That is commendable Evans, we need more voices for the voiceless, bwana PS that is real leadership, bwana Ikua we are looking forwad to a report on your meeting. Regards On Tue, Mar 16, 2010That at 9:57 AM, <[email protected]> wrote:
Thanks a lot Daktari for that clarification and the invitation. The availability of yourself and your Ministry to industry players is highly appreciated. I will come along with a small number of colleagues who are involved in hardware sales and hen we can give you our proposals. Its a fact that there is a general e-waste issue that we need to deal with in a wholesome manner and am sure we will be able to put our case forward and reach consensus on the contentious issues.
Good day all.
Ikua
Quoting waudo siganga <[email protected]>:
This openness from the PS is laudable. I met a mzungu during ICANN who was impressed that we have a PS who has agreed to be on a "Civil Society emailing List". he was wishing it was so in his country. Also recently I received an email from someone in the rural areas who had an IT investment idea and it read (un-edited) in part:
"Kindly my dear friend, organise for a meeting between you, Luis Otieno(Microsoft), ICT Board Chairman - remind me his name - I gues its the former 3mice CEO(Problem of being in Shaggs!!!), George Okando, George Muhia - IBM , HP CEO and any other influential person e.g Permanent Secretary information ( DR Bitange)- I like this guys brains."
So best wishes to Evans on the 19th!
Waudo
On Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:10 +0000, [email protected] wrote:
Ikua, We can meet 4pm on Friday the 19th of this month. In my statement, I said "we are considering a ban". Treasury has had many problems with used electronic imports and computers are just one of them. We shall talk.
Ndemo.
Sent from my BlackBerry®
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 03:15:02 To: <[email protected]> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<[email protected]> Subject: Re: [kictanet] the used computers debate
Thank you Kivuva for echoing my concerns.
To answer you Dr Waudo, I don't agree with you that we are too busy. As much as I agree that the PS is quite available all round for consultation, my problem is the way these policy pronouncements appear in the media, with no visible option for recourse. When the PS announces in the media that he will ban used computers, it seems like the decision has already been made. That is what my complain was about. I wish he had invited industry players to give their views for or against such a drastic decision.
I will actually seek to have an audience with him and try and make him see our side of the story, as we also try and understand where he is coming from. I believe he has the best interests of our country at heart, as we all do.
Knowing that Dr. Ndemo will read this, please grant us an audience when we call your office.
Regards, Ikua
Quoting lordmwesh <[email protected]>:
As much as we want to be proud of ourselves, it's only fair we realize Kenya is a "developing third world" as the wabeberu likes to call us.
In that regard, second hand items will always be part of us, cars, computers, etc.
Instead of issuing a total ban, we can grade the second hand electronic equipments that get into the country, just like we do for cars. This will not prevent 'contraband' computers getting into the market, just the way we can't prevent illicit drugs, and cars older than 10years sneaking through our ports, but at least will help in regulating the quality that gets in.
Politics is a game of interest, but when making policies, we should always look at the good interests of the whole county.
PS Ndemo, and me can afford powerful new computers, but what about the college kid who is learning how to code, or the estate entrepreneur who is setting up a cyber?
We all know that some new computer clones have poor performance than most branded second hand imports. For example, I have never been able to buy a durable new keyboard or mouse, unless its part of a western branded new or second hand computer. Maybe I don't know where to shop.
Most of the techies in this list will agree that a western branded second hand computer (HP, Dell, et al) with 2.5GHZ CPU, 1GB RAM, 80GB HDD, and a TFT all costing roughly KES24,000, and are just as good for daily applications
Regards
Mwendwa Kivuva 0722402248
____________________ transworldAfrica.com | Fluent in computing biblia.kenya.or.ke | A verse a day kenya.or.ke | The Kenya we know
On 11 March 2010 10:51, Barrack Otieno <[email protected]> wrote:
Colleagues,
"In a recent report, Information permanent secretary Bitange Ndemo proposed a ban on used computer imports. This is good because of the growing threat posed by hazardous e-waste from used electronic equipment ? computers, mobile phones, television sets and even fridges."
This is just a proposal, i agree with Mr. Ikua there is misrepresentation of facts, let us focus on access for all and if used computers can address this issue then they should be permitted, ikssues of e-waste can be handled by KEBS, i am aware of the fact that there are vested interests in the whole issue, if we are not careful we will continue playing second fiddle to Europe and other continents I am sickened by the fact that we are are mostly "resellers" and "consumers"(peripheral roles) access is what will stimulate knowledge transfer hence innovation. We need a stakeholder meeting before the ban is effected if at all it will be effected and possibly a referendum on the matter.
Thank you
On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 5:42 PM, waudo siganga <[email protected]> wrote:
Evans - I am also sad regarding this ban but I have to unfortunately challenge you. I think we need to blame ourselves in the industry rather than the Ministry because we are too busy with too many things to properly engage the Ministry. I believe the Ministry has an open-door policy and even the PS has agreed to be on this list which is commendable. You and I run associations that engage in Public Policy advocacy. Can you tell us what exactly your association has done to predict this development and what engagement you have had with the Ministry on the issue which was then dis-regarded when the decision was made? I know my association has not attended to this issue mainly because we are attending to too many things - so we need to proceed from there before blaming the Ministry.
Waudo
On Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:39 -0600, [email protected] wrote: > So we are back to this debate about used computers. seems like the > Ministry will not relent on this. > > The story in the business daily has a lot of misinformation and > half > truths coming from the Ministry. To say that the price of new > computers has come down to affordable levels is to be economical > with > the truth. How much is a new Dell or HP computer? About 45k. The > lower > priced models like Mecer or Acer will go for about 35k and above > for > standard specs. > How about a new clone? About 25k. And the lifespan of a new clone? > About 3 years, 4 if you are lucky. The warranty on new clones is > only > 3 months. Used/refurbished computers can give the user upwards of 5 > years in good use. Between a new clone made with cheap parts from > China and a used computer of a major brand, I would go for the used > computer. > With 10k, you have a good low spec used computer. So as a student > or a > home user, you get easy access to technology. With 15k, you have a > powerful used computer with specs like P4 3.0/512mb RAM/80gb HDD. > So > as a small business which needs to buy 10 computers, or a school or > college that needs to buy 40 computers, what would you go for with > a > limited budget? > > Why cant the government regulate the trade in used computers > instead > of imposing a total ban? The industry will still have jobs for IT > technicians, whether its used computers or its assembly of clones. > which leads m,e to the question, what happened to the eMado > computer? > How is it doing as a business proposition? How many have been sold > and > to whom? How much is it? How many components are being manufactured > in > Kenya? > > We can for instance say that we will not accept into the country a > computer manufactured over 5 years ago, or 8 years, like motor > vehicles. Or that we will not accept computers below a certain > speed. > Clones have much more ewaste than used computers as they die > faster. > Yet new branded computers are way beyond the reach of the common > mwananchi. but again, this has never been about the common > mwananchi, > inasmuch as noone sees the need to find out what he thinks about > such > policy decisions. > > Regards, > Ikua > > > _______________________________________________ > kictanet mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet > > This message was sent to: [email protected] > Unsubscribe or change your options at >
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