[kictanet] Microsoft denies threatening to withdraw funding

[waudo siganga]

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" <rebeccawanji
ku at 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-t
hreatening-withdraw-funding

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