Actually the Government never voted and was never called upon to vote on this issue. The Government only facilitated the stakeholder committee at KEBS and national voting was done by members of that committee. The overall issue however reiterates what I see as a persistent problem regarding ICT and Government: ICT is wide and diverse, as well as being horizontal to the Government structure. This sometimes leads to matters that are considered "ICT" not revolving around a central spoke in the Governemnt structure. So for example KEBS (and by extension issues of ICT standards) falls under the Ministry of trade. In the committee that handled OOXML there was no representative from the Ministry of Info and Comm., which was a mistake because the Government was a Stakeholder. All this ultimately suggests the necessity for the establishment of an oversight statutory ICT Authority as is being proposed by KEPSA to the ongoing Government harmonization Committee.
Waudo
On Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:14:43 -0700 (PDT), "Rebecca Wanjiku" <rebeccawanjiku@yahoo.com> said:
Microsoft denies threatening to withdraw funding
Microsoft East Africa has dismissed allegations that it threatened to withdraw funding to Kenya if the government did not vote "yes" on OOXML.Louis Otieno, Microsoft general manager in East and Southern Africa denied the allegations, saying that Microsoft EA acted appropriately."We've acted appropriately in all instances. And we are grateful that the National Body members engaged in this process collaboratively and constructively," Otieno said.http://computerworld.co.ke/articles/2008/04/21/microsoft-denies-threatening-withdraw-funding
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