Hi, I have attached the article on the Youth Centres which was covered in the Kenya Today weekly newspaper printed by the department of information & public communications a.k.a. Dr. Alfred Mutua (quiet a brilliant initiative). The horses have bolted in the Youth Centres project, so we might as well watch from the sidelines and hope that the ICT Board will get there priorities right on how to close the digital divide between rural and urban areas. It seems the government is uncontrollable and they will do whatever it is they want, which explains the clause in the draft constitution that the public shall delegate all authority to parliament therefore the only way we can change project priorities is to have representation in Parliament. Our priority for 2012 is to get into parliament members who understand and appreciate the role of ICT in the development of our nation and achievement of the 2030 goals. Not the Shem type who went to parliament to meet their own none ICT objectives, even though we cannot blame him as we did not directly support his campaign. It is no hidden secret that Research in Motion (the blackberry guys) donated enough to the Obama presidential campaign as a way to make sure that he kept the BB strapped to his belt all the way to the oval office. Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696 ________________________________ From: Crystal Watley Kigoni <[email protected]> To: robert yawe <[email protected]> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, 3 May, 2010 17:59:06 Subject: Re: [kictanet] Stop the bus, initiate youth Centres Dear Robert, The ICT portion of the Youth Empowerment Centers should cost in the neighborhood of 1 Million each to become operational. I am working out proposals now to submit to the government. The original budget for the YECs was 17 million each, but none have been completed as planned to the best of my knowledge and I have inquired far and wide. It is intended to be done in phases with 50 constituencies done at a time. The ones that I know that have been done only have 1 of the 3 wings of the building completed. Also to the best of my knowledge, none are truly functional and operational as of yet. The 6M per constituency has not yet been allocated to another project. As someone who cares VERY deeply about making sure that government funds for e-Learning are used appropriately, I am proposing the funds be spent carefully on a combination of the ICT in the YECs, Rural Internet Kiosks, and school installations. According to my figures 6M should provide the equipment for 1 Youth Empowerment Center per constituency, 20 small computer labs in secondary schools, and 1 Rural Internet Kiosk per location. All of these computer installations would have Internet connection of at least 256/512 for one year. The model is income generating at all levels and would thus be self sustaining. It is high time that the government and the private sector find ways to make the most of our investments. After all, the greatest investment a country can make is in the human capital of its citizens. Many blessings, Crystal On Mon, May 3, 2010 at 5:15 PM, robert yawe <[email protected]> wrote: Hi,
It is interesting how the government can hoodwink us, I thanked the minister of education on the issue of the ICT buses now I see that the project has been baptised to Youth Centres that are supposed to incorporate a cyber with 15 computers, a VST centre, leisure centre and indoor games all at the staggering cost of 17 million each.
It is claimed that the initiative is a joint effort between the ministry of youth affairs and the CDF, as of the reporting the ministry had already set up 5 centres in Central Province.
You definitely cannot control a government, it does what it wants when it wants, I hope some of this issues have been covered in the new constitution.
Regards Robert Yawe KAY System Technologies Ltd Phoenix House, 6th Floor P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200 Kenya
Tel: +254722511225, +254202010696
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-- Crystal "Naliaka" Watley Kigoni Executive Director Voices of Africa for Sustainable Development [email protected] http://www.voicesofafrica.org/ Intersat Africa, Ltd Rural Internet Kiosks Project Coordinator [email protected] Twitter: VOA_Crystal Skype: crystal.naliaka Facebook group: Voices of Africa "You must be the change you wish to see" - Gandhi
