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

17 Mar '08

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

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

17 Mar '08

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

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Why Microsoft Swahili Version Failed
by alice 15 Mar '08

15 Mar '08

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

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

14 Mar '08

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

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

13 Mar '08

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

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

13 Mar '08

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

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Writing for Change
by Edith Adera 13 Mar '08

13 Mar '08

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

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

12 Mar '08

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

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

11 Mar '08

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

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

11 Mar '08

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

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

11 Mar '08

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

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

11 Mar '08

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

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

09 Mar '08

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

4 3

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

09 Mar '08

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

9 13

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

08 Mar '08

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

2 1

application developers.
by Moses Kemibaro 06 Mar '08

06 Mar '08

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

1 0

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

05 Mar '08

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

1 0

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

05 Mar '08

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

1 0

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

04 Mar '08

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

6 6

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

03 Mar '08

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

5 6

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

03 Mar '08

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

1 0

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

03 Mar '08

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

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Joining Kickanet
by Joyce Joan Wangui 01 Mar '08

01 Mar '08

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

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

29 Feb '08

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

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

29 Feb '08

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

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

28 Feb '08

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

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

28 Feb '08

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

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

28 Feb '08

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

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

28 Feb '08

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

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

27 Feb '08

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

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

27 Feb '08

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

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AfDB YPP
by Harry Hare 27 Feb '08

27 Feb '08

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

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

27 Feb '08

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

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Mobile phone threat
by Dorcas Muthoni 26 Feb '08

26 Feb '08

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

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

26 Feb '08

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

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

25 Feb '08

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

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

25 Feb '08

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

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

25 Feb '08

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

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

23 Feb '08

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

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Online Outsourcing
by robert yawe 22 Feb '08

22 Feb '08

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

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

21 Feb '08

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

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

21 Feb '08

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

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

21 Feb '08

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

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

20 Feb '08

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

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

19 Feb '08

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

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

19 Feb '08

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

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

18 Feb '08

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

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

18 Feb '08

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

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The Truth about Telkom
by Victor Maloi 18 Feb '08

18 Feb '08

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

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

17 Feb '08

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

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