Hi Kivuva wrote: Dennis, you should not give the government such ideas. They are on this list. Your email should have read "in the end, a frustrated government will enter into a multi-billion contract with University of Nairobi and JKUAT to mass produce low cost subsidized FTA decoders, and Kenyans would have won the battle, won the war, created thousands of employment, and tilted the balance of trade". ...If Dr. Ndemo was genuine and was playing for the best interest of Kenya, this is the path he should have advised the government to take. ---------------------- I remember in 2011 Dr Ndemo challenged the universities to take the initiative of locally producing the STBs in readiness for the June 2012 migration deadline. Evidently, the dons did not find this attractive. Below is an excerpt of an article (published on 19 January 2012) from http://www.biztechafrica.com/article/digital-migration-will-kenya-meet-deadl... "To make the set-top boxes affordable for Kenyans, the Government had approached The University of Nairobi to come up with a prototype and the plan was to have local entrepreneurs to manufacture in mass." So the Huwaweis will now benefit as we keep chanting "tunaomba serikali ...". Kind regards, Jotham Kilimo Mwale ----- Original Message ----- From: Kivuva <Kivuva@transworldafrica.com> To: jokilimo@yahoo.com Cc: Kictanet Mail list <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> Sent: Friday, December 21, 2012 11:54 AM Subject: Re: [kictanet] Digital migration and mass ignorance It seems the GoK is bowing to pressure and going towards the direction of subsidized the set boxes. Dennis, you should not give the government such ideas. They are on this list. Your email should have read "in the end, a frustrated government will enter into a multi-billion contract with University of Nairobi and JKUAT to mass produce low cost subsidized FTA decoders, and Kenyans would have won the battle, won the war, created thousands of employment, and tilted the balance of trade". I have been a fun of Dr. Ndemo's thesis for long, but this time round, he's gone off-course. If Dr. Ndemo was genuine and was playing for the best interest of Kenya, this is the path he should have advised the government to take. We still have time to be producers, till 2015. The revenue generated from such ventures would even fund the several projects the government is running like JKIA expansion, power stations, roads, e.t.c. I have had the privilege of touring several Chinese manufacturing companies, and I can assure you these factories littering our country with fake gadgets are not grand, and the initial capital is just several millions. Fellow Kenyans, let me give you unsolicited advice. Seeking foreign help to build roads, bridges, airports, harbours, and buildings is a sign of mental retardation, yet we have perfected the art. Thank you @song.stephen, we at BoP don't even know if we pay taxes. Whenever major infrastructure projects are being undertaken, we see EU, World Bank, USAID, DFID, e.t.c. Regards On 20/12/2012, Dennis Kioko <dmbuvi@gmail.com> wrote:
In the end, a frustrated government will enter into a deal with Huawei to mass produce and import low cost or subsidised FTA decoders, and Huawei will make millions in profit and Kenyans will have won the battle and lost the war.
Somehow related, voter registration took 30 days. On day 30, huge queues were seen at centres at 8 pm, way past the 6 pm closing time for the exercise. For the other 29 days, clerks were idle, Facebooking and soaking in sun at the registration centres as few bothered registering.
Meanwhile, I shall laminate this epic piece and hang it on a wall, to remind me that millions in the country have no access to 2G, despite 2G been the base of all GSM networks.
Thanks for thinking for consumers in a more broad and realistic spectrum (including rural proletariats) beyond the minority but noisy middle to higher income Nairobi CBD/Upper Hill techies who are obsessed about 4+G when millions of others can't access 2-G. There is nothing like "mass ignorance" or "mass intelligence" on a matter of human/consumer rights as ably articulated within Consumer Protection Act, 2012 (which took effect on December 13).
-- ______________________ Mwendwa Kivuva For Business Development Transworld Computer Channels Cel: 0722402248 twitter.com/lordmwesh transworldAfrica.com | Fluent in computing kenya.or.ke | The Kenya we know _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet Unsubscribe or change your options at https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jokilimo%40yahoo.com The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development. KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth, share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.