[kictanet] Foreign Software Houses of Babel..in kenya.

[Barrack Otieno]

This is where i would agree with Dr Siganga that we are in dire need of an
Authority that can be taken to task when such Systems fail so that Proper
due diligence can be conducted before engaging in projects of this
magnitude, we have a habit of doing things Hapharzadly just because they are
being financed by tax payers, systems have never had problems it is always
the human component that messes things up. A commission of enquiry might not
help we have had so many reports and they are gathering dust somewhere, we
need an Institutional mechanism to take care of such issues in the longterm.
One other thing, dont we have the capacity to develop such applications
locally? am perplexed at how 70% of our economy is driven by the Informal
Sector yet we are so quick to give billions to foreign investors for what we
can do here. THAT IS INTELLECTUAL THUGGERY! and it has to be stopped. Sorry
Mr Moderator for using foul language but i dont know how best to put it.
Thank you

On Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 8:39 AM, Sylvester Kisonzo <skisonzo at securenet.co.ke
> wrote:

>  In addition to these, the idea should not just be trying to help with the
> integration. Integration and compatibility issues ought to have been dealt
> with long before an informed decision to procure the product  was made. Why
> should they be identifying problems after procuring – didn't they have
> sufficient time to evaluate/test? Were they not happy enough that they were
> obtaining the product that best fitted their requirements?
>
>
>
> I can understand the predicament the suppliers might be caught in. I do not
> expect a supplier to spend their time making their system work with another,
> a job which may not have been costed initially.
>
>
>
> True, we need to understand the real issues. I am almost certain that
> procedures were not followed. There are some very competent IT guys in KPA,
> and most likely they never had the chance.
>
>
>
> So to the PS (and KPA), help is knocking.... not just to integrate the
> systems at KPA but to establish (if they don't exist) or reinforce
> mechanisms for successful government project implementations.
>
>
>
> *From:* kictanet-bounces+skisonzo=gmail.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke [mailto:
> kictanet-bounces+skisonzo <kictanet-bounces%2Bskisonzo>=gmail.com@
> lists.kictanet.or.ke] *On Behalf Of *Brian Munyao Longwe
> *Sent:* 25 August 2008 22:21
> *To:* skisonzo at gmail.com
> *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Foreign Software Houses of Babel..in kenya.
>
>
>
> Actually Bill I think that this is just a clear and perfect example (or
> expression) of the dire need for standards in Govt implementation of ICT
> projects as well as coordination across departments.
>
>
>
> Since both of us are techies - we know that integration between system no
> matter the origin or the language/database/message formats is simply a
> matter of a deliberate integration process. Clearly that is missing in this
> picture - and rather than deal with the real problem, the actors have
> resorted to finger pointing/blame game and all the other forms of unhelpful
> and time-wasting bureacracy that plague large institutions like governments
> (as well as many corporates). I can assure that if there was commitment to
> process and deliverables from the top down to the bottom, these issues could
> have/would have been sorted ages ago.
>
>
>
> Our "Waafrika" problem is that when faced with challenges we'd rather tear
> each other down than face the problems head on and (together) tear them
> down.
>
>
>
> Brian
>
>
>
>
>
> On Aug 25, 2008, at 10:04 PM, Bill Kagai wrote:
>
>
>
>
> I am watching news in awe where they are reporting that Kenya Ports
> Authority has deployed a Korean piece of software (Kwatos) to ease
> turn-around at the Port but now its not working well with the Kenya Revenue
> Authority software from Chile (Simba). Ofcourse both cost billions.
>
> As the spanish-speaking chileans 'haga el informe con los otros
> extranjeros' with the Koreans to '소프트웨어를 저희를 위해 일한' , sisi wakenya
> tunangoja kusaidiwa. Mwafrika anajimaliza mwenyewe...as Baba Gideon would
> say. <http://uk.babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_txt>
>
> The result according to one Mureithi of Kenya Shipping Associations is that
> port has now become a 'store' rather than a 'door' taking ages (14 days
> instead of 3 days) to clear goods because of the software conflict. Here be
> dragons...is this a kictanet sized problem...or do we just watch and comment
> later in another study on this discussion forum????
>
> Time for an ICT Commission of Inquiry ???
>
> Bill Kagai
>
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-- 
Barrack O. Otieno
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