[kictanet] Election fiasco reveals Technological dinosaurs

Wed Jan 9 10:17:06 EAT 2008

Hi Kagwe,

Why is it that tribal issues are most violent outcome among poor?  I believe because they suffer from more than economic poverty but also associative poverty.  

When the Luo's call their shanty villages Kisumu Ndogo and the Kikuyu's Kwanjenga we refuse to create diversity of association and thus loose the opportunity for cultural wealth.  The creation of vernacular radio stations has not helped the issue either.  We have become worse had implementing ethnic segregation than God or the colonizers, the Boars cannot hold up a candle to us.  What this does is it makes it uncomfortable for me and my neighbour to listen to radio together because he is Luo and I am what I am.

With a literacy level of 60% why are we cowering into our tribal cocoons instead of becoming more cohesive.  I believe that Kiswahili and English programing should take up 80% of all radio station content otherwise we might as well have the parliamentarians take a vernacular proficiency test to be allowed to participate in elections and also have our national exams done in vernacular.

Who funds this radio channels that propagate ethnicity, its the Breweries, Safaricoms, Bidcos and Coca Colas as their only objective is a profit.  They then walk around flounting their CSR (or should it be CPR - corporate profit responsibility) programs, if they refused to support all this ethnic stations their CSR programs might be more effective. After supporting KASS FM and others they will now be running to Eldoret to give blankets to people who where, as of 27th December, self reliant before the radio station broadcast inflammatory contents soon after the commercial message.

The lawyers have got us to this impasse when they arm-twisted the Moi government to issue all with radio frequencies, similarly to what they did for Rwanda.  As history teaches us we never learn from it, we are moving full steam towards ethnic cleansing. 

Let us us make use of technology to broadcast information that will bring us together, lets run completions that test our knowledge of other ethnic groups.  Lets install computers in our rural schools and have the children send e-mails to each other across the country, not those misguided projects that get Kenyan children to communicate with kids in Europe & the US.  We have the technology that allows us to implement solutions that do not require parliamentary approval or a government license. Awake and stop this lip service on the issue of ethnicity we are all responsible for getting this country to where it is today.  Do we have what it takes to change course.

Yes, I do know the causes and like a typical Kenyan I know the solutions but only discuss them on forums instead of taking action.  Like a serial killer I am looking to be stopped, can someone push me to act on my theories?

Regards

Robert Yawe
KAY System Technologies Ltd
Phoenix House, 6th Floor
P O Box 55806 Nairobi, 00200
KEnya 
Tel: +254722511225

----- Original Message ----
From: James Kagwe <jkagwe at KIPPRA.OR.KE>
To: robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Sent: Tuesday, 8 January, 2008 3:09:19 PM
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Election fiasco reveals Technological dinosaurs

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Please let us know that the problem we are
having in the country now is more in the mind than anywhere else. Technology
could help but even with technology it is possible for people who have the same
tribal convictions that their tribal chief has to be the president to conspire
to inflate the polls and actually go ahead and mark the ballot papers in favor
of their candidate.

Tribalism is the main problem and this has
to be fought by all means. Most of the problems were experienced in the
strongholds of the main candidates and this confirms the greatest worry.

From:
kictanet-bounces+jkagwe=kippra.or.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+jkagwe=kippra.or.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Evelyn Rono

Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008
12:29 PM

To: James
 Kagwe

Cc: 'KICTAnet ICT Policy
Discussions'

Subject: Re: [kictanet] Election
fiasco reveals Technological dinosaurs

Hi Bobby,

Several ICT
companies and individuals approached the ECK with the intention of
 supporting and a managing the process with ICT.    I quote
“ ECK in 2004 was provided with IT
hardware & software and GIS electoral database created with each individual
polling station positions' mapped using GIS technology that integrated with the
electoral database through a unique ID for polling station.  The
constituency boundaries provided the domain universe within which each polling
station could be located for administrative purposes.  Training was also
conducted for ECK”.  The same company tried to do the same 2007

This did not happen – Only ECK knows.

Evelyn Rono

From:
kictanet-bounces+evelyn.rono=kdn.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+evelyn.rono=kdn.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of robert yawe

Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008
11:51 AM

To: evelyn.rono at kdn.co.ke

Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy
Discussions

Subject: [kictanet] Election
fiasco reveals Technological dinosaurs

Happy new year to you all and I pray that you are all well.

It is shocking that in this day and age we can actually have the kind of
electoral fiasco that has been visited on us by the ECK and Co as well as the
political parties.

This draconian problem reared its head when the Orange 
house was broken into and the computers stolen.  Hon.Nyongo's statement
indicated that the objective was to steal the member register.  If I
needed to steal the register which from his comments was in electronic form
what was the need of taking off with the computer.  Has he ever heard of
flash disks,  external hard dis drives and CD/DVD writers.  Technology
allows me to steal his data without him every knowing.

After this issue Kivuiti dismissed the SMS service that had been made available
by Telkom to enable voters confirm their details.  He even went to the
extent of saying he does not know how to send an SMS.  As the IT
fraternity in the country can we really escape blame for this fiasco?

The next time was when  I saw Hon. Ruto standing at KICC and screaming
himself hoarse over the forms 16 & 16A that had not been received.  It
seems he might be using a Nokia 1018 mobile phone (he actually uses a Nokia N
series).  

Was it so difficult for the opposition to provide each of their agents with a
camera equipped mobile phone that they would have used to to take pictures of
the form and also record the returning officer announcing the results. 
This would then have been easily sent to party head quarters.

There are 210 or so constituencies in the country and the mobile phones I am
talking about cost about 10,000/- each do the math. 

I ask am I the only Kenyan who is aware of such technology or is this entire
fiasco a stage managed process.  Even the EU observer teams came equipped
as if it was the 12th Century after which they proceeded to make unsupported
statements about the result that further inflamed bloodshed.

Maybe its a techie thing to keep in our glass houses and refuse to add value to
a process and only send around message (this one included) after the
fact.  

It is re-assuring when we remember the Florida 
fiasco but this not withstanding do we really have a moral standing to point
fingers about the election results?

What will be our contribution to stopping this from being repeated in future?

Regards

Remember Matiba and his video cameras during the good old days of mulolongo
voting?

Robert Yawe

KAY System Technologies Ltd

 Phoenix House,
6th Floor

 P O Box 55806
 Nairobi , 00200

 KEnya

Tel: +254722511225

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