[kictanet] New DG

Wed Jul 23 22:58:15 EAT 2008

Joe,

I have heard this argument many times before from non-ICT professionals. Granted, there are exceptional cases where a non-sector-professional can manage well a sector; but such cases are very rare and far between. How come it is only in ICT where we feel anyone and everyone can be 'an expert'? How come Kenyatta Hospital - or any other major hospital for that matter - is more often than not headed by a medical doctor? How come the head of the Medical Registration Board is always(?) a Doctor? And that's a 'regulatory' function! That it happens in the US doesn't necessarily sanctify it. Besides, I wonder how often the FCC has been led by an economist - or 'any other person' for that matter. Or are we saying there are no competent informaticians who can manage well?

More than anything else, it is vital that criteria are spelt out, are clear and selections are transparently processed. Joe, the Kenyan professional ICT scene is fairly thin; almost everyone knows everyone. I don't know if it is true, but someone once told me that he heard one of the major Grand Opposition crusaders remark: 'if Chris Okemo was appointed Minister and I was left out, I would understand'. Yet that is politics, where rules take a back banner! How I wish we would say the same for all government appointments, including the CCK one! From the Kenyan ICT professionals I interact with, a lot of work will need to be done to restore confidence in the sector. That it is not said loudly enough does not mean things are fine.

Now, you try to take me back to the KPC matter: for the n'th time, I am the one who took the State to court. Would you care to imagine vested interests could have been reasons for my removal? Anyhow, once again let me elevate this discussion beyond personification. I know of several other competent and qualified informaticians who applied for the position. My point is, fairness can only be seen when one can say with a straight face: 'yes, there were these good candidates, but XYZ beat them in a, b, c, d". Btw, I was talking recently to a UoN Law Student. He reckoned he was tongue-tied when a new CEO of another state corporation was being introduced in the media. It started like "s/he was a class prefect  ...". Unless we take it that "whatever govt does must be right", then we are deceiving ourselves. Short of upholding professionalism and merit, we are done. If you asked me what Kenya needs most today, I would say 'inspirational leadership'. Without
 professionalism, merit, good governance aka integrity, transparency, confidence, etc, we cannot inspire or prosper; or rather we cannot prosper as fast we should.

Rgrds,
Shem

--- On Wed, 7/23/08, Joseph Manthi <jmanthi at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Joseph Manthi <jmanthi at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] New DG
To: shemochuodho at yahoo.com
Cc: "New Vision List" <newvisionkenya at yahoogroups.com>, "Robert Onyango-Alai" <alai.robert at gmail.com>, "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Date: Wednesday, July 23, 2008, 11:22 AM

Shem:
This is the one in which you must declare your interest. This sounds to me as a question of "rotten eggs". From where I am standing it sounds like you are bitter because you were never considered. But let me remind you that in the very short past you were senior official of a government parastatal. The minister in charge - or whoever - considered it a National Duty to fire you and proceed to prosecute you for mismanagement. The case - as you are likely to say - has not been settled.

It would really be a case of bad governance for anyone to consider you for a senior position when you "failed" in the last one the government trusted you with. The days of Kenyatta and Moi moving their people from one position to another - raping these parastatals as they go - are dying if not dead.

It is good to see that the Government has appointed someone with a clean - unless I am mistaken - record to this most important jobs. I personally do not care who you are as long as you can do your job. The Dir of CCK does not have to be an engineer he can be whoever he wants to be as long as he manages CCK as it should managed - to the benefit of the mwananchi. In the US, the FCC in most times has been headed by lawyers not by communication engineers. If he can manage the process of moving this industry forward, I say, more power to him.

JOe 

On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 9:14 AM, Shem Ochuodho <shemochuodho at yahoo.com> wrote:

Dougi,

Of course Google (and its variants!) has never been the only method to gauge qualification! Sadly, it is/they are the only measure we have these days, especially for ICT!

Brian, I have never known in any profession what you say to be a parameter for qualification or eligibility. Otherwise if it were, wouldn't people like Atieno Ochola (gender notwithstanding), Matano Ndaro, Michael Katundu, John Omo, and many more at CCK be as much deserving?

Lest am asked: 'declare your interest', let me do so. The other day I noticed an MP (who is either a present or past CCK director) contribute to a motion on CCK without 'declaring interest'; he was lucky to get away with it. I too applied for this job, not because I expected to be considered, but to find out if Kenya had changed; if we had moved on to a New Kenya where it didn't matter where [in Kenya] you came from, who you knew, whose son/daughter you had married, etc. We do not seem to have learnt from the events of the turn of the [last] year! Kenya appears to be sitting on a time bomb. Formation of the coalition does not seem to have detonated it.

I have previously contended that Kenyan informaticians are endangered. How right I am/was. The words 'mediocricity, political expediency, ethnic bigotry' keep ringing on my ears. So, it now appears we cannot find an eligible informatician to lead CCK and we have to get an economist! I wait for the day, for instance, when the IMF shall be headed by an informatician, or one James Rege shall be Finance Minister! Short of the ICT professionals organizing themselves and regaining their space, we have a long wait.

Best rgrds,
Shem

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