Back in March 2010, the Kenyan government had announced a proposed ban on second-hand computers, aimed at avoiding dumping and reducing electronic waste in the country. Well I've not heard that the ban is being enforced, or lifted, but I am a buyer of second hand branded computers and I have established that they are indeed more stable and reliable than "new" assembled klones. I would advocate that the sale of second hand Dells and HPs and Compaqs etc be allowed to continue, in fact be encouraged over assembly of klones, because some of those computers have a minimum of 256 MB RAM + 2.something processors and this is clearly adequate to run most open source applications. What does a new user of computers need anyway - just OS proficiency + word processing + spreadsheet. They can then move to faster computers as their proficiency increases. :) -- Ngũgĩ Kĩmani Fundi wa Mitambo On 11 June 2010 11:58, Josiah Mugambi <[email protected]> wrote:
It is safe I suppose to assume that not all targeted schools have a reliable (if any) source of electricity. Is there a plan for this?
-- Josiah Mugambi
On Fri, Jun 11, 2010 at 11:35 AM, Vitalis Olunga <[email protected]>wrote:
The plan (purchasing of) for computers for schools, if implemented, seems more sustainable than the last year's budget for mobile ICT buses for constituencies. What the constituency leaders should now work for is to ensure the allocation of resources from the CDF to build computer labs in schools where they may be lacking. Many emerging schools may still be lacking computer labs and science labs as of now. One such school where I am the chairman of BGO (Obambo, Siaya) is yet to have a computer lab in place, and has no equipped science lab, but is it one of the best in the district (both in academic performance and sports). Regards
Vitalis
------------------------------ *From:* "[email protected]" <[email protected]> *To:* [email protected] *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <[email protected]> *Sent:* Fri, June 11, 2010 9:20:18 AM *Subject:* [kictanet] the budget and ICT
Listers, The Government will spend 1.3B to buy 300 computers in each of the 210 constituencies. That means that each of the 63,000 computers will cost the taxpayer KSh 20,634/=. This is a very good initiative.
Now, they say that these computers will be assembled by institutions. I just hope this does not mean they will go for clones. They would do much better with branded, refurbished computers. As far as I know, the minister did not mention anything touching on used computers in the budget.
Now then, at this price, there is absolutely no allowance for software purchases. Which is all well as these computers can be loaded with open source software that will give much more value to the investment anyway. So we will be watching keenly to see what kind of deals Microsoft will try to push at the government to include their software in these computers, probably at a ¨small price¨.
The open source community is available and willing to advise the Government on the best way of ensuring that tax payer money is used prudently for the benefit of this country.
Ikua LPA-Kenya
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