Dear Listers,
Suspect it is going to take 15-20 years before Kenyan counties become like 60% effective in the utilization of funds.
When KES 150 Billion (15% of a KES 1 Trillion budget) is devolved to 47 counties, each county (factoring populations in each) will get at least KES 2.5B per annum.
In 5 years this is at least KES 12.5 Billion per county.
With 40% (of KES 2.5B = KES 1B) to be lost per annum lost through mismanagement and theft, we MUST legislate / create posts of County Chief Information Officers.
The CIO should head a committee of at least 5 people from different "constituencies" in each county to be accountable for the deployment of Information systems and services.
A technically literate person / committee responsible to to make sure basic (accounting and project management) reporting systems are in place in each county within 2-3 years.
Have looked at hundreds of pages of past US tenders / requirements in the past two weeks regarding Information and Collaboration systems and I am confident we are locally able to deploy the same standards / products. We just need to make sure we keep people who live in technical and ethical darkness out of County IT Committees.
In the US, 2007 ICT budgets range from 3% for Government up to 8% (in the finance and education sectors) per anuum
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sloan-school-of-management/15-571-generating-business-value-from-information-technology-spring-2009/lecture-notes/MIT15_571s09_lec21.pdf
A good gauge of the quality of an IT Manager/ Director is projects deployed well (enough to CONVENIENTLY provide required business intelligence or transparency) under their watch in the private of public sector.
This has more to do with work ethics + practical experience or knowledge / certification.. NOT the outdated academics that are over-emphasized in Kenya.
It seems to take a good IT Professional in Kenya, 2-3 years to convince ignorant Business Executives, Organizational Leaders and Public Officials to deploy basic Information Systems.
Which kind of companies were contracted under their watch? Were local skills developed and certified in their department / organization?
Typically an IT Manager / Director oppressed with very low budgets (or needing a cut in the budget), cannot deliver Quality Network, Computing and Information services.
What kind of CIO do you want in your County?
:)