[kictanet] It's a new twist for Econet Wireless

[Alex Gakuru]

Noam Chomsky, "The Loneliness of Noam Chomsky" as
written by Arundhati Roy, The Hindu, August 24, 2003
http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/20030824.htm. 

Governments are the same all over the world, ours no
exception - BUT "Thinking Kenya" will continue haunt
them. 

So many strange things are going on today one cannot
help but wonder who will cure 3NS ("Nitatoka Na Nini
Syndrome") that infects our "leaders". If you recall, 
I referred to Chomsky's Neoliberalism tribulations at
http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/19990401.htm

Local architects have got the media right where they
wanted them - barricading themselves in fighting off
storming, "cross-media" break-ups, Media "Regulation".
Researchers dare not give "misleading" statistics to
the "fighting for survival" besides "properly owned"
media!

Lucy, you ask of me a very difficult thing-"go to war
without FOIA weapon" and I ask "Who will volunteer
this just instrument to the good, hard working
people?" Majority of these people hitherto struggled
"to make ends meet", now I am not sure if they are
clinging to the only end they've been holding on to.
Their assets are being seized through the back doors.
Turn to well paid KACA! NOP! I have my performance
contact with my little biashara I have no time to give
grounds for justification for the next pay rise of
their Boss.

"Who does Alex think he is?" influence peddlers ask on
the corridors of the-powers-that-be. "We just wait for
him to make one false move then fix him." they vow.

(Perhaps it's only because professionalism has
permeated many ranks otherwise, disappearing acts
would be the order of the day.)  

So you see Lucy, I have to think about your question a
little more before I respond. Right now, "Ask not what
your country can do for you. Do it yourself,"
http://members.aye.net/~hippie/hippie/special_.htm

1."Access to computers should be unlimited and total."
2 "All information should be free."
3."Mistrust authority - promote decentralization."
4."You can create art and beauty on a computer."
5."Computers can change your life for the better."

Thus meanwhile, I just sit back and use my computer
and this incredibly powerful, enabling Internet
technology! It's all I got ;-)

Regards,


Alex

--- Lucy Kimani <lkimani at comnews.co.ke> wrote:

> Mike,
> 
> One would hope that our hard-working team at the
> Ministry dont get mired
> in the Econet charade, and will do their homework to
> make sure that Kenyan
> Farmers dont get short-changed like the Nigerians,
> although they did learn
> their lesson and took corrective measures
> thereafter.
> 
> Alex, fancy taking up the role of the "people's
> watchdog" since the media
> has clearly been compromised on this one!  CNN has
> Anderson Cooper keeping
> the Government honest, so I hope you can step in!
> 
> LK
> 
> > One cannot envy the PS for he is in a difficult
> situation trying to
> > extricate the government from a situation which
> would never have occurred
> > had those responsible (long before the tender
> concluded) abided by the law
> > and struck out the litigant based on publicly and
> widely available
> > information during the pre-qualification stage of
> the tender. Even though
> > some might disagree, two wrongs do not make a
> right, and history no matter
> > how long it takes to get there will be the judge
> of this government's
> > actions. As was the case, while the Government was
> fighting the litigant
> > in
> > Kenyan courts, a different arm of the Government
> was bizarrely engaged in
> > a
> > PR campaign on behalf of the litigant in a foreign
> country! Was the
> > litigation in Kenya a mere public relations
> exercise to show Kenyans that
> > the government tried to do something so that
> Kenyans could mistakenly
> > conclude that atleast the government 'fought tooth
> and nail' ?
> >
> > The government cannot claim to know it did not
> know what kind of 'animal'
> > it
> > was dealing with when it allowed the litigant to
> get past
> > pre-qualification
> > while international telecom giants with more
> experience, cash and
> > expertise
> > in African countries were knocked out. A long time
> back in 2001, some of
> > Kenya's best and brightest technocrats
> investigating the litigant's
> > attempt
> > to purchase Telkom Kenya went on a due diligence
> expedition (something the
> > regulator should have undertaken). The delegation
> included: Mwaghazi
> > Mwachofi (Treasury PS), Francis Muthaura, Esther
> Koimet (Investment
> > Secretary), Augustine Cheserem (TKL), Dan Ameyo
> (AG Chambers), Mr Davis
> > Chirchir (TKL). This delegation compiled a report
> which should be made
> > available to the public and which explains in part
> the litigant's current
> > attempts to obtain the licence without paying in
> full for it (part of its
> > modus operandi). Per the Daily Nation, Business
> Week of November 27, 2001
> > some of Kenya's brightest minds found that:
> >
> > --------------------
> >        Although this, on the face of it, would
> appear to be a moot point,
> > the
> >        undercurrent would appear to be a suspicion
> that the South African
> > company's
> >        plan was to borrow funds from the financial
> market using Telkom
> > Kenya's existing
> >        balance sheet.
> >
> >        In the team's view, this was an inequitable
> arrangement, the
> > argument
> > being that
> >        the South Africans wanted to reap where
> they did not sow.
> >
> >        According to informed sources, the final
> conclusion of the report
> > was
> > even more
> >        controversial.
> >
> >        "These people have categorically stated in
> their report that the
> > government
> >        should not have pre-qualified the Mount
> Kenya Consortium in the
> > first
> > place," a
> >        key insider confided to BusinessWeek.
> > -----------------------
> >
> > If one walks into a bank and fraudulently obtains
> a Ksh 10 million loan,
> > they are liable to possible prosecution for the
> illegal procurement of the
> > loan through fraud, misrepresentation and false
> pretences. The bank can
> > recall the loan, and it can also seize the
> individual's collateral in
> > addition to pursuing civil and criminal actions
> against the individual.
> > The
> > cases against the government were cases to be won
> by the Government and
> > not
> > the litigant, vast information proving
> misrepresentation at the
> > pre-qualification stage, collaboration in planning
> the tender and
> > throughout
> > the course of the tender is in the public domain.
> All the Government
> > needed
> > to do is provide proof of these actions (of which
> there is plenty
> > including
> > through KACC investigations). Just one instance
> indicates that the tender
> > committee moved the technical evaluation date of
> the tender such that the
> > ITU (International Telecommunications Union)
> representative and observer,
> > Mr. Ricardo Passerini, who was to be an observer
> was not present to
> > observe
> > the process. Unlike Kenya, the Morocco tender
> which raised over $1bn+
> > fully
> > engaged the ITU in its tendering process and is
> held up as an example of
> > successful and transparent tender. Can the same be
> said of the Kenyan
> > tender?
> >
> > The second case against the Minister was also
> winnable. Parliamentary
> > privilege protected what he said. Secondly what he
> said was perfectly true
> > and provable in any court through thousands of
> documents and through
> > obtainable testimony by the litigant's own
> insiders and former employees.
> >
> > Perhaps the Attorney General's qualified opinion
> on these matters which
> > was
> > presumably obtained should be made public or
> discussed in parliament or
> > released by the PS for the air to be cleared once
> and for all so that
> > Kenyans can understand how these cases could have
> been lost in the face of
> > overwhelming evidence, certified financial audits
> of the litigants
> > demonstrating they did not meet the tender
> requirements amongst several
> > other defence mechanisms the government could have
> utilised and obtained
> > to
> > win its cases.
> >
> > Incase there is any lingering doubt about the
> existence of a modus
> > operandi
> > by the "seasoned and very experienced" litigant
> one only needs to look at
> > the similarities between the KNFC situation
> (abandoning agreements) and
> > the
> > Altech partnership situation:
> >
> > -------------------
> >           The CEO of Altech, Mr Craig Venter, says
> over the past three
> > months Altech has
> >           exhausted every avenue possible to find
> an amicable solution
> 
=== message truncated ===



       
____________________________________________________________________________________
Building a website is a piece of cake. Yahoo! Small Business gives you all the tools to get online.
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting