Walu, the flaw in your question is establishing the validity of ICT Constituency based on the "no show" of the politicians. Politicians are known for "no shows"as a face saving mechanism so i would rather that we deal with the "no show" tool which is what others are suggestion than revisit this settled debate on legitimacy and validity. Please, lets stick to the principle of people honouring their word when the give it. If they cannot for whatever reason, there are acceptable norms of disengaging. Eric here On 18 May 2007, at 11:28, John Walubengo wrote:
Dear Listers,
Now that I missed the great debate that almost was, I have had time to think 'brutal' by daring to ask the question-Does the ICT constituency matter?
From a political point of view - narrow as it maybe - the ICT constituency may not matter. 2 million urban, middle-class internet (ICT?)users, stuck between the two cities of Nairobi & Mombasa may not be worthy of national political consideration...
So if I was a presidential candidate in .KE, you will forgive me if I concentrated on issues that the common man can identify with...land, tribalism, corruption, insecurity....unless ofcourse u get a way to give the above an ICT twist...
walu. --- Brian Longwe <brian@isisweb.nl> wrote:
I would like to strongly echo the sentiments of Lucy as well as to add my own fury to the fire.
I was extremely upset that not only did *NONE* of the presidential aspirants show up - but some of them even went as far as responding to phone calls by saying "I am on the way, will be there in 20 minutes"...... then never turning up..... can you imagine that? Treating the Kenyan ICT community like a spurned girlfriend or boyfriend?
Anyway I think that the message that has been sent by the absence of every single one of the aspiring presidents was very LOUD and CLEAR -
" We don't care about ICT - it doesn't factor in our vision - it is unimportant to us"
As very precisely put by someone I overheard at the meeting - "these aspiring presidents probably don't even know how to spell ICT"
We must make a loud and strong statement about his and ensure that the wider Kenyan community realises the true colours of their "wannabe" presidents.
Brian
On May 17, 2007, at 12:26 PM, John Walubengo wrote:
LK,
u sound a bit disappointed. Unfortunately i didnt attend the function and would like to know who really turned up from the presidential aspirants and what they said...
Michuki, any hope for the text transcript? Or Becky could give us a brief the old way in form of minutes/updates/etc? Then from there the absentees like me could contribute more intelligently on the way forward...
walu.
--- Lucy Kimani <lkimani@comnews.co.ke> wrote:
All,
I am just venting on the dismal performance of our aspiring presidential candidates, I have noticed a trend where those in leadershipship positions let alone those aspiring for the same confirm their attendance to a certain function and then not show up or best case scenario show up 2-3 hours late. I keep asking myself why do we as Kenyans accept this behavior, and I am at a loss!
Actually, my pesa nane is that we as the citizens need to start demanding accountability in that when one says they will attend a function then they should keep to their word, after all why are electing people whose word doesnt count for much? Additionally, most of us also have busy work lives and the fact that we were willing to stop what we were doing to sit down to hear what these aspiring candidates have to say about ICT is a testament to how important we feel ICT to be to the country.
I am one for making strong statements, and a one page ad expressing our displeasure and questioning why the candidates are scared of facing a serious group of citizens wanting to know where each of them stands in ICT would be in order! I am sure if it was one of those meetings where fans are shouting at the top of their voices, and no one is asking any serious questions they probably would show up, we need to start demanding more from our politicians!
Just my thoughts!
LK
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Eric M.K Osiakwan Executive Secretary AfrISPA (www.afrispa.org) Tel: + 233.21.258800 ext 2031 Fax: + 233.21.258811 Cell: + 233.244.386792 Handle: eosiakwan Snail Mail: Pmb 208, Accra-North Office: BusyInternet - 42 Ring Road Central, Accra-North Blog: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/eric/ Slang: "Tomorrow Now"