel, among others) may naturally lead to greater sharing (and price cuts), without the need for government intervention. It is clear that making this 4G plan work in Kenya will be a challenge for the selected network manager (a “group from the USA” has been mentioned as a candidate). It will be even more of a challenge for those charged with negotiating an agreement and monitoring its performance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ /This Insight article is based on an interview conducted by Russell Southwood for Balancing Act Africa. Please //click here/ <http://www.balancingact-africa.com/news/en/issue-no-532>/to view the full article./ /Analysys Mason has experience in developing concrete, coherent //national broadband plans/ <http://www.analysysmason.com/About-Us/Offices/New-Delhi/CII_broadband_repor…>/ and in //spectrum policy and auctions/ <http://www.analysysmason.com/Consulting/Services/Strategy-consulting/Spectr…>/./ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ^1 For further details, see Analysys Mason's Insight article /Wireless infrastructure sharing saves operators 30% in capex and 15% in opex/ <http://www.analysysmason.com/About-Us/News/Insight/Wireless-infrastructure-…>.

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Re: [kictanet] [NVK-Mageuzi] Is Singapore a Model Worth Emulating – Or Who Is? (was Honouring the man who linked Kenya to world.)
by Shem Ochuodho 23 Dec '10

23 Dec '10

Nd. Rogers & Visioners, Firstly, sincere apologies for a delayed reversal; this came at a time we were in the nick of things stitching things together for the Kisumu Reunion, and at the same time recovering from the marathon GoSS/CTO conference in Juba. Having said that, I want to reiterate the importance of paying a close look at the Singapore Model! This belief was even more fortified when Dr Seroney yesterday shared with us the Singaporean Experience (being not far from Fiji where he is based), and more so the fact that despite being a ‘tiny’ island (the size of Mombasa: I don’t know!), Singapore is perhaps the world’s 3rd or 4th strongest economy (fastest growing? Per capita? GDP/GNP? The Economists can tell us). I am reminded of a study we had to take for the Ethiopian Govt about 3 years ago. Initially, some of the countries picked for comparative study were South Africa, India, Egypt, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritius and Rwanda. The first thing I learnt was not to mix Egypt with Ethiopia; they are archrivals. At the time, the population of Ethiopia was either 76m or 80m depending on your source. Egypt’s population then was quoted at 78m; for the ‘patriotic’, Ethiopia’s had to be 80m to be Africa’s 2nd most-populous country after Nigeria!! But more fundamentally, one of the people I was answerable to told me point blank: “Rwanda and Mauritius are such tiny economies that there is little to learn from them!”. And he meant it! As to whether he was right or wrong I leave to each person’s judgment. Yet one thing that I can say and reminds me of when in the same year a grouping of over 200 young Kenyan professionals invited me to Naivasha for a retreat and gave me as Guest Speaker the topic ‘Is Kenya a Failed State?’ May response was the same thing I would have told the Et officer concerned: “If you asked me if Rwanda or Mauritius (or Singapore by extension – despite being ‘tiny’) are failed states, I would know what to answer because neither/none of them is. But if you asked me if Kenya (or Ethiopia by extension) are/is, I am not sure what I would answer because they are both pretty much on the verge of failed states, but not yet.” Indeed, the current on-goings and confusion on the national stage have strengthened even the more my resolve to so believe. The far and short of it: a country’s greatness is not necessarily in its geographic size – or even population. It is more in its wealth, knowledge, power to innovate, and LEADERSHIP (as Nd. Rogers says very well). Courtesy of Nd. Jared Oluoch in the US, I am almost completing reading the Book by Father of Modern-Day Singapore, Dr Lee Kuan Yew (Former Prime Minister): Singapore - From Third World to First (one may add ‘in 30 years’). In an article recently by Visioner Donald Kipkorir, he talked about Singapore, Rwanda and Turkey as models, and argued how Turkey’s Leadership turned the country around in a span of 10 years! Nd Seroney yesterday informed us of how President Mutharika turned Malawi’s Agricultural/Food sector around in just one year (where he once worked; he currently advises 17 Ministries of Health in the Pacific, yet Kenyan Health Minister can’t have time just for tea with him)! Some of you may recall that just in one year of Malawi’s Govt’s policy change to subsidize implements to farmers, the country moved from huge food insecurity/deficit to surplus. We were informed that last year when we faced food shortage, Malawi ‘donated’ some food/corn to Kenya! What shame, if true! The one thread of argument – and which appears true in most the success cases cited is some degree of benevolence/selflessness and dictatorship aka ‘benevolent dictatorship’. Dictators even Kenya can have in plenty; what’s a far shot is the latter attribute: benevolence and selflessness. Even just from a few sample sub-titles of Lee Kuan Yew’s book, it is a compelling must-read:- i) Getting the basics right ii) Building an army from scratch iii) Surviving without a hinterland iv) Winning over the [trade] unions v) A fair, not welfare, state vi) Straddling the middle ground vii) Nurturing and attracting talent – [one of the parts I like most] viii) Many tongues, one language ix) Keeping the government clean x) Greening Singapore xi) Managing the media xii) Conductor of an Orchestra xiii) ASEAN – Unpromising start, promising future xiv) Following Britain into Europe xv) The Soviet Union – An Empire implodes xvi) America – The Anticommunist Anchorman xvii) Taiwan – The Other China xviii) China – The Dragon with a long tail xix) China beyond Beijing xx) China: To be rich is glorious His candidness – even when he talks about living world power presidents he encountered is unrivalled. The following words of sample world leaders who commented on the book and author say it all:- “In office, I read and analyzed every speech of [Lee’s]. He had a way of penetrating fog of propaganda and expressing with unique clarity the issues of our times and the way to tackle them. He was never wrong.”Margaret Thatcher “There are two equalizers in life: the Internet and education. Lee Kuan Yew is a world leader who understands this and is using the power of the Internet to position Singapore for survival and success in the Internet economy.”John Chambers, President & CEO, Cisco Systems “This is a personal history of a man who, almost single-handedly built a great nation from a small island… this is the first textbook in the world on how to build a nation.” Kuchi Miyazawa, Finance Minister, Japan [Perhaps someone should right a rebuttal on Kenya on ‘how not to build a nation’. In the earlier years – about 10 ago, UK was used by some as an example of ‘how not to build e-government’. I guess it has since changed.] “Lee Kuan Yew’s vision, astute political judgment, and strategy turned Singapore from a trading post into the successful thriving nation that it is today, respected by others. For those interested in politics and economic development, his memoirs should be required reading.” Tun Daim Zainuddin, Malaysian Finance Minister. Having served GoR (Rwanda), and now Nd. Rogers confirms – Singapore’s leadership is the script Rwanda reads from. In terms of Rwanda’s Vision (which is owned by the people, like our new constitution), the Kenya’s Vision 2030 is owned by a small clique/elite. I hope one day we can have a truly people’s vision. Given the importance of Lee Kuan Yew’s book, I decided [courtesy of Dada Wams] to give as a small present two copies to my President and Minister (not Kenya, of course!). After several months/years of searching, a bookshop at JKIA’s duty free now stocks the book copies. Incidentally, a good friend of mine at CCK [Wakili John Omo] who has recently picked a copy from the airport holds that a couple of years ago, while in Singapore itself he couldn’t get the book as it was ‘out of print’. Several times while connecting flights at airports in Jo’burg, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Bangkok – and last month in various Chinese Capital Cities – Beijing, Shenzhen & Shanghai, we had great difficulty finding the book in any of the bookstores! Finally, as Nd. Rogers attests, apart from a vision, a clear implementation plan is necessary. For those of us striving towards the ‘third way’, one thing we need ahead of 2012 is a sound ‘manifesto and economic blueprint’, akin to what NARC had in 2002. Any takers? Let’s talk via private mail. Warm rgrds, Shem ________________________________ From: Rogers Ngotwa <ngotwa(a)yahoo.com> To: NVK-Mageuzi(a)yahoogroups.com Sent: Mon, 13 December, 2010 11:37:05 Subject: Re: [NVK-Mageuzi] Honouring the man who linked Kenya to world. Thanks Shem for the observations. Indeed as a Country, we Kenyans have along way to go in terms of recognizing our own in terms of innovations and even hard work. Nonetheless, I think we are still nurturing hope and probably if all of us play our crucial role in electing our leaders, especially in 2012, the change that we all yearn for may be realized sooner. Just to confirm from Ndugu Shem that the leadership in Rwanda is indeed reading the script from Singaporean Experience, with full time professionals from Singapore fully engaged with local Rwandese Professionals in executing Rwanda-Singapore MoU; which is essentially geard towards the transfer of skills and assisting in realizing the County's Vision 2020. Also unlike our Vision 2030, Rwanda's Vision 2020 is very clear with a clear Roadmap and five-year periodical Audits on the basis of NICI programmes. So Visioners, there is still alot of work ahead of us. But one thing is clear, the Country's Leadership is EVERYTHING! Rogers ngotwa ________________________________ From: Shem Ochuodho <shemochuodho(a)yahoo.com> To: NVK-Mageuzi(a)yahoogroups.com; PICTA Kenya-LIst <picta-kenya(a)yahoogroups.com> Cc: NYCIV Group <nyciv(a)googlegroups.com>; ProgressiveMinds <ProgressiveMinds(a)yahoogroups.com>; Madaraka Party <madaraka-kenya(a)yahoogroups.com> Sent: Mon, December 13, 2010 10:17:39 AM Subject: Re: [NVK-Mageuzi] Honouring the man who linked Kenya to world. Comrades, Many thanks for the compliments. I am sincerely humbled. One thing that continues to bother me though is that in the land of my fore-fathers and mothers, excellence and merit are not recognized and/or rewarded. Instead, 'mediocrity, political expedience, and ethnic bigotry' rein high. I feel VERY saddened that even as tributes and accolades are being churned all over the world for mPesa, nobody knows and even cares to ask about the young Kenyan university student who invented the product; instead MJ & Safaricom are feted on every high table for ripping off and continuing to rip-off Kenyans. Did somebody say as if that's not enough, he has now been crowned Chair of KTB/KTDC? Please.... I hope one day soon I'll convince Nd. Okiya to take Safaricom to court not only for exploiting Kenyans through poor quality service (CCK confirmed that recently in its own study) and over-pricing - just like the oil companies are doing, contrary to provisions of the Bill of Rights in the new Katiba. For the time being, I'll keep my Award under the bushel until the young boy of mPesa shows up and is appropriately recognized and feted. Even better, I'll rejoice more when another Kenyan/African evolves a product superior to mPesa. Identifying, nurturing and retaining talent is the magic that propelled Singapore to greatness. Rwanda is reading from the same script as Eng. Rogers will confirm. Southern Sudan too is taking cue. Aluta continua, and best rgrds, Shem ________________________________ From: Rogers Ngotwa <ngotwa(a)yahoo.com> To: NVK-Mageuzi(a)yahoogroups.com Sent: Mon, 13 December, 2010 9:59:51 Subject: Re: [NVK-Mageuzi] Honouring the man who linked Kenya to world. Ndugu Shem; Let me also join the growing number of Kenyan in congratulating you for your role in bringing about Internet in Kenya. Given the conditions at that particular time, you indeed deserve the recognition and hence the medal of Honour. Best wishes. With regards Rogers Ngotwa ________________________________ From: Evans MACHERA <evansmachera(a)yahoo.com> To: NVK-Mageuzi(a)yahoogroups.com; YOUNG PROFESSIONALS <youngprofessionals_ke(a)googlegroups.com>; KENYA ONLINE <kenyaonline(a)yahoogroups.com>; Vugu Vugu <vuguvugumashinani(a)yahoogroups.com> Cc: PICTA Kenya-LIst <picta-kenya(a)yahoogroups.com>; NYCIV Group <nyciv(a)googlegroups.com>; ProgressiveMinds <ProgressiveMinds(a)yahoogroups.com>; Madaraka Party <madaraka-kenya(a)yahoogroups.com>; KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Sun, December 12, 2010 5:14:47 PM Subject: [NVK-Mageuzi] Honouring the man who linked Kenya to world. Dr.Ochuodho. I wish to register my congrats to Dr.Shem Ochuodho as he receives and appreciates the Honour and his recognition. As a read the Local Daily Newspaper that carried the story,my thought could not help but went round and about Dr.Shem the Politician ( one time Mp for Rangwe) and Dr.Shem Ochuodho the Professional. My heart settled on the professional since in professionalism,one comes up with an initiative that changes the whole world if not part of it as opposed to a politician who is sometimes entangled in episodes that decolourise his good side to the extent of soiling the career life picture already made or burrying it wholly. I take the liberty to question thus; Should Professionals seek elective posts i.e Mp! Thanks to you all. Evans MACHERA. --- On Sun, 12/12/10, PAUL GITONGA <gpmaina(a)gmail.com> wrote: >From: PAUL GITONGA <gpmaina(a)gmail.com> >Subject: Re: [NVK-Mageuzi] Honouring the man who linked Kenya to world (was >Update on Arrangements for Kisumu Reunion – December 21-23rd, 2010) >To: NVK-Mageuzi(a)yahoogroups.com >Cc: "PICTA Kenya-LIst" <picta-kenya(a)yahoogroups.com>, "NYCIV Group" ><nyciv(a)googlegroups.com>, "ProgressiveMinds" <ProgressiveMinds(a)yahoogroups.com>, >"Madaraka Party" <madaraka-kenya(a)yahoogroups.com>, "KICTAnet ICT Policy >Discussions" <kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke> >Date: Sunday, December 12, 2010, 6:55 AM > > >Daktari, > >You are a legend. > >I cannot begin to fathom how life would be without the internet, and >you being the person who was instrumental in bringing this concept to >kenya, is just incredible. > >Keep up the good work, and keep contributing to the society. > >God bless you and congratulations! > >Paul >On 12/12/10, Shem Ochuodho <shemochuodho(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >> Madada Philo na Betty, >> >> Ahsanteni for the pongezi's. It was re-freshening to know the CTO >> (Commonwealth >> Telecom Organization www.cto.int) domiciled in London, with current CEO >> being >> Ghana's former Minister for Communication (Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah) could >> remember >> some of Africa's Unsung Heroes. I am working on a book with that name to >> catalogue the evolution of Internet in Africa - perhaps we should look for >> royalties from FaceBook, Google, mPesa, YouTube, SEACOM, etc! But the >> efforts >> could not have borne fruit without the inputs of several other people, >> including >> the techies who alongside Randy Bush burnt mid-night oil (Dr Martin Koyabe - >> now >> with British Telecoms, Paul Olendo now @UN, Alfred Orimbo, etc) - for >> several >> nights - to get it all work on Kenya's/indeed Africa's then real terrible >> phone >> lines. >> >> In the same vein, without Steve Goldstein of the US National Science >> Foundation >> (who provided the boxes and technology) and Peter Sutherland of UK's >> Overseas >> Development Agency (ODA now DfID) who took up the initial leased line phone >> bills - used to cost US$ 16,000 (yes, 16k) per month for just a mere 64KBps >> pipe >> - it wouldn't have happened. >> >> When in 2000 CSK (Computer Society of Kenya) felt I deserved 'Father of >> Internet >> in Kenya' title, I dedicated the award to three people: Amb. Dr Benjamin >> Kipkorir (then Kenya's Ambassador in Washington), Micah Cheserem (then >> Governor, >> Central Bank), Brig. (Rtd) Wilson Boinnett (then DG, NSIS aka Special >> Branch). >> Without these guys' intervention, the KANU regime of the time wouldn't have >> allowed Internet to happen. Not that they didn't try to block it - the then >> Head >> of Public Service wrote a letter (I have a souvenir copy) to all PS's, Heads >> of >> Military, Special Branch, etc warning them not to connect to >> ARCC/Internet/UNEP >> without direct approval from his office. That partly explains why these >> three >> Kenyan Wazalendo's perhaps deserve these awards more than I. >> >> Last but not least, Jeddy and the kids who allowed me to use one of the >> family >> bedrooms for initial tests when sections of the University felt by staying >> late >> in the labs night, we had 'lots of idle time and needed to be given more >> teaching load' had denied us space to do the experiments. But all the Glory >> must >> always go to God the Almighty, Allah - the One and Only! >> >> For those who missed the story (courtesy Visioner Augustine Oduor), you can >> access it on: >>http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/news/InsidePage.php?id=2000024440&cid=159&st…. >>. >> >> >> Best rgrds, >> Shem >> 2010 CTO/GoSS African Internaut (Internet Pioneer) Award Recipient >> >> >> >> >> >> ________________________________ >> From: Philo Ikonya <philonikonya(a)yahoo.com> >> To: NVK-Mageuzi(a)yahoogroups.com >> Sent: Sat, 11 December, 2010 18:51:39 >> Subject: Re: [NVK-Mageuzi] Update on Arrangements for Kisumu Reunion – >> December >> 21-23rd, 2010 >> >> >> Adhiambo, >> >> thanks very much for letting me know.. I did not know.. Congrats Shem. You >> did >> not say it even as I was telling you of my little works?\ >> >> Philo >> >> >> >> Aung San Suu Kyi cannot be silenced because she speaks the truth and >> because >> her words reflect basic Burmese and universal concepts - Vaclav Havel >> >> >> >> >> >> >> --- On Fri, 12/10/10, Betty Otieno <betty.otieno(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> >> >>>From: Betty Otieno <betty.otieno(a)gmail.com> >>>Subject: Re: [NVK-Mageuzi] Update on Arrangements for Kisumu Reunion – >>> December >>>21-23rd, 2010 >>>To: NVK-Mageuzi(a)yahoogroups.com >>>Date: Friday, December 10, 2010, 11:01 PM >>> >>> >>> >>>Congratulations Shem on the honor you received the other day, pioneer >>> internet >>>related Kenya. >>> >>>Adhiambo >>> >>> >> >> >> > > >------------------------------------ > >Yahoo! Groups Links > ><*> To visit your group on the web, go to: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NVK-Mageuzi/ > ><*> Your email settings: > Individual Email | Traditional > ><*> To change settings online go to: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NVK-Mageuzi/join > (Yahoo! ID required) > ><*> To change settings via email: > NVK-Mageuzi-digest(a)yahoogroups.com > NVK-Mageuzi-fullfeatured(a)yahoogroups.com > ><*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > NVK-Mageuzi-unsubscribe(a)yahoogroups.com > ><*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: > http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > __._,_.___ Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic Messages in this topic (18) Recent Activity: * New Members 11 Visit Your Group MARKETPLACE Stay on top of your group activity without leaving the page you're on - Get the Yahoo! Toolbar now. ________________________________ Find useful articles and helpful tips on living with Fibromyalgia. Visit the Fibromyalgia Zone today! ________________________________ Be a homeroom hero! Help Yahoo! donate up to $350K to classrooms! Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use . __,_._,___

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DOT recruiting: Learning Coordinator, Regional Support Office, East Africa
by Alice Munyua 22 Dec '10

22 Dec '10

Learning Coordinator, Regional Support Office, East Africa *Closing Date: 14 January 2011* Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) is a leading international non-governmental organization that focuses on creating educational, economic and entrepreneurial opportunities through the effective use of ICT for communities and people in countries that are developing, are in transition, or are under stress. With the ultimate aim of stimulating economic growth, community development and private sector development, DOT and its partners share a vision of a connected world in the 21st century. Founded in Canada in 2002, DOT has engaged over 2,000 young people as ICT leaders who have reached over 200,000 community participants who have been empowered to use ICT for local development. Participation in DOT programs has given individuals the skills, knowledge and confidence to pursue opportunities that result in enhanced career mobility, increased income and increased economic growth of communities. Institutionally, DOT has established locally driven organizations in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, USA, China and Mexico through which DOT has strengthened the capacity of dozens of partner organizations to offer business development and ICT services to community members. DOT is also on track to support 2,000 schools in the USA, China and Mexico that are realizing improved educational outcomes through innovative use of IT in the classroom. DOT is a young, agile and rapidly growing organization that is developing an enviable international profile by operating with the highest values and integrity. Building on DOT's proven track record and global community of partners, the next few years will be a period of both dynamic growth and institutional and program innovation. To support the rapid growth of the programs in Africa, DOT is now seeking to engage an experienced learning coordinator to play a key role in capacity building and helping to inform and shape DOT learning projects in Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia and globally. *The Position* Reporting to the Global Learning Director, the learning coordinator will be a key member of DOT's global learning and African regional teams. The successful candidate will bring extensive instructional and curriculum design, University degree in Instructional Design, (Adult) Education, Educational Technology, or related discipline preferred; facilitation, and professional development experience, both face-to-face and online. The successful candidate will also be comfortable presenting DOT learning strategies at conference events. All candidates will share a commitment to innovation within DOT's vision. It is preferable that the position be located in Nairobi where DOT Kenya is headquartered and the Regional Support Office is located, however candidates currently based in Rwanda and Ethiopia are also invited to apply. *Responsibilities:* Major growth in Africa requires capacity in the region to support evolving DOT programming in Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia and to support continued growth opportunities in the region. As the regional learning coordinator, you will work with the DOT Global learning team and local Country operations to: . Participate in global and in-country curriculum development projects; . Serve as a learning resource to help with in-country localization efforts; . Assess, leverage and develop DOT global-local staff learning and teaching competencies (instructional and curriculum design, facilitation -- both face-to-face and online; integration of educational strategies); . Mediate the curriculum development and deployment process ensuring collaboration between global and local resources; . Facilitate sharing, re-use and showcasing learning resources created; . Be a "mobile" expert trainer in region: facilitating learning events (face-to-face and online) and providing professional development and coaching to "apprentice" facilitators. *The Person: Qualifications and Experience* This is a complex job requiring diverse skills and experience. The ideal candidate will have the following qualifications relevant in Africa and possibly internationally: . Proven track record (minimum of five years) of designing high quality participatory learner-centred learning experiences that achieve the desired outcomes and demonstrate: o Innovative learning approaches with leadership, entrepreneurship, and business skills curriculum focus; o Design of culturally sensitive materials with an awareness of the issues and challenges of working in a development context; o Application of educational theory to instructional design; o Competence using learning-related technologies and tools (e.g.,Moodle); . Excellent face-to-face and/or online facilitation skills, both contexts is highly desirable; . Proven project management skills; . Excellent writing and communication skills in English; Spanish, French,and Portuguese an asset; . In-depth knowledge of regional and local development priorities; . Experience working in a global organization, such as an international NGO or corporation with international donors; . Competent IT skills and a familiarity with online collaboration technologies (discussion forums, wikis, conferencing software, social media, etc.); . Experience coaching and mentoring people in cross-cultural environments; . Willing to travel frequently with no difficulty in securing entry visas to countries in the East Africa region and North America. *Personal Characteristics* . Passionate about helping others develop and discover advanced instructional design and facilitation skills. . A strong spirit for community service and share DOT's passion to contribute to a better world; . Thrives in an entrepreneurial and agile work environment. Flexible, comfortable with ambiguity and receptive to new ideas; . Very attentive to detail and highly organized; . Results driven. Motivated by a high sense of personal performance expectations and have a sense of urgency. Be a role model whose personal performance inspires others; . Excellent interpersonal and communications skills. A comfortable leader and consensus builder, a team player; . A knowledgeable promoter of the role of technology in modern economic development and formal and informal education; . Enjoy working with youth and young adults and contributing to their development; . Holds the highest personal ethics. A person who demonstrates integrity and is a model of ethical values and behavior at all times. *Compensation* DOT is a non-profit organization that recognizes that change is driven by involving the best people. Salary will be commensurate with experience for this Kenya-based position. *For More Information* Closing date: 14 January 2011. Applications and enquiries should be submitted to Ms Heather Marshall, DOT Executive Office, Ottawa, Canada by email: hmarshall(a)dotrust.org. Applications should include a cover letter, current curriculum vitae and the names and contact details of three references. References will not be contacted without prior consent. A portfolio summary of program curriculum design work you have led would also be helpful. DOT will contact only those candidates who are invited for interview.

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applicants new gTLDs
by Alice Munyua 22 Dec '10

22 Dec '10

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Season's Greetings
by waudo siganga 22 Dec '10

22 Dec '10

HappyHolidays.gif

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Fwd: CSTD Working Group on IGF Improvements Now to Include Stakeholders
by waudo siganga 22 Dec '10

22 Dec '10

----- Original message ----- From: "Anders Halvorsen" <ahalvorsen(a)witsa.org> To: "Jim Poisant" <jpoisant(a)witsa.org> Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2010 15:36:36 -0500 Subject: CSTD Working Group on IGF Improvements Now to Include Stakeholders December 21, 2010 TO: Members of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance FR: Anders Halvorsen, Public Policy Director RE: CSTD Working Group on IGF Improvements Now to Include Stakeholders _________________________________________________________________ ___ Dear Colleagues, We are pleased to report that the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) late last Friday changed course and will allow participation by stakeholders, including from business, civil society, the technical and academic community, and intergovernmental organizations. Even though the stakeholder groups will be limited to five rather than the originally anticipated twelve representatives each, this can be seen as a clear victory for the multistakeholder approach. We would like to thank all members who filled out the online petition and/or forwarded the WITSA letter circulated on December 13^th (ref. below) to their government representatives for follow up. Many government delegates in Geneva were fully supportive of opening the working group to all stakeholders, and in particular EU, Chile, UK, Mexico, Portugal, Canada, US, France, Germany, Belgium and Greece. We also had some great support from industry at the December 17^th open consultation through the participation of Ms. Marilyn Cade (mCADE, LLC) and Jonathan Zuck of the Association for Competitive Technologies) The working group will meet physically at least twice in Geneva, Switzerland; in February and May 2011, following which they will then produce a consensus report to the CSTD. To date, the Internet has grown in a largely unregulated environment, and has shown an ability to thrive in a wide variety of market environments under competitive conditions. This freedom from centralized and heavy regulations has produced impressive results over a relatively short period of time, delivering innovation, productivity and opportunity to a growing numbers of users in all parts of the world. Notably, the Internet has grown fastest in markets where there is competition for the provision of underlying telecommunications facilities, as well as for access and related services. Today, policy makers at both national and global levels are considering a wide number of regulatory approaches to dealing with the issues of Internet governance, including cyber security, access, management of spam and malware, protection of intellectual property and other issues. We therefore find ourselves at a critical point in time. With the recent renewal of the mandate for the IGF (but with an uncertain outlook for how the new IGF will function), coupled with the United Nations’ new focus on the enhanced cooperation clauses (dating back to the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Tunis Agenda) and the movement towards independence of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) through last year’s Affirmation of Commitments (AOC), industry must remain vigilant in defending the multistakeholder approach to Internet governance. In that regard, WITSA will continue to appeal to governments and international institutions to make their Internet policy related and decision-making activities more open and inclusive of all stakeholders. Governments, regional and international organizations that have been more open, and that have shown a commitment to cooperation have proven to be more effective in their work. As industry, we not only welcome but demand opportunities to participate in the policy development process at all levels. For your information, please find below the language that was agreed late last Friday: ----------------------------------------------------------------- --- Language agreed (CSTD Chapeau Statement): The Chair of the CSTD establishes a Working Group of 15 member states, plus the five member states which hosted the IGF meetings plus the two member states which hosted WSIS. This Working group will seek, compile, and review inputs from all member states and all other stakeholders on improvement of the Internet Governance Forum, in an open and inclusive manner throughout the process. The Chair invites the following stakeholders to interactively participate in the Working Group, bearing in mind the established rules of procedure of the ECOSOC, who will remain fully engaged throughout the process. [this means that the Stakeholders will remain fully engaged]. · 5 business community · 5 civil society · 5 technical and academic community · 5 Intergovernmental organizations Pursuant to the ECOSOC decisions 2010/226; 2010/227, and 2010/228, maximum possible assistance, the diversity of ideas and the equal representation of stakeholders from developing and developed countries in the Working Group should be ensured, in consultation with the stakeholders. The Report of this Working Group will be adopted by consensus. ----------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------- December 13, 2010 TO: Members of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) FR: Anders Halvorsen, Public Policy Director RE: Concern over Composition of CSTD Working Group on IGF Improvements – Call to Action _________________________________________________________________ _________________ Dear Colleagues. WITSA Public Policy Chairman John Higgins today sent a letter to the Vice Chair of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) today, expressing disappointment over its recent decision to exclude industry and other stakeholders from participating in the new Working Group on Improvements to the Internet Governance Forum (ref. [1]http://www.unctad.org/Templates/Page.asp?intItemID=5755& lang=1). The letter can be viewed at [2]http://www.witsa.org/IGF/CSTD_ltr.pdf. WITSA believes the decision goes against the mandate for establishing the working group, as provided by the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) last May. The mandate calls for the establishment of a “a working group to seek, compile and review inputs from all Member States and all other stakeholders on improvements to the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), in line with the mandate set out in the Tunis Agenda". It should also be noted that WITSA has been seeking member representation on the said working group. ACTION REQUESTED The CSTD will launch an open consultation of the Working Group in Geneva on December 17. Members are encouraged to sign the petition at [3]http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/igf/ which already has a number of signatures and to send this letter to the appropriate national government contacts with a request that they send this letter to their Geneva mission urgently. Best regards, Anders References 1. http://www.unctad.org/Templates/Page.asp?intItemID=5755&lang=1 2. http://www.witsa.org/IGF/CSTD_ltr.pdf 3. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/igf/

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Orange intensifies war against cable vandalism
by Lucy Kimani 21 Dec '10

21 Dec '10

Thanks Harry! Harry Hare #Orange intensifies war against #cable #vandalism http://bit.ly/h7uJWP “We are fed up, enough of cable cuts and vandalism, we have to do something,” a statement issued by Orange Chief Executive Officer Mickael Ghossein, while addressing the media today. He notes that cases of cable vandalism and sabotage are increasing at an alarming rate. In the year 2010, the integrated telecommunication service provider has experienced 342 cable cuts - 117 copper cuts and 225 optic fibre cable cuts. http://www.cio.co.ke/Main-Stories/orange-intensifies-war-against-cable-vand…

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eGov 2011 Conference | KENYA
by John K. Njoroge 21 Dec '10

21 Dec '10

Dear Listers: As you go for the Christmas break, your attention is drawn to the first Kenya e-Government Conference, whose theme is “Delivering Services through e-Government” which will be held on March 8th – 10th, 2011 at KICC, Nairobi - Kenya. The Conference with give Kenya Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies the platform to present practitioner papers and showcase e-Government achievements so far. It will also feature foreign Government Institutions as well as local and internationally recognized e-Government experts and IT gurus. The Conference programme has been designed to provide participants an opportunity to explore the many facets of ICT application in Government, with sessions covering the key thematic areas (More information is available at www.egovconference.go.ke) The Call for Papers is available on the Conference Website as well as a Sponsorship and Exhibition Guide. You can also register for the conference online as well as submit any relevant papers. Your are most welcome and invited indeed. Kind regards John K. Njoroge

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Number Portability question...
by Collins Areba 21 Dec '10

21 Dec '10

Could anyone confirm this to me.. Does number portability work across platforms? say have CDMA lines on my 0722 line....

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Fwd: [AfrICANN-discuss] Extension of Public Comment Period on New gTLD Proposed Final Applicant Guidebook and Economic Study Phase II Report
by Alice Munyua 20 Dec '10

20 Dec '10

Dear all, For those interested in the new gTLD. best Alice ------------------------------------------------- Extension of Public Comment Period on New gTLD Proposed Final Applicant Guidebook and Economic Study Phase II Report 17 December 2010 Taking into account public comment and decisions made during ICANN’s Cartagena meeting, the public comment period for the Proposed Final Applicant Guidebook and supporting documentation have been extended to 15 January 2011 (1200 UTC). Below are the links to comment fora for the Proposed Final Applicant Guidebook: English - http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/comments-5-en.htm العربية - http://www.icann.org/ar/topics/new-gtlds/comments-5-ar.htm 中文 (简体) - http://www.icann.org/zh/topics/new-gtlds/comments-5-zh.htm Français - http://www.icann.org/fr/topics/new-gtlds/comments-5-fr.htm Русский - http://www.icann.org/ru/topics/new-gtlds/comments-5-ru.htm Español - http://www.icann.org/es/topics/new-gtlds/comments-5-es.htm Additionally, the Economic Study Phase II Report is extended to 15 January 2011: http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/comments-5-en.htm How to Participate The Proposed Final Applicant Guidebook is available here in its entirety, as well as in its six individual modules. You can either comment on the overall guidebook or comment per module, by area of interest. A red-lined, annotated version of the documents is provided to show what changes were made in progressing from Draft Applicant Guidebook, Version 4 to the Proposed Final Applicant Guidebook. As the materials become available in additional languages there will be an opportunity to comment. You may also view the Summaries & Analyses <http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/comments-analysis-en.htm> from recently closed public fora.

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Fw: [aisi-media-l] Announcement: 2011 Technology in Government in Africa (TIGA) Awards / Prix TIGA 2011 pour l’utilisation de la Technologie dans l’Administration en Afrique - Deadline for Applications: 28 February 2011
by Michael Ouma 20 Dec '10

20 Dec '10

Michael Ouma Journalist Kenya Tel:+254-725-537823 "Do not go where the path may lead, but go instead where there is no path and leave a trail," - Ralph Waldo Emerson --- On Wed, 12/1/10, Afework Temtime <atemtime(a)uneca.org> wrote: From: Afework Temtime <atemtime(a)uneca.org> Subject: [aisi-media-l] Announcement: 2011 Technology in Government in Africa (TIGA) Awards / Prix TIGA 2011 pour l’utilisation de la Technologie dans l’Administration en Afrique - Deadline for Applications: 28 February 2011 To: "Discussion List for African Media and Information Society" <aisi-media-l(a)dgroups.org> Date: Wednesday, December 1, 2010, 1:46 AM Announcement: 2011 Technology in Government in Africa (TIGA) Awards Deadline for Applications: 28 February 2011 The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Government of Finland are pleased to announce the SecondTechnology in Government in Africa (TIGA) Awards. Technology in Government in Africa (TIGA) Awards recognise African Governments’ effective use of ICTs for public service delivery as part of fulfilling ECA’s African Information Society Initiative (AISI) and the Government of Finland’s Development Cooperation Strategy on ICTs for development in Africa. The Awards goes to African Governments and institutions based on the continent that are engaged in initiating, developing, and implementing ICTs for public service contributing to the development of the Information Society in Africa. The aims are to: • Create greater awareness on the role of ICTs in the public services and the development process within the framework of the African Information Society Initiative (AISI); • Encourage African Governments and institutions to use ICTs for development in general and improved public/citizen’s services in particular; and • Motivate other African stakeholders in effective utilization of ICTs for citizen’s services. Started in 2007, this pioneering African programme will publicly recognise the innovation, excellence, and leadership in Africa’s public sector e-government development and its deployment. It is currently recognised as an honour to be nominated for the TIGA Awards, and a significant career achievement for the team members to be selected as an Award Winner. The first TIGA Awards recognised twelve innovative projects from nine countries, and the second,, which was organised in 2009 considered innovative projects from ten countries in recognition of achievements that led to changes in the use of ICTs in Government service delivery. The TIGA Award is intended to be a biennial event to honour African Governments and institutions. More information is available at: http://www.uneca.org/tiga XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Annonce : Prix TIGA 2011 pour l’utilisation de la Technologie dans l’Administration en Afrique Date limite de candidature : le 28 février 2011 La Commission Economique pour l’Afrique et le Gouvernement de la Finlande ont le plaisir d’annoncer le troisième prix pour l’utilisation de la technologie dans l’administration en Afrique. Les prix pour l’utilisation de la Technologie dans l’Administration en Afrique visent à récompenser le travail des Etats Africains dans l’utilisation effective des Technologies de l’ Information et de la Communication (TIC) dans la délivrance des services publics mis en œuvre dans le cadre de l’Initiative pour la Société de l’Information en Afrique (AISI) de la CEA et de la Stratégie de la Coopération pour le Développement du Gouvernement de la Finlande. Les prix sont destinés aux Etats Africains et aux institutions basées en Afrique qui sont engagés dans la conception, le développement, et la mise en œuvre des programmes TIC pour les services publics et contribuant à la mise en œuvre de la Société de l’Information dans le continent. Les objectifs sont : • de susciter une plus grande conscience sur le rôle des TICs dans les services publics et le processus de développement dans le cadre de l’Initiative pour la Société de l’Information en Afrique (AISI) ; • d’encourager les Etats et les Institutions africaines à utiliser les TICs pour le développement en général et pour améliorer les services publics en particulier ; • d’influencer les autres acteurs africains à utiliser effectivement les TICs au service des citoyens. Initié en 2007 ce programme pionnier africain récompensera publiquement l’innovation, l’excellence et le leadership dans le développement du e-gouvernement (administration électronique) dans le secteur public en Afrique. La nomination aux Prix TIGA devrait être perçue comme un honneur et une réussite de carrière dans le secteur public pour les membres des équipes qui seront sélectionnées. Le Prix TIGA sera un événement qui se passera tous le deux ans pour honorer les Gouvernements et institutions africains . Pour plus d'information : http://www.uneca.org/tiga Visit web site | Reply to sender | Click here to unsubscribe The email is intended only for the recipients. The owners of the Dgroups cannot be held responsible for the contents of the email message.

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Re: [kictanet] [ke-internetusers] BPO and ITES a wider view of the opportunity
by Paul Kukubo ICT Board 20 Dec '10

20 Dec '10

Bernard Great comment. Not in any way put of sync with my conclusion. In fact a useful addition. Both free and open source as well as packaged license software approaches are important. The benefit of the big firms dependency is that our firms and individuals can get into the culture of operating on the basis of established and standardized business process. I acknowledge that this is a not and open source or closed source issue. However, it is beneficial to developers when they are structured and backed in deploying solutions. some local Venture capitalists suggest to us that if technology firms build solutions on top of more established global platforms like oracle, Microsoft, SAP etc they stand a better chance of demonstrating reduced risk profile, and therefore can be more attractive in getting funding. On the other hand we have successful open source IT development firms locally that have received investment from venture capitalists. The Kenya ICT Board interest is in developing a greater pool of businesses in ICT in order to create more jobs. Thanks for the feedback. Sent from my iPad On 20 Dec 2010, at 13:45, Bernard Owuor <bowuor(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > I came across this when perusing through my archived emails. > > I must confess that it's a joy to read such updates from a govt officials now and then. However, I am slightly alarmed at the drift of this particular brief. > > My questions are: > > - Since Open Source platform is not fronted by one specific vendor, how is it factored into this report, and how will it factor into govt thinking/strategy? > - Could it be that some of the "big" vendors became big by acquiring open-source competitors: eg Oracle acquiring Java & MySQL? > - Since such acquisitions will continue into the foreseeable future, it might be instructive to focus capacity building efforts upon specific generic technologies, as opposed to vendor products. > - What's the proportion of the value of Package applications to Web/Internet/Mobile Applications - and is this ratio substantive? The report focuses on package applications. > - Is it the best strategy to go head-on-head with India? Would such a strategy reflect an appreciation of our local "terrain" with regard to formulating a response to global software demand? > - > > There is no doubt that there is benefit in raising the population of Oracle DBAs, CCNAs etc. But even as we do so, we should not lose sight of the biggest prize of all - which is profitable innovation. Innovation is fostered by open standards and open-systems and unencumbered by (or overcomes?) vendor limitations. A population trained to think broadly, to translate technical innovations to useful products (or vice-versa) would be priceless. > > Christmas cheers. > > Bernard > > > > From: pkukubo(a)ict.go.ke > Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2010 17:42:56 +0300 > To: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke; ke-internetusers(a)bdix.net > CC: > Subject: [ke-internetusers] BPO and ITES a wider view of the opportunity > > Listers > > Just leafing through an extract of the IDC's World Wide Software Forecast 2010-14 Summary report. www.idc.com > > The Worldwide Packaged Software Market was USD 273 Billiion in 2009. Made up of > Application development and deployment 64,575 Million USD > Applications 129,838 Million USD > Systems Infrastructure software 78,068 Million USD > Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, SAP, Symantec, HP, CA. EMC Adobe and Fujistu are the leading vendors. > > Conclusion from our reading this report: > Certain global company technologies dominate and the ability to develop and deploy solutions on top of these technologies can greatly enhance a country's overall ICT competitiveness. > Most global enterprises run some of their critical operations on the back of these. Indeed the biggest ICT projects in the private sector here relate to deployment of solutions. e.g in CRM at Safaricom and Kenya Airways, in ERP at EABL, BIDCO, SHELL, and indeed in Financial Management in Government. > The consultancy, project management and deployment of these platforms is a huge business opportunity. Indeed many shared services and outsourcing functions include supporting or using these platforms as part of wider business operation or process. Many successful ICT firms in Kenya are in this space. Some of the venture capitalists / and private equity managers in Kenya have asked us to encourage more ICT entrepreneurs to operate their businesses around established platforms.They would be willing to fund more Oracle or Cisco certified firms. > > As an example, Infosys the large technology services and outsourcing provider has 20,000 certified oracle consultants on their payroll according to their CEO speaking at this year's Oracle World in California. > > Part of any effort to develop a country's ICT sector includes aligning capacity building efforts to global demand. > > asante and Happy Jamhuri weekend. > > > 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 > > _______________________________________________ ke-internetusers mailing list ke-internetusers(a)bdix.net http://www.bdix.net/mailman/listinfo/ke-internetusers

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Re: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade
by Betty Mwangi 20 Dec '10

20 Dec '10

Yes good point - in the road map we plan to offer a statement solution off the phone which you can then e mail or print off Thanks for the feedback Rgds BlackBerry® powered by Safaricom ________________________________ From: muriuki mureithi To: Betty Mwangi Cc: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Sent: Mon Dec 20 15:46:00 2010 Subject: RE: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade Thanks Betty When I pay for a service using mpesa , I would like to get something that shows payment – our accountants need a paper print out It is not possible to be it from mpesa system cheers Muriuki Mureithi What can u do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family. -Mother Teresa From: Betty Mwangi [mailto:bmwangi1@Safaricom.co.ke] Sent: 20 December 2010 13:39 To: mureithi(a)summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade Please qualify what you mean by transaction print outs? Thanks and rgds BlackBerry® powered by Safaricom ________________________________ From: muriuki mureithi To: Betty Mwangi Cc: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Sent: Mon Dec 20 11:08:41 2010 Subject: RE: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade Betty Can you give us a sense of when print-out of transactions can be possible - lack of printouts reduce the aura of mpesa to informality yet the direction you are heading is increasingly formal transactions. we need a trail cheers Muriuki Mureithi What can u do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family. -Mother Teresa From: kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Betty Mwangi Sent: 19 December 2010 17:25 To: mureithi(a)summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade Preston Thanks for your mail. There was a technical fault on Tuesday and Wednesday last week that resulted in delays with SMS confirmations and in some cases no confirmation at all. However, there was a process initiated to ensure completion of all such cases and customers and agents were advised of the completion so that transactions could be processed successfully. The fault is now resolved. We apologise for the inconvenience and assure customers that their funds are safe. Indeed we are under close oversight by CBK which we welcome. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you experience any further problems. As safaricom we are committed to ensuring that we meet and respond to customer needs - indeed the platform upgrade that we performed was of huge magnitude and you shall see the benefits as we continue to respond to more of your feedback. Today you will see that we have increased the bands so that you can now send up to 140000 ksh per day (max 70000ksh per transaction) and you can now hold up to 100000ksh in your MPESA e value account - doubled from previous. We have also enabled a minimum deposit, transfer and withdrawal amount of Ksh 50 ...more to come. Thank you for your feedback and thank you for staying with the better option. Best rgds Betty Mwangi-Thuo Chief Officer - New Products Safaricom ltd BlackBerry® powered by Safaricom ________________________________ From: kictanet-bounces+bmwangi1=safaricom.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke To: Betty Mwangi Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Sent: Sat Dec 18 09:38:26 2010 Subject: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade The current challenges consumers are going thru on the M-Pesa after upgrade seem not to have been shared with the consumers. Can the CEO of Safaricom explain what is going on. There are delays on money sent. I sent money and only received the message after six hours. The recepient never received any message. There are cases where the recipient does not receive a message although the money is there they cannot withdraw. Can Safaricom explain how many cases of this nature have been experienced and what are the security implications? Preston Odera Executive Director K-Ninety East Africa Limited Tel +254 20 3544352 Note: All emails sent from Safaricom Limited are subject to Safaricoms Email Terms & Conditions. Please click here <http://www.safaricom.co.ke/index.php?id=954> to read the policy. ________________________________ Note: All emails sent from Safaricom Limited are subject to Safaricoms Email Terms & Conditions. Please click here <http://www.safaricom.co.ke/index.php?id=954> to read the policy. ________________________________ ##################################################################################### NOTE: All emails sent from Safaricom Limited are subject to Safaricom�s Email Terms & Conditions. Please click here to read the policy. #####################################################################################

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Re: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade
by Betty Mwangi 20 Dec '10

20 Dec '10

Thanks and noted In the interim mini statements are available from our retail centers Rgds BlackBerry® powered by Safaricom ________________________________ From: Emmanuel Khisa To: Betty Mwangi Cc: oloo.khisa(a)gmail.com ; kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Sent: Mon Dec 20 15:12:10 2010 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade Hi Betty, I would imagine the issue with Mpesa (read Printouts) especially where evidence is required has been lack of a paper-based receipting system. In my previous deployments as a corporate payment method, I have encountered customers especially rural based ones who are very averse to paperless transaction and from time to time demand evidence in way of receipt. This can be overcome overtime through education that transaction code works just fine as an evidence. If a receipt can be provided it would be even better. Rgds, Emmanuel On Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 1:39 PM, Betty Mwangi <bmwangi1(a)safaricom.co.ke> wrote: Please qualify what you mean by transaction print outs? Thanks and rgds BlackBerry® powered by Safaricom ________________________________ From: muriuki mureithi To: Betty Mwangi Cc: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Sent: Mon Dec 20 11:08:41 2010 Subject: RE: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade Betty Can you give us a sense of when print-out of transactions can be possible - lack of printouts reduce the aura of mpesa to informality yet the direction you are heading is increasingly formal transactions. we need a trail cheers Muriuki Mureithi What can u do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family. -Mother Teresa From: kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+mureithi <mailto:kictanet-bounces%2Bmureithi> =summitstrategies.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Betty Mwangi Sent: 19 December 2010 17:25 To: mureithi(a)summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade Preston Thanks for your mail. There was a technical fault on Tuesday and Wednesday last week that resulted in delays with SMS confirmations and in some cases no confirmation at all. However, there was a process initiated to ensure completion of all such cases and customers and agents were advised of the completion so that transactions could be processed successfully. The fault is now resolved. We apologise for the inconvenience and assure customers that their funds are safe. Indeed we are under close oversight by CBK which we welcome. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you experience any further problems. As safaricom we are committed to ensuring that we meet and respond to customer needs - indeed the platform upgrade that we performed was of huge magnitude and you shall see the benefits as we continue to respond to more of your feedback. Today you will see that we have increased the bands so that you can now send up to 140000 ksh per day (max 70000ksh per transaction) and you can now hold up to 100000ksh in your MPESA e value account - doubled from previous. We have also enabled a minimum deposit, transfer and withdrawal amount of Ksh 50 ...more to come. Thank you for your feedback and thank you for staying with the better option. Best rgds Betty Mwangi-Thuo Chief Officer - New Products Safaricom ltd BlackBerry® powered by Safaricom ________________________________ From: kictanet-bounces+bmwangi1=safaricom.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke To: Betty Mwangi Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Sent: Sat Dec 18 09:38:26 2010 Subject: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade The current challenges consumers are going thru on the M-Pesa after upgrade seem not to have been shared with the consumers. Can the CEO of Safaricom explain what is going on. There are delays on money sent. I sent money and only received the message after six hours. The recepient never received any message. There are cases where the recipient does not receive a message although the money is there they cannot withdraw. Can Safaricom explain how many cases of this nature have been experienced and what are the security implications? Preston Odera Executive Director K-Ninety East Africa Limited Tel +254 20 3544352 Note: All emails sent from Safaricom Limited are subject to Safaricoms Email Terms & Conditions. Please click here <http://www.safaricom.co.ke/index.php?id=954> to read the policy. ________________________________ Image removed by sender. Note: All emails sent from Safaricom Limited are subject to Safaricom’s Email Terms & Conditions. Please click here <http://www.safaricom.co.ke/index.php?id=954> to read the policy. ________________________________ _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: oloo.khisa(a)gmail.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/oloo.khisa%40gmail.com -- Oloo Khisa P.O. Box 24324-00100 Nairobi 0721321086/0734321086 http://ke.linkedin.com/in/olookhisa ##################################################################################### NOTE: All emails sent from Safaricom Limited are subject to Safaricom�s Email Terms & Conditions. Please click here to read the policy. #####################################################################################

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Re: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade
by Betty Mwangi 20 Dec '10

20 Dec '10

Please qualify what you mean by transaction print outs? Thanks and rgds BlackBerry® powered by Safaricom ________________________________ From: muriuki mureithi To: Betty Mwangi Cc: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Sent: Mon Dec 20 11:08:41 2010 Subject: RE: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade Betty Can you give us a sense of when print-out of transactions can be possible - lack of printouts reduce the aura of mpesa to informality yet the direction you are heading is increasingly formal transactions. we need a trail cheers Muriuki Mureithi What can u do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family. -Mother Teresa From: kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:kictanet-bounces+mureithi=summitstrategies.co.ke@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Betty Mwangi Sent: 19 December 2010 17:25 To: mureithi(a)summitstrategies.co.ke Cc: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade Preston Thanks for your mail. There was a technical fault on Tuesday and Wednesday last week that resulted in delays with SMS confirmations and in some cases no confirmation at all. However, there was a process initiated to ensure completion of all such cases and customers and agents were advised of the completion so that transactions could be processed successfully. The fault is now resolved. We apologise for the inconvenience and assure customers that their funds are safe. Indeed we are under close oversight by CBK which we welcome. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you experience any further problems. As safaricom we are committed to ensuring that we meet and respond to customer needs - indeed the platform upgrade that we performed was of huge magnitude and you shall see the benefits as we continue to respond to more of your feedback. Today you will see that we have increased the bands so that you can now send up to 140000 ksh per day (max 70000ksh per transaction) and you can now hold up to 100000ksh in your MPESA e value account - doubled from previous. We have also enabled a minimum deposit, transfer and withdrawal amount of Ksh 50 ...more to come. Thank you for your feedback and thank you for staying with the better option. Best rgds Betty Mwangi-Thuo Chief Officer - New Products Safaricom ltd BlackBerry® powered by Safaricom ________________________________ From: kictanet-bounces+bmwangi1=safaricom.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke To: Betty Mwangi Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Sent: Sat Dec 18 09:38:26 2010 Subject: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade The current challenges consumers are going thru on the M-Pesa after upgrade seem not to have been shared with the consumers. Can the CEO of Safaricom explain what is going on. There are delays on money sent. I sent money and only received the message after six hours. The recepient never received any message. There are cases where the recipient does not receive a message although the money is there they cannot withdraw. Can Safaricom explain how many cases of this nature have been experienced and what are the security implications? Preston Odera Executive Director K-Ninety East Africa Limited Tel +254 20 3544352 Note: All emails sent from Safaricom Limited are subject to Safaricoms Email Terms & Conditions. Please click here <http://www.safaricom.co.ke/index.php?id=954> to read the policy. ________________________________ ##################################################################################### NOTE: All emails sent from Safaricom Limited are subject to Safaricom�s Email Terms & Conditions. Please click here to read the policy. #####################################################################################

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looking back - over my shoulder - 2010
by muriuki mureithi 20 Dec '10

20 Dec '10

Hi Listers Within a few days , 2010, will be history........ gone into our history But I believe the year was not in vain for the ICT sector in Kenya, - there are some indelible memories of actions, events , personalities, institutions that shaped the sector positively and or negatively ... Listers, let's take a moment to look back and reflect --- 1. WHAT do you think changed the ICT terrain and changed the lives of Kenyans, mainstreamed ICTs, put Kenya proudly on the global map 2. WHO was the that person/institution/corporate in your view that ICT fraternity should honour for the great deeds that changed the ICT sector and the larger national economy and perhaps global Please share your thoughts in the list within the next two days in a paragraph explaining your choice Very best regards Muriuki Mureithi What can u do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family. -Mother Teresa -------------------------------------------------------- cid:image003.jpg@01CB5386.842DACA0 Landmark Plaza 13th flr Argwings Kodhek Rd -Opp Nairobi Hospital P O Box 62454 - 00200 Nairobi Kenya tel + 254 20 3673925/2637177 Cell+254 701 016555 <mailto:Info@summitstrategies.co.ke> info(a)summitstrategies.co.ke <http://www.summitstrategies.co.ke/> www.summitstrategies.co.ke Personal Cell +254 722 520090 <mailto:sam@summitstrategies.co.ke> mureithi(a)summitstrategies.co.ke skype; muriukimureithi

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Re: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade
by Betty Mwangi 20 Dec '10

20 Dec '10

Preston Thanks for your mail. There was a technical fault on Tuesday and Wednesday last week that resulted in delays with SMS confirmations and in some cases no confirmation at all. However, there was a process initiated to ensure completion of all such cases and customers and agents were advised of the completion so that transactions could be processed successfully. The fault is now resolved. We apologise for the inconvenience and assure customers that their funds are safe. Indeed we are under close oversight by CBK which we welcome. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you experience any further problems. As safaricom we are committed to ensuring that we meet and respond to customer needs - indeed the platform upgrade that we performed was of huge magnitude and you shall see the benefits as we continue to respond to more of your feedback. Today you will see that we have increased the bands so that you can now send up to 140000 ksh per day (max 70000ksh per transaction) and you can now hold up to 100000ksh in your MPESA e value account - doubled from previous. We have also enabled a minimum deposit, transfer and withdrawal amount of Ksh 50 ...more to come. Thank you for your feedback and thank you for staying with the better option. Best rgds Betty Mwangi-Thuo Chief Officer - New Products Safaricom ltd BlackBerry® powered by Safaricom ________________________________ From: kictanet-bounces+bmwangi1=safaricom.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke To: Betty Mwangi Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Sent: Sat Dec 18 09:38:26 2010 Subject: [kictanet] Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade The current challenges consumers are going thru on the M-Pesa after upgrade seem not to have been shared with the consumers. Can the CEO of Safaricom explain what is going on. There are delays on money sent. I sent money and only received the message after six hours. The recepient never received any message. There are cases where the recipient does not receive a message although the money is there they cannot withdraw. Can Safaricom explain how many cases of this nature have been experienced and what are the security implications? Preston Odera Executive Director K-Ninety East Africa Limited Tel +254 20 3544352 ##################################################################################### NOTE: All emails sent from Safaricom Limited are subject to Safaricom�s Email Terms & Conditions. Please click here to read the policy. #####################################################################################

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Re: [kictanet] Safaricom data bundles
by Betty Mwangi 20 Dec '10

20 Dec '10

Joe well noted and we shall take into account as part of the improvement process Thanks for the feedback - very much appreciated Rgds Betty BlackBerry® powered by Safaricom ________________________________ From: Joseph Mucheru To: Betty Mwangi Cc: mucheru(a)google.com ; kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Sent: Sat Dec 18 04:06:11 2010 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom data bundles Betty, One more thing, data bundles are not considered cash if topped up using another postpaid line. This means every 3 months I have to send airtime to my iPad and 3G routers, airtime I never use since they are data only devices. There is usually no warning or error message. Service just stops working even though you have plenty of data bundle remaining. The line is considered inactive if you do not buy airtime in 90 days. I find it convenient to have one bill and so I use the post paid ussd *200# services to top-up my pre-paid data lines. The data bundle process for postpaid lines in devices like iPads is a nightmare if you want to take advantage of the many options & special offers and bundles. You must send requests from the device. Please rectify this as you process the other requests. It will go a long way. Thanks -- Joe Mucheru Regional Lead, Sub-Saharan Africa Google Africa On Dec 17, 2010, at 10:28 AM, Betty Mwangi <bmwangi1(a)safaricom.co.ke> wrote: Thanks Washington On your iSsue with Bonga I believe a member of my team is in touch to investigate the problem you are experiencing so that we can sort this out Rgds BlackBerryÂ® powered by Safaricom ________________________________ From: Odhiambo Washington To: Betty Mwangi Cc: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Sent: Fri Dec 17 09:04:18 2010 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom data bundles On Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 8:34 AM, Betty Mwangi < <mailto:bmwangi1@safaricom.co.ke> bmwangi1(a)safaricom.co.ke> wrote: Robert Thanks for your comments and the inconvenience is highly regretted. I assure you you are not peculiar in any way and as a matter of fact Safaricom will be availing an on line top up service for data early in the New Year that Will assist with situations similar to yours. We assure you of our committment to continue to ensure that we meet customers needs. Hi Betty, Such a solution will be very welcome, especially in the face of the many "sonkos" brandishing iPads. At the moment the process of buying a bundle for an iPad user is hell, thanks to the microsim. That you have to face a process of powering down the iPad, removing the microsim, place on a holder, get someÂ phone to be powered down to take the "sim", load credit, buy data via sms, wait for confirmation, then follow the reverse of this process.... You just see the hassle that product will save many from! PS: In the meantime, would you be kind enough to mobilize "the team" to revive Bonga points query/redemption system? It's been down for a while. -- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Damn!! Note: All emails sent from Safaricom Limited are subject to Safaricom’s Email Terms & Conditions. Please click here <http://www.safaricom.co.ke/index.php?id=954> to read the policy. ________________________________ <http://www.safaricom.co.ke/fileadmin/resources/downloads/SafBanner.gif> _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: <mailto:mucheru@google.com> mucheru(a)google.com Unsubscribe or change your options at <http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/mucheru%40google.com> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/mucheru%40google.com ##################################################################################### NOTE: All emails sent from Safaricom Limited are subject to Safaricom�s Email Terms & Conditions. Please click here to read the policy. #####################################################################################

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APC is hiring: Project coordinator, “Internet rights are human rights”
by Alice Munyua 19 Dec '10

19 Dec '10

Please pass on to anyone you think might be interested.. -------- Original Message -------- APC is hiring: Project coordinator, “Internet rights are human rights” The successful candidate will join the APC policy programme to lead APC’s human rights and internet rights work through coordination of our “Internet rights are human rights” project. The candidate will have a strong background in the human rights and internet policy fields and have significant expertise in advocacy, capacity building and strategic communications. This is a full-time senior project manager position key to APC as we seek to strengthen our position internationally in the area of human rights in the context of the internet and information and communication policy. The project coordinator will: A) Coordinate the overall implementation of the project “Internet rights are human rights: Monitoring and defending freedom of expression and association on the internet”. Deliverables include: - in-depth research and analysis of the trends, violations and impacts on freedom of expression on the internet at national levels; - development of various information products, awareness raising and global and national policy advocacy in specialised spaces and processes; - building capacity and support for rights defenders (particulary women's human rights defenders); - building sustainable networks of human rights defence advocates; - designing and implementing a campaign that promote understanding of 'internet rights' as human rights and the importance of the internet as a tool for furthering human rights B) Manage and supervise contracts with project partners. C) Manage and supervise the “Internet rights are human rights” project team. D) Provide strategic vision and leadership for developing and implementing APC´s human rights and internet rights advocacy and campaigning, capacity building, networking and partnership building, and communication strategies in partnership with APC team. E) Represent the APC and build strategic partnerships in the field. This includes frequent international travel. F) Participate actively in the APC staff team and with members. The person we are looking for will have: - Extensive knowledge of human rights and internet policy and regulations - Sound academic qualifications in a related area - Experience in policy advocacy work in this area - Enthusiasm for networking and be an inclusive network builder - The ability to plan and think strategically - Experience in project management (at least three years) including people and budget management - Experience and background in civil society networking  - Knowledge and contacts with human rights organisations, human rights defenders, democracy activists and internet rights activists is an advantage  Other requirements: - Excellent English writing and oral communication skills, including public speaking experience - Good writing skills and experience in writing reports  - Able to work in a team and under pressure - Able to work independently and to manage people mainly via online communications - Willing to travel frequently  - Competent computer and internet skills and experience in working in an online environment - Ability to communicate in Spanish and/or French is a distinct advantage   Remuneration and duration of contract: This is a full time contract for an initial twelve-month period (renewable depending on performance and availability of funding). Remuneration is based on APC’s salary scale for the position for a high-level project manager. Short-listed candidates will receive specific information on the salary range on request. Location: The incumbent can work from anywhere in the world provided they have excellent internet access. APC provides an equipment allowance but require staff to use their own computers. Extensive international and regional travel will be required. APC is a truly virtual organisation and does not have a physical headquarters. We do our work online. For this position we particularly encourage candidates from the global South. How to apply:  Please send a CV and a covering letter in English that illustrates your interest in the position. You should include the following information: - Your experience with human rights and/or internet rights  - Your experience in advocacy and capacity building - Your experience in networking and partnership building - Your experience in designing, developing and leading campaigns targeting diverse constituencies - Your background in project management and team coordination, specifically in an international and/or online context - Your experience or expectations around building the capacity of activists for whom sometimes the subject area will be relatively new - Your experience around building interaction between human rights actors and actors involved in the access and use of internet for social justice and development - Your ICT policy experience - Your computer skills  - Where you live - Languages you speak and write - Other information you think might be of importance to our assessment of your application - Three references: names, relationship, contact details; at least one of these should be related to project or campaign that you have managed.   Please send this information via email with ‘Internet rights are human rights project coordinator’ in the subject line to: jobs(a)apc.org <mailto:jobs@apc.org> by January 14 2011. Please note only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

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US screening new gTLD applicants against US laws
by Alice Munyua 19 Dec '10

19 Dec '10

Dear all, More concerns from the Africa ICANN community on the new gTLD guidebook. best alice ---------------------- Dear AfrICANN's Please read Khaled Fattal's honourable submission at http://forum.icann.org/lists/5gtld-guide/pdfIIMoPfVdQj.pdf and see what an important and disturbing development the "final" new gTLD Draft Applicant Guidebook gives us. I must admit that while I was bogged down to the ccNSO and its council's business in Cartagena, this important matter escaped my attention. What is Africa's response to the DAG full granting the US government a right to screen new gTLD applicants against the US (probably more supreme) laws? I really think we can expect non-US people starting to push for alternative DNS root seeing the current DNS is US' and US' alone! So if you're not a US applicant and are from a country the US government considers to be terrorist, then forget about getting your new gTLD! This is what this exactly mean, While I've been usually reserved regarding the ITU advances towards the DNS, if ICANN continues to be a US govt entity as it is doing right now (even when ICANN is supposed to move away from this reality through the Affirmation), then who can blame the ITU or even other "Internet rebels" (or should we not call them "Internet freedom fighters") who have come up with alternative DNSes! I hope subscribers to this list will make their governments aware of this important matter (I believe some already have done so) and that our governments and the AU will not disappoint in withstanding the US monopoly of the currently dominant DNS. It must be fair to expect African governments to express their position even before the ICANN board meets GAC in February 2011. And I hope we won't hear another view that ICANN needs to first build our capacity before we can respond to this straight-forward nonsense from the ICANN DAG. Regards, *Vika Mpisane* ZADNA +27 11 275 0082

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Safaricom Challenges on M-Pesa after Upgrade
by Preston Odera 18 Dec '10

18 Dec '10

The current challenges consumers are going thru on the M-Pesa after upgrade seem not to have been shared with the consumers. Can the CEO of Safaricom explain what is going on. There are delays on money sent. I sent money and only received the message after six hours. The recepient never received any message. There are cases where the recipient does not receive a message although the money is there they cannot withdraw. Can Safaricom explain how many cases of this nature have been experienced and what are the security implications? Preston Odera Executive Director K-Ninety East Africa Limited Tel +254 20 3544352

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Safaricom data bundles
by robert yawe 17 Dec '10

17 Dec '10

Hi, I am like many of you a peculiar Kenyan in that I can quickly find 10 new ways to use a product that the provider/manufacture could never have though about. When Safaricom introduced the monthly data bundles I quickly took advantage of the service to roll out remote data capture terminals as I had a new that the 999/- unlimited monthly bundle would meet my requirements without any problems and at a predictable cost. So after rolling out the device somewhere in the middle of nowhere, its a security device so I will not give you the GPS coordinates, where no man need go again. I loaded the initial 999/- and off went the device, little did I know that the place that no man needed to go would need to be visited at least once a month. Why, because safaricom's unlimited monthly bundle cannot be purchased remotely, one needs to physically get to the sim card, my device is credit card sized and runs some proprietary software. I appreciate the fact that I am doing with the service what Safaricom did not think could or even would be done. I have talked to the customer service persons, they are now more script driven than before, and all I got was ". . the 450 service cannot be activated from another line, please put the sim card in a phone and send a sms message to 450 with the bundle size, thank you for calling Safaricom and have a good day". This what I had asked for in a call centre operator but suddenly my needs have now surpassed the standard script can Safaricom please implement an escalation procedure in the script so that when peculiar Kenyans like myself call with peculiar requirements we can get assistance. For now there goes my weekend as I need to travel to the top of a hill somewhere in Kenya, report to the local police station to avoid being shot down, climb up a 12 meter mast, remove a sim card, insert it into my phone, send an sms to 450, remove the sim card, place it back into the device, climb down the mast then drive back to Nairobi. Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696

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BBC Article on Kenya Outsourcing
by Paul Kukubo 17 Dec '10

17 Dec '10

Listers <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12004815 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/>[image: BBC News]OLOGY<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/> 16 December 2010 Last updated at 23:40 GMT Kenya's ambitions for an outsourced futureBy Jonathan FildesTechnology reporter, BBC News Stare out of the office windows at Park Towers and - if you are lucky - you may spot a zebra or a giraffe. The sleek, glass building on the edge of Nairobi National park belongs to Horizon Contact Centers, one of a handful of emerging Kenyan firms that hope to grab a large slice of the global outsourcing market and establish the country as a leading provider of the call centres and back offices of the world. Inside, there is little time for safaris. The sleek offices are packed with rows and rows of blue cubicles staffed by young graduates, all calmly talking into headsets and typing into identical PCs. The rhythmical conversations are polite and familiar to anyone who has called a customer support line or has picked up a cold call from an insurance firm. "Kenya is very well known for its runners and wildlife, but when people talk about IT services there is a question mark," says Sanjay Sikka, chief executive of the year-and-a-half-old firm. Now that is all set to change, he says. Net effect Four years ago, the Kenyan government unveiled its Vision 2030 plan to develop the country<http://www.nesc.go.ke/News&Events/KenyaVision2030Intro.htm> . Central to its goals were the use of technology and a desire to emulate the success of countries such as India, South Africa and the Philippines. "It is not about taking India's business away from them," explains Paul Kukubo of the government's ICT board, in charge of promoting Kenya as an outsourcing destination for foreign firms. "The market is so big globally that the issue isn't about competition. The source markets - the US and the UK - are still looking for high quality, low cost destinations to do business." Until recently, Kenya was not in a position to go after the business. Its digital infrastructure - and particularly its satellite communications links with other countries - was prohibitively expensive for firms that rely on instant communication. That changed in 2009, when the first of three undersea internet cables arrived in the country. "I travel around the world trying to make the case for international investment in outsourcing," says Mr Kukubo. "Before the cables came it wasn't even a discussion. Now we have seen a huge interest with companies saying 'you have the basic ingredients'." Mr Sikka, who's firm initially used a grant from the World Bank to help pay for the expensive satellite links, agrees. "It's had a huge impact on cost," he says. "It's made Kenya competitive with the rest of the world." Perception problem Down the road from Horizon's sleek headquarters is Kencall, Kenya's first outsourcing firm, started in 2005. Before the cables arrived it had to use voice compression technology to ensure that customers did not pick up on the lags in conversations as the calls were beamed thousands of miles up via the satellite "When you calculate that distance to go up to that satellite and back down again at the speed of light, it would mean that for a word to be heard in England it would take about 6-700 milliseconds," says its founder Nik Nesbitt. "That delay makes calls horrible." Now, there is no need for the technology. This has brought other benefits, says Mr Nesbitt. "Our bandwidth costs have dropped about 90%. However, the part that is most exciting to us is that we are able to go out and get higher value more attractive work because we have the fibre optic capability, which pays us more." He says the cables "offer a perception of reliability" to potential customers. "Previously, the satellites offered that reliability, but not the perception," he says. But reliable cheap bandwidth is not the only selling points for Kenya, says Mr Sikka. He highlights the country's "abundant talent pool" and its "neutral accent". "India invests a lot in so-called accent neutralisation, where the agents are taken through a course," says Mr Sikka, himself a veteran of the Indian outsourcing scene. Kenya, he says, does not have that problem. It's a mantra repeated by everyone pushing Kenya as an outsourcing destination. Mr Sikka also emphasises the population's "cultural affinity" with countries such as the US and the UK. "Cultural affinity to the UK is very important," he says. "It is very important to show an empathy and understanding of the culture. It can't be someone calling up from an alien world with no understanding about what it means to live there." He says young Kenyans consume the same TV shows and music as their counterparts in the US and the UK, and they follow the same sports teams. The legacy of the British schooling system in Kenya is also an advantage, he says. "The main thing when you are talking on the phone is getting into the customer's shoes." Price point Kenya is not just targeting call centre work. Horizon offers data processing. Nearby, in a conspicuous four-storey red building, Ken-Tech data offers other services such as image tagging. For example, the firm does processing work for an unnamed smartphone application that allows users to take a picture of a product to find the best prices online. The pictures are sent to a team of people in their offices, who analyse the images and tag them with descriptive words that can be used to find the best prices on the web. "The results are sent back to the phone within 30 seconds," says Lakshmanan Manickam, general manager of the firm, and another person who has moved from India to kick-start the industry. This work requires a "highly-skilled workforce", he says, who are able to describe objects accurately. The firm also creates content for websites and audits transcriptions and translations for US companies. He says it is much easier - and cheaper - to set up these projects in Kenya; factors that will make it "the next outsourcing destination". But not everyone is so optimistic about Kenya's chances. "I'm more conservative about what it can do," says Erik Hersman, an entrepreneur and a major figure in the local technology start-up community. "If you are just trying to bid against your Indian counterparts, I think it is a hard thing to do, particularly when they have so much experience." He believes that rather than offering similar services to other countries, Kenya needs to find its own niche if it is to be successful. "I think it is a little bit more of a difficult space than people make it out to be." In addition, he says, the country should not try to compete with other countries on price. 'Lone voice' It is a view echoed by Mark Hillary, author of Who Moved my Job. "If your basic offering is, 'it is cheaper to work here than India', than that is a pretty poor sales pitch," he says. Instead, he says, firms and government should look at the kinds of graduates that are coming out of the country's universities and offer services based on their skills. This has worked for countries such as Bangladesh, he says, which has developed a concentration of animation firms. He says Kenya's historical ties with the UK, which means it has similar accountancy and legal systems, offers opportunities for outsourcing firms. However, Mr Hillary says his studies conducted with the United Nations suggest the country may face other challenges. "We found the biggest inhibitor was people's sense of corruption," he says. "But, it's more about the perception of doing business than the reality." A spate of violence following the disputed 2007 presidential elections also damaged the country's reputation. But the government's Mr Kukubo remains optimistic. "One has to be candid about these things," he says. "[The 2007 violence] was one of those things that was incidental and rare in Kenya's history. "Out of that crisis was born a new Kenya, really. Bad as it may have been, I think we learnt out lessons." In the next year, he says, there will be an "explosion of interest" from firms wanting to set up in Kenya. It has already invested in a new business park on the Mombasa Road, a stone's throw from Kencall, Horizon and Ken-Tech data. The 500,000sq ft (46,450sq m) of empty office space, primed for an influx of local and India firms, is an indication of its conviction. And it is a validation for Kencall's Mr Nesbitt. "When we started Kencall, we were really a voice in the wilderness talking about outsourcing. I think everyone sat there with one raised eyebrow waiting to see what could happen. "But people have now begun to see that this can actually work in Kenya." [image: BBC] BBC © MMX The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/help/web/links/> Paul Kukubo Chief Executive Officer, Kenya ICT Board PO Box 27150 - 00100 Nairobi, Kenya 12th Floor, Teleposta Towers Koinange Street Tel +254 20 2089061, +254 20 2211960 Fax: +254 20 2211962 website: www.ict.go.ke local content project: www.tandaa.co.ke, www.facebook.com/tandaakenya twitter:@tandaaKENYA BPO Project: www. doitinkenya.co.ke Digital Villages Project: www.pasha.co.ke personal contacts _______________ Cell: + 254 717 180001 skype: kukubopaul googletalk: pkukubo personal blog: www.paulkukubo.co.ke personal twitter: @pkukubo ____________________ Vision: Kenya becomes a top ten global ICT hub Mission: To champion and actively enable Kenya to adopt and exploit ICT, through promotion of partnerships, investments and infrastructure growth for socio economic enrichment

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Re: [kictanet] Safaricom data bundles
by Betty Mwangi 17 Dec '10

17 Dec '10

Thanks Washington On your iSsue with Bonga I believe a member of my team is in touch to investigate the problem you are experiencing so that we can sort this out Rgds BlackBerry® powered by Safaricom ________________________________ From: Odhiambo Washington To: Betty Mwangi Cc: kictanet(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke Sent: Fri Dec 17 09:04:18 2010 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Safaricom data bundles On Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 8:34 AM, Betty Mwangi <bmwangi1(a)safaricom.co.ke> wrote: Robert Thanks for your comments and the inconvenience is highly regretted. I assure you you are not peculiar in any way and as a matter of fact Safaricom will be availing an on line top up service for data early in the New Year that Will assist with situations similar to yours. We assure you of our committment to continue to ensure that we meet customers needs. Hi Betty, Such a solution will be very welcome, especially in the face of the many "sonkos" brandishing iPads. At the moment the process of buying a bundle for an iPad user is hell, thanks to the microsim. That you have to face a process of powering down the iPad, removing the microsim, place on a holder, get some phone to be powered down to take the "sim", load credit, buy data via sms, wait for confirmation, then follow the reverse of this process.... You just see the hassle that product will save many from! PS: In the meantime, would you be kind enough to mobilize "the team" to revive Bonga points query/redemption system? It's been down for a while. -- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Damn!! ##################################################################################### NOTE: All emails sent from Safaricom Limited are subject to Safaricom�s Email Terms & Conditions. Please click here to read the policy. #####################################################################################

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AU Joins the .africa & .afrique Fray
by Muchiri Nyaggah 17 Dec '10

17 Dec '10

"The African Union (AU) has expressed interest in playing a key role in selecting the operator for the .africa and .afrique generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs)." See the rest of the story here http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=EFAAA1C0-1A64-6A71-CE3979187410031B Kind regards, *Muchiri* Nyaggah Director @muchiri +254 722 506400 Semacraft.com

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Re: [kictanet] Safaricom data bundles
by Betty Mwangi 17 Dec '10

17 Dec '10

Robert Thanks for your comments and the inconvenience is highly regretted. I assure you you are not peculiar in any way and as a matter of fact Safaricom will be availing an on line top up service for data early in the New Year that Will assist with situations similar to yours. We assure you of our committment to continue to ensure that we meet customers needs. Best rgds Betty Chief officer - New Products Safaricom BlackBerry® powered by Safaricom ________________________________ From: kictanet-bounces+bmwangi1=safaricom.co.ke(a)lists.kictanet.or.ke To: Betty Mwangi Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions Sent: Fri Dec 17 08:17:33 2010 Subject: [kictanet] Safaricom data bundles Hi, I am like many of you a peculiar Kenyan in that I can quickly find 10 new ways to use a product that the provider/manufacture could never have though about. When Safaricom introduced the monthly data bundles I quickly took advantage of the service to roll out remote data capture terminals as I had a new that the 999/- unlimited monthly bundle would meet my requirements without any problems and at a predictable cost. So after rolling out the device somewhere in the middle of nowhere, its a security device so I will not give you the GPS coordinates, where no man need go again. I loaded the initial 999/- and off went the device, little did I know that the place that no man needed to go would need to be visited at least once a month. Why, because safaricom's unlimited monthly bundle cannot be purchased remotely, one needs to physically get to the sim card, my device is credit card sized and runs some proprietary software. I appreciate the fact that I am doing with the service what Safaricom did not think could or even would be done. I have talked to the customer service persons, they are now more script driven than before, and all I got was ". . the 450 service cannot be activated from another line, please put the sim card in a phone and send a sms message to 450 with the bundle size, thank you for calling Safaricom and have a good day". This what I had asked for in a call centre operator but suddenly my needs have now surpassed the standard script can Safaricom please implement an escalation procedure in the script so that when peculiar Kenyans like myself call with peculiar requirements we can get assistance. For now there goes my weekend as I need to travel to the top of a hill somewhere in Kenya, report to the local police station to avoid being shot down, climb up a 12 meter mast, remove a sim card, insert it into my phone, send an sms to 450, remove the sim card, place it back into the device, climb down the mast then drive back to Nairobi. Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696 ##################################################################################### NOTE: All emails sent from Safaricom Limited are subject to Safaricom�s Email Terms & Conditions. Please click here to read the policy. #####################################################################################

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Re: [kictanet] [AfrICANN-discuss] NRO-NC appointment at AfriNIC
by Brian Munyao Longwe 16 Dec '10

16 Dec '10

Congratulations Alan! You are the right man for the job! On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 6:19 PM, Adiel A. Akplogan <adiel(a)afrinic.net>wrote: > Dear colleagues, > > We are please to announce that the AfriNIC Board has appointed Alan P. > Barrett as AfriNIC's region representative to the NRO Number Council > for one year (01-Jnauary-2011 to 31-December-2011). > > We would like to congratulate Alan for his appointment and wish him > success. > > Sincerely. > > ______________________________________________________________________ > Adiel A. Akplogan Tel. +230 403 51 00 > Chief Executive Officer, AfriNIC Fax: +230 466 67 58 > adiel(a)afrinic.net - www.afrinic.net sip: adiel(a)voip.afrinic.net > > _______________________________________________ > AfrICANN mailing list > AfrICANN(a)afrinic.net > https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/africann > -- Brian Munyao Longwe e-mail: blongwe(a)gmail.com cell: + 254 722 518 744 blog : http://zinjlog.blogspot.com meta-blog: http://mashilingi.blogspot.com

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Reloaded: Yawe for post master general
by Francis Hook 15 Dec '10

15 Dec '10

Maybe Robert Yawe will realise his dream seeing how the current PMG made it onto "the list" -- Francis Hook +254 733 504561

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Fwd: Media Advisory: Silicon Valley entrepreneur visit Kenya
by Paul Kukubo ICT Board 15 Dec '10

15 Dec '10

Of interest. Sent from my iPad Begin forwarded message: > From: Kenya ICT Board <kkobia(a)ict.go.ke> > Date: 14 December 2010 10:10:06 GMT+03:00 > To: pkukubo(a)ict.go.ke > Subject: Media Advisory: Silicon Valley entrepreneur visit Kenya > Reply-To: kkobia(a)ict.go.ke > > > Paul > > The Kenya ICT Board will host a group of entrepreneur including Russel Simmons (co-founder of paypal) and Jawed Karim (co-founder of youtube) at an event at the iHub on Tuesday Decemeber 14 at 3:00pm. > > You are invited to cover the event, which will also feature some Kenya's top tech entrepreneur . > Tandaa Tech Talk > Featuring members of i/o ventures including co-founder of paypal, co-founder of youtube and co-founder of yelp.com > Venue > iHub, Bishop Magua Center, 4th Floor, Ngong Road, Opposite Uchumi Hyper > Date > December 14, 2010 > Time > 15:00 - 18:00 > Host > Kenya ICT Board > > Members of the media interested in booking interviews with special guests should contact Kaburo Kobia kkobia(a)ict.go.ke or call 0729466260 > > For more information: > Background > > Profiles for i/o ventures team > > About Kenya ICT Board > > Contact info > > Background > > i/o ventures is an early stage start up program that focuses heavily on mentorship. Their network of entrepreneurs have started multi-billion dollar internet companies including paypal, youtube, myspace, hi5 and yelp, many of which have over 100 million users visiting their websites monthly. > The mentors have visited a number of countries including Singapore, Brazil, Russia, and mostly recently Tanzania. During their visits the mentors travel participate in a variety of events which usually include speaking at top universities, meeting with upcoming entrepreneurs, top business leaders and a meeting or dinner with top government officials including the President or Prime Minister. The end goal is to spread ICT entrepreneurship, build a bridge into Silicon Valley and encourage the growth of the local "tech ecosystem". > > i/o ventures are making their first trip to Kenya from December 13 - 14. During their Kenya trip they would like to focus on mentorship based on their extensive experience in incubating start-up entrepreneurs. Their most recent graduating class included six companies in the internet space, they were exposed to 120 Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors and all got funded. Half are already profitable, one has been acquired. > Profiles > Russel Simmons: early employee/lead technical architect at paypal, former CTO and co-founder of Yelp.com > Jawed Karim: cofounder of Youtube, early employee at Paypal and angel investor > Paul Bragel: partner at i/o ventures, co-founder of Leforum (online forums), co-founder/CEO of Meetro (location based social networking) and former CEO of Paragon Five (game development > Mbwana Alliy: associate at i/o ventures, co-founder of Yellow Masai, Board Member at Envaya > About Kenya ICT Board > > The Kenya ICT Board was established by HE President Mwai Kibaki, as a state corporation under the State Corporations Act Cap. 446 on 19th February 2007. > > The Kenya ICT Board's mission is to champion and actively enable Kenya to adopt and exploit ICT, through promotion of partnerships, investments and infrastructure growth for socio economic enrichment. > > Its vision is that Kenya becomes a top ten global ICT hub by 2030. > > The Kenya ICT Board mandate is to: > Market: Positioning and promoting Kenya as an ICT destination (locally and internationally), especially promoting Business process Outsourcing (BPO) and Offshoring. > Advise: Advise the government on all relevant matters pertaining to the development and promotion of ICT industries in the country > Build Capacity: Providing government and other stakeholders with skills, capacity and funding for anchor implementation of ICT projects for development. > Manage Projects: Coordinating, directing and implementing anchor ICT projects in development. > > Contact > For more information or to book interviews please contact: > Kaburo Kobia > 0729466260 > > > Sincerely, > > > Kaburo Kobia > Project Manager, Local Digital Content > Kenya ICT Board > > This email was sent to pkukubo(a)ict.go.ke by kkobia(a)ict.go.ke. > Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. > Email Marketing by > > Kenya ICT Board | Telposta Towers, 12th Floor | Kenyatta Ave | P.o. box 27150-00100 | Nairobi | Kenya >

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Cartagena Statement of the African ICANN community about the Support for new gTLD applicants
by Alice Munyua 14 Dec '10

14 Dec '10

Dear all, As you are aware ICANN is meant to introduce new gTLDs, however, during the just ended meeting in Cartegna, various stakeholders continued to raise a number of controversial aspects of the new gTLDs programme, which include but not limited to geographic names, root zone, scaling, economic analysis, malicious conduct, etc. The ICANN board resolved to provide more time to stakeholders to discuss and work through the remaining issues. Africa ICANN representatives remain very concerned about thehigh costs for applications/process, which is likely to exclude those without the level of financial resources required, e.g cultural and other non-commercial groups, among others from benefiting from the opportunities the new gTLDs will offer. Please see Draft Applicant Guide (DAG) book: http://www.icann.org/en/topics/new-gtlds/draft-rfp-clean-12nov10-en.pdfand send in comments. See Africa ICANN statement below. best Alice ----------------------------------------------------------- Following ICANN Board's resolution 20 in Nairobi meeting whereby "The Board requests stakeholders to work through their SOs and ACs, and form a Working Group to develop a sustainable approach to providing support to applicants requiring assistance in applying and operating new gTLDs ." . We, members of the African Community, consisting of AFRALO and AfrICANN, at the ICANN meeting in Brussels, jointly welcomed the Board resolution 20 and expressed our gratitude to the Board members for their consideration of the community concerns about the cost of applying for new gTLDs that might hinder applicants, especially those from developing countries. . We adopted a statement in which we expressed the expectations of the African Community from the so-called resolution 20, which statement was sent to the ICANN Board and the JAS Working Group which was formed for the purpose. In its retreat in Trondheim (Norway), the ICANN Board decided late September 2010 that Support to applicants will generally include outreach and education to encourage participation across all regions, but any direct financial support for applicant fees must come from sources outside of ICANN. It also decided that the fee levels currently in the Applicant Guidebook will be maintained for all applicants. . While we welcome the decision of providing outreach and education support to applicants who require assistance, we, members of the African Community, in Cartagena express our deep concern regarding the non- consideration of the fee reduction that we, and the JAS Working Group, proposed. . We consider that without application cost reduction, the developing countries, and especially those of the African region, as well as the disadvantaged communities willing to apply for a cultural, linguistic or ethnic gTLD will be excluded from this new gTLD program, that the resolution 20 wanted it to be inclusive. . We strongly believe that assistance should be provided to the needy applicants at the upcoming first round of application, and not at some possible future round, because: o Without assistance for applicants needing support, all of the most obvious names, including IDNs, will be taken by rich investors, leaving little opportunity to local community institutions and developing country entrepreneurs o Even if it is intended to open a second round, its date is at best uncertain regarding the experience of the 2001's round. . We strongly support the milestone report of the JAS Working Group, and look forward to the consideration of its recommendations by the ICANN Board. . We are supportive of all on-going work as per the recommendations of the JAS WG Charter. --

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Africa @ICANN: Cartagena Statement of the African ICANN community about the support for African participation
by Alice Munyua 14 Dec '10

14 Dec '10

Dear Listers, Here's a statement from the Africa ICANN community during the just ended ICANN meeting in Cartegena: ----------------------------------------------------- The African community through AFRALO and AFRICANN is concerned about its lack of effective participation in the main activities of ICANN as internet users. The commitment and the participation of the different parts of the community require knowledge of the issues being discussed. In order to improve the quality of the participation, it is important to explain the meaning and the limits of ICANN’s mandate, the stakes and the impact sought for. A major awareness campaign at local and regional levels would be a first step towards a due capacity building program for a meaningful participation Participation can be done by many and different means. They include email discussion lists, teleconferences, fora, videoconferences, electronic votes, wikis, blogs as well as face‐to‐face meetings in respective languages For online participation, it is important to have a calendar that establishes the timing for community input. This calendar would allow more effective planning and optimal engagement of the community. Even as we celebrate the diverse methods and tools available, we recognize that many challenges remain to be overcome for effective participation of users at the edge. Some are entirely technical and will improve with time. Others, however, will require means and commitment to improvement in interactions from all stakeholders, users included. Volunteered work is not very sustainable in Africa due to the necessity to make a living and institutions are unwilling to continue to cover the cost of their staff on volunteer assignments. The challenge is to have many motivated African experts to participate in a regular and effective way. Therefore, we, AFRALO and AFRICANN members, recommend to call for support from development agencies, private sector and other potential actors to facilitate African participation to ICANN policy development processes. We acknowledge that the ICANN fellowship program is supporting the participation from developing economies. Henceforth we urge the ICANN Board consider the following: • The number of fellowships from African Regions should be increased   Recognizing that the present form of capacity building has not produced the desired outcome, a more proactive approach needs to be adopted:   • Policy advocates and students’ needs to be identified and recruited in a manner that is sustainable. • Advocates should be situated and employed on a part-time basis in existing policy institutions or think tanks that are already engaged in local and global internet policy. • In their capacity as staff, they will be responsible for policy making locally, nationally and regionally and will engage internationally in policy making fora such as the IGF, ICANN, ISOC and other global policy arena. • This function requires support from development agencies who are concerned about the dearth of African policy makers locally and in the international arena. Support for this sort of initiative must be protracted and sustained over a period of time rather than the current approach of facilitating developing country participation at conferences and international policy for a travel support. • Policy advocates must act as bridges between their countries/regions and the international policy forum. Their host institutions must act as bridging institutions in the same capacity as the advocates. • This dual policy vehicle of person and institution will ensure sustained policy development if it is developed and deployed in the different regions in the continent. For institutions such as ICANN, they provide value and leverage where engagement, direct and immediate responses are required for certain policy situations. • If this model gathers the support of ICANN, it can seek the partnership and support from other institutions such as APC, KICTANet, IISD or AfriNIC to host policy advocates for a period using an internship framework. Policy advocates can also spend certain periods at places like ICANN or the IGF secretariat. --

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Honouring the man who linked Kenya to world (was Update on Arrangements for Kisumu Reunion – December 21-23rd, 2010)
by Shem Ochuodho 14 Dec '10

14 Dec '10

Madada Philo na Betty, Ahsanteni for the pongezi's. It was re-freshening to know the CTO (Commonwealth Telecom Organization www.cto.int) domiciled in London, with current CEO being Ghana's former Minister for Communication (Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah) could remember some of Africa's Unsung Heroes. I am working on a book with that name to catalogue the evolution of Internet in Africa - perhaps we should look for royalties from FaceBook, Google, mPesa, YouTube, SEACOM, etc! But the efforts could not have borne fruit without the inputs of several other people, including the techies who alongside Randy Bush burnt mid-night oil (Dr Martin Koyabe - now with British Telecoms, Paul Olendo now @UN, Alfred Orimbo, etc) - for several nights - to get it all work on Kenya's/indeed Africa's then real terrible phone lines. In the same vein, without Steve Goldstein of the US National Science Foundation (who provided the boxes and technology) and Peter Sutherland of UK's Overseas Development Agency (ODA now DfID) who took up the initial leased line phone bills - used to cost US$ 16,000 (yes, 16k) per month for just a mere 64KBps pipe - it wouldn't have happened. When in 2000 CSK (Computer Society of Kenya) felt I deserved 'Father of Internet in Kenya' title, I dedicated the award to three people: Amb. Dr Benjamin Kipkorir (then Kenya's Ambassador in Washington), Micah Cheserem (then Governor, Central Bank), Brig. (Rtd) Wilson Boinnett (then DG, NSIS aka Special Branch). Without these guys' intervention, the KANU regime of the time wouldn't have allowed Internet to happen. Not that they didn't try to block it - the then Head of Public Service wrote a letter (I have a souvenir copy) to all PS's, Heads of Military, Special Branch, etc warning them not to connect to ARCC/Internet/UNEP without direct approval from his office. That partly explains why these three Kenyan Wazalendo's perhaps deserve these awards more than I. Last but not least, Jeddy and the kids who allowed me to use one of the family bedrooms for initial tests when sections of the University felt by staying late in the labs night, we had 'lots of idle time and needed to be given more teaching load' had denied us space to do the experiments. But all the Glory must always go to God the Almighty, Allah - the One and Only! For those who missed the story (courtesy Visioner Augustine Oduor), you can access it on: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/news/InsidePage.php?id=2000024440&cid=159&st…. Best rgrds, Shem 2010 CTO/GoSS African Internaut (Internet Pioneer) Award Recipient ________________________________ From: Philo Ikonya <philonikonya(a)yahoo.com> To: NVK-Mageuzi(a)yahoogroups.com Sent: Sat, 11 December, 2010 18:51:39 Subject: Re: [NVK-Mageuzi] Update on Arrangements for Kisumu Reunion – December 21-23rd, 2010 Adhiambo, thanks very much for letting me know.. I did not know.. Congrats Shem. You did not say it even as I was telling you of my little works?\ Philo Aung San Suu Kyi cannot be silenced because she speaks the truth and because her words reflect basic Burmese and universal concepts - Vaclav Havel --- On Fri, 12/10/10, Betty Otieno <betty.otieno(a)gmail.com> wrote: >From: Betty Otieno <betty.otieno(a)gmail.com> >Subject: Re: [NVK-Mageuzi] Update on Arrangements for Kisumu Reunion – December >21-23rd, 2010 >To: NVK-Mageuzi(a)yahoogroups.com >Date: Friday, December 10, 2010, 11:01 PM > > > >Congratulations Shem on the honor you received the other day, pioneer internet >related Kenya. > >Adhiambo > >

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Tanadaa Tech Talk with I/O venture
by Twahir Mohamed 14 Dec '10

14 Dec '10

Dear Listers, Below is alive stream on the above eventes I/O ventures are techprenures based at the silcon valley,giving enteprenures and techie's advice .The event is at the ihub . http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tandaa-tech-talk -- Twahir

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Google CR-48 trials
by robert yawe 14 Dec '10

14 Dec '10

Hi, I am sure we have staff from Google in this list, how can I participate in the Google notebook trials? 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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Liberia creates Special Purpose Vehicle for landing station and national fibre backbone
by Eric M.K Osiakwan 11 Dec '10

11 Dec '10

Liberia probably has one of the smallest bandwidth markets in Africa but it has recently created a Special Purpose Vehicle consortium that has signed up as a member of the France Telecom-driven ACE cable. Russell Southwood spoke to Angelique Weeks, the Chairperson of the Board of Commissioners of the regulator, the Liberian Telecommunications Authority about how it was possible to do this. The Special Purpose Vehicle consortium currently has four shareholders: the Government of Liberia (60%); Libtelco, formerly LTC, the Government incumbent (20%); Lonestar, the MTN subsidiary (10%); and Cellcom, the Israeli-owned mobile operator (10%). The Government and Libtelco shareholdings have been paid for by the World Bank. Currently, this leaves the other two mobile operators (Comium and Libercell, now owned by HITS) out in the cold but according to Chairperson Angelique Weeks, the Government will sell part of its shareholding to them:”Comium and Libercell were not in a position financially to come in (when we started the SPV). But both have expressed interest and we plan to bring them in very soon, some time in 2011. We have consultants to help us sort through the various models and they don’t start until January so some after their work is complete.” In terms of governance, any shareholder needs at least 10% to have a seat on the Board. According to Weeks:”We’re trying to decide whether to have a co-operative, a private entity or a hybrid of the two.” By co-operative she means that the SPV will have no staff but devolve operational tasks to its shareholder parties. By private entity, she means that the SPV would contract a management partner or employ its own staff. The aim is to recycle the money put in by the World Bank into the task of building a national fibre backbone in the country. So the shareholdings sold to the new parties (Comium and Libercell) will generate money that will go into this task. The aim is to take this money with further contributions from the World Bank and to start a fibre roll-out. This is ambitious in a country that has only a modest electricity grid but offers a number of economic benefits for the country. What has not been settled is whether this task will be managed by a separate Private-Public Partnership (PPP) or simply run through the cable landing station SPV. So what will be the extent of the network?:”Ideally it will provide a loop that covers the limits of the country and connects up its major community centres. Then we can use microwave to extend beyond the fibre backbone.” Will it create cross-border links?:”We talked to Guinea and Sierra Leone at the ACE signing and suggested a loop to them connecting the three of us. Arguably, Cote d’Ivoire could be part of the same network. It would provide some redundancy as we might be vulnerable with a single landing station. It’s a good idea but it will come further down the road.” But how will a country with as small an economy as Liberia absorb all this new bandwidth?:” I think there are two areas that we have to focus on to create growth. The operators need to create content that will encourage users to use more bandwidth. For example, in Ghana they were able to watch the World Cup on their mobile handsets. We need to implement e-Government, e-health and e-schools and all of these things will be facilitated by better bandwidth”. “Potentially shareholders can sell capacity across borders. This is allowed within the scope of the ACE agreement but it places some restrictions on doing this. I think currently we could only sell to other ACE consortium members but this may change in the long run. We hope the future’s bright and we understand the economic growth and development that will be spin-offs from the cable. We can’t afford not to have the cable. Open access is the way we should go. We need to protect consumers and investors. Credit: Balancing Act NB: Sorry for crossposting. Eric M.K Osiakwan Director Internet Research www.internetresearch.com.gh emko(a)internetresearch.com.gh 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North Tel: +233.30.2258800 ext 7031 Fax: +233.30.2258811 Cell: +233.24.4386792

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How to Test COTS Applications
by Roland Omoresemi 11 Dec '10

11 Dec '10

Just a quick invitation to those of you that are interested in learning how to Test Commercial Off-The-Shelf COTS applications; if you know anyone that can benefit from these courses, please send them our way: Attached please find our 2011 Course Catalog plus the brochures for our upcoming courses in January: January 17 - 19 | 830 AM - 500 PM: Software Quality Assurance & Testing Boot camp (ISTQB Certification class) January 20 - 21 | 830 AM - 500 PM: How to Test Commercial Off-The-Shelf Applications We also have Testers who can assist you during your next project implementation - we offer Staff Augmentation services (either for UAT, System or Integration Testing or Test Automation and do System Integration work as well. Thank you, ----------------------------------------------- Roland Omoresemi | CEO tezza business solutions Ltd KENYA OFFICE PLOT 87 RHAPTA ROAD P.O. BOX 14068 - 00800 WESTLANDS, NAIROBI M: +254 719.616.900 | 0: +254 20 816 4341 | 0: +254 20 816 4340 ------------------------- UGANDA Plot 9 Martyrs Road P.O. Box 5871 Ntinda P: +256 312 108 322 | M: +256 772 583 788 ------------------------ TANZANIA Learnit Institute of Business and Technology 1st Floor, Lumumba Complex, P.O.Box 20032, Dar es Salaam ------------- USA OFFICE 9530 Oswald Lane Charlotte NC 28277 M: 704.604.4668 p: 913.961.2234 e: roland(a)tezzasolutions.com w: http://www.softwaretestingafrica.com w: http://www.tezzasolutions.com/technology.php ------------------------------------------------- UPCOMING TRAINING: January 10-14: In-House Training - KENYA AIRWAYS - Kenya January 17-19: Software QA & Testing Boot Camp - Kenya January 20-21: Testing Commercial Off-The-Shelf Applications - Kenya

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Insurance Software Expert - 10 years experience - Kenya
by Matunda Nyanchama 11 Dec '10

11 Dec '10

A friend is looking for a Kenyan resource as per spec below. If you know anyone, please let me know. ------------------------------- Please get me a senior IT expert (Kenyan) with the following skills: * A postgraduate degree in an area relevant to the assignment such as Information Technology, Business Processes Re engineering or relevant ICT Certification; * Hands on experience in design and implementation of software for insurance firm/s especially trade and political risk insurance; * At least 10 years experience in the relevant areas suitable for the assignment as outlined above * Knowledge of accounting will be an added advantage * Project management knowledge * Fluency in English ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matunda Nyanchama, mnyanchama(a)aganoconsulting.com Agano Consulting Inc.; www.aganoconsulting.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”- George Bernard Shaw ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This e-mail, including attachments, may be privileged and may contain confidential or proprietary information intended only for the addressee(s). Any other distribution, copying, use, or disclosure is unauthorized and strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and permanently delete the message, including any attachments, without making a copy. Thank you.

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A stand for WikiLeaks is a stand for freedom of information online
by alice＠apc.org 10 Dec '10

10 Dec '10

APC says, A stand for WikiLeaks is a stand for freedom of information online JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA TUESDAY DECEMBER 7 The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is deeply concerned about recent attempts by governments to limit access to online content recently published by whistleblower website WikiLeaks. APC is also troubled by actions taken by private companies such as EveryDNS.net which disabled the domain name system services for WikiLeaks.org, Amazon which repealed web hosting services and Paypal which restricted access to WikiLeaks' account to prevent supporters from donating money. APC believes that the ability to share information and communicate freely using the internet is vital to the realisation of human rights and to efforts to use the internet to contribute more accountable and transparent governance at global and national levels. A site like WikiLeaks can also play a vital role in aiding the fight against corruption in governments and corporations. The APC Internet Rights Charter clearly states that: *The internet must be protected from all attempts to silence critical voices and to censor social and political content or debate. *Organisations, communities and individuals should be free to use the internet to organise and engage in protest. *All information, including scientific and social research, that is produced with the support of public funds should be freely available to all. As the world's longest-running online progressive network founded in 1990, APC has been troubled by trends over the last decade that show that such rights are increasingly violated and believes that the recent attempts to censor WikiLeaks provide additional reasons for concern. The US government has been unable to provide evidence that lives have been put at risk by WikiLeaks disclosures. APC appeals to all governments and the internet community to explicitly reject any form of online content control that limits freedom of expression and information, particularly information that contributes to more transparent governance, and that empowers citizens to hold their governments accountable. We urge them to assure the uninterrupted online presence of the WikiLeaks website. A stand for WikiLeaks is a stand for freedom of information on the internet. END

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