Dear PS:
It is a little discouraging to hear you say that the issues discussed in this topic are 'kuchongoana tu'. We look up to you, and others in Government and also in the private sector who are so passionate about the use of ICTs and the Internet to create opportunities for all, in Kenya, and see that ICT remains a reliable vehicle for economic growth and development. So, please don't stop listening to us, patiently and we beseech you to continue in your wisdom in dealing with these matters.
This topic, 'Who is ICT Board?' as well as that of 'eGovernment is it a myth or reality?' have raised important questions that should be addressed with 'a big heart' and an open mind. As you have noted, a town hall meeting is good and always welcome. However, moving forward, it needs to be clear how ICT Board interacts with Government and how it promotes the existence of an Institutional Framework for ICT management in Government. Clearly, the ICT Board manages of a huge chunk of donor funds for ICT growth in Kenya, eGovernment and the likes (through the KTCIP), but still the Government lags behind in their ICT technical know-how and skills.
While one of their mandate (the ICT Board) is Capacity Building (Providing GoK and other stakeholders with skills, capacity and funding for anchor implementation of ICT projects for development) over time we have only seen laxity in the management of ICT by Government i.e. poor websites, unsatisfactory performance of legacy systems, inconsistent DNS & IP address management, meagre IT Security (web, network, etc), little or no R&D and M&E of ICT & eGovt, etc. But may be it is not deliberate laxity, it is that the Government Officers who manage IT issues in Government are not continuously trained in all pertinent areas to raise experts and skillful personnel.
I hope this is an area ICT Board can address, when they say that part of their mandate is Capacity Building, otherwise we have Government Officers who cannot do much to use broadband properly and strategically as well as make eGovernment a reality. The cabilities of these Officers should be close to, if not better than those in the private sector. And when GoK finally has real experts and engineers in ICT, a retention strategy MUST be adopted to keep them and recompense them accordingly. This is the future of Government IT, 'people who are knowledgeable and focused on a bright future'.
LILIAN
--- On Sun, 4/4/10, bitange@jambo.co.ke <bitange@jambo.co.ke> wrote:
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