[kictanet] Voiceless 'Knowledge Workers'

Sun Jun 15 17:58:19 EAT 2008

Hi Monica,

Your contribution and opportunity to work for RURA are clear testimonies to at least two hypotheses I have advanced before-

i)                    that Kenya is uniquely full of talent – both at home and abroad – that requires a human capacity development and utilization plan/strategy to ‘nurture, harness and utilize’ for its competitive edge;
ii)                   that for Rwanda, you do not need to know or please anyone to reach where you are (unless your case was different!). As I recall some of the words of Prof. Ojwang’ (now Justice Ojwang’), ‘mediocrity, political expediency, and ethnic bigotry’ are among the main ills bedevilling Kenya. In Rwanda, to an unusually large extent, merit reigns – and I call that ‘good governance’. I have had the privilege to tell many a Kenyan entrepreneur that in Rwanda, to participate successfully in a tender, you do not have to ‘know someone’. I am not sure to what extent the same can be said about Kenya.

You also raise two important points:

i)                    when the initial Karisimbi/Intelsat negotiations started (end of 2006), the figure initially floated was US$ 1,600 per Meg, and discussions were on-going to get them down further to US$ 1,300 within about 6 months time – by which time I was moving back to Kenya, so I cannot be authoritative about what figure ultimately prevailed. Whatever the case, even at US$ 2,300, that is still an extremely good deal. I do not know of any other ‘low-volume’ consumer like Rwanda benefiting from such a rate.
ii)                   content is important, yes, and that’s why I cited the example of Rwanda’s home-grown ‘SmartGov’ (the engine for IFMIS). As a Grand Jury Member of the World Summit Awards (WSIS/WSA), I could not agree more. E-Content not only includes ‘content’, but also e-applications. There is little point to have ‘super-highways without vehicles to drive on them’. And this is why a ‘Master plan’ is vital, because it assists to ensure that ‘all bases are covered’.

And yes, Kenya has done a few innovative/useful things in the e-content arena (e.g. Mpesa, KACE/e-agriculture, active chat lists, vernacular radio stations, etc), but so has Rwanda. For the latter, apart from SmartGov, other outstanding examples include: cash-power (whereby electricity bills are settled with pre-paid ‘cards’), settlement of electricity bills via sms-top-ups, on-line Visa application (hope that’s how you dealt your visa – if you needed one), Rwanda Development Gateway’s rich info resource, TRACNet – for national management of HIV/AIDS drug system, etc. And yes, it is one thing to have technology, and another to use it. Between 2003-05, I recall Rwanda undertook two studies to look at not only ‘access’ to technology, but also ‘their use’. Last year, a further study was initiated under the SCAN-ICT program to go even beyond ‘access and usage’ to ‘assessing the impact’, because ‘usage’ alone too is not enough.

In a nutshell, we can fault Rwanda on some things, but I find it hard to fault them on ICT.

Best rgrds,
Shem

--- On Fri, 6/13/08, Monica Kerretts-Makau <mkmakau at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

From: Monica Kerretts-Makau <mkmakau at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Voiceless 'Knowledge Workers'
To: shemochuodho at yahoo.com
Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Date: Friday, June 13, 2008, 8:30 AM

Following on this interesting discourse,

Rightly said Shem, Rwanda has done a lot on ICT however caught between chicken and Egg on the content vs Access. A travel around the country early this year reveals fantastic connection of ICT in all districts and sectors, nonetheless there are few government institutions using knowledge based systems so email remains the main means of communication of data from one government office to the next and even this is still through international connection (yahoo and all) as most have not been educated on using local IXP though this is changing. On the Kenyan front, I commend the KENIX team for what they are doing and indeed Shem your role in that process on its initial set up.

In addition, Language is still its biggest barrier with more than 80% of the population not able to speak English or French. Slowly however, things are changing, the entire customs offices are on a database that can remotely be accessed  So what is excellent  is that Access is getting there but content is still an issue and with all the talk on ICT, my observations are that this is yet to  to filter down to institutional level with much of the political rhetoric still in place.

So this is a learning process both for Rwanda and as well Kenya. When thinking of all the ICT projects, Lets all think content, process and task rather than just technology and maybe if we can do both at the same time then we will really get somewhere.

The existing fibre is hardly utilized and yet to be but that is because prices are still high on it and its owned by the private sector. Nonetheless Intelsat charges are USD 2300 per I mbps currently , we are hoping to negotiate this down and was in discussions with them this morning incidentally. 
Personally, I think this is where much focus in Africa should be, if we can get our international bandwidth charges lowered this will filter down to affordability within households at good speeds, which then translates to more use of ICTs etc. I hope the TEAMS projects and other will ensure that prices are truly affordable for the majority and not do as was in some countries where the fibre owners still kept it high.

Allow me one comparison however, as you rightly say Rwanda is CLEAN way down to every house (including lower income households) and Much SAFER !!!!! And its way right down to every little village etc.
Every day that I walk down the street I ask myself when we will get here: my answer when we stop talking and just begin to act one day at a time.

I think we should give Credit to Kenya for coming this far, but we all agree – we can, and should be much further with right focused policies and implementation procesess. When we can all be doing work from every village in our rural areas without relying on being physically in Nairobi, then we can pat ourselves on the back...and maybe, yes,  we should blow our trumpet .. Even in the little things! While not loosing sight of our focus.

Cheers,
Monica

Dr. Monica Kerretts-Makau
Advisor, Universal Access and Partnership Projects
Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA)
+250 03163245 Kigali, Rwanda
(The contents herein reflect my personal opinions on this issue)

On 13/6/08 2:11 PM, "Shem Ochuodho" <shemochuodho at yahoo.com> wrote:

Victor,  I wouldn't have responded to this, save for the record. I am not sure which Rwandan 5-star hotel you are talking about (as they are not many), but whatever the case, you and I seem to be talking about 2 different Rwanda's. And btw, 300km of fiber for Rwanda is not the same thing as 300km for Kenya, not that Kenya's laid and functional national fiber is significantly much higher!  Even with the fact that it would be unfair to compare Rwanda's ICT status with Kenya's (given the countries' histories, sizes, populations, and economies), one cannot deny the fact that Rwanda is a miracle story, largely due to leadership and vision. And it is not only limited to ICT: look at governance, gender, security (Kigali is one of the safest of the 40+ African cities am familiar with), cleanliness/environment, good roads, etc. This is not to say Rwanda does not have its flip side; of course it does, e.g. democracy and private sector are still nascent,
 limited human resource base, etc.  Back to ICT: neither you nor I would be the best judge on whether Rwanda or Kenya is doing better in ICT. But last year's UNCTAD's Global ICT Diffusion Index put Rwanda at per with (if not ahead of) Kenya. If we are talking implementation, sample this:-  1. Rwanda was the 1st Sub-Saharan Africa's country to link its two largest cities by fiber 2. Rwanda's Cabinet sessions are e-ready (a good number of ministers prepare their own power point presentations) 3. Rwanda is the only country I know of where within 24 hrs of a Cabinet meeting, decisions are available on the web (Official Govt website - talk of transparency!) 4. Rwanda's e-Parliament is being used by NEPAD as a model for Africa - Internet-ready/WiFi/WiBro at every point of 'Parliament's' precinct (both Senate and Chamber of Deputies) 5. Rwanda was the first African country where e-Schools was simultaneously launched in all the 6 urban-rural schools
 with live webcast 6. Nearly 80% Govt offices in Kigali have fiber-to-office 7. About 10 local/district headquarter sites already have functional video-conferencing facilities connected to Kigali 8. Rwanda was first Sub-Saharan Africa to establish an ICT/TechnoPark (already with over a dozen active clients/innovators/companies) 9. Rwanda is the only African country I know of whose IFMIS (Treasury/Ministry of Finance System) is anchored on a locally developed software, by a Rwandan company (talk of supporting local private sector) 10. Telemedicine Network: several major hospitals are already connected 11. With Rwanda's Karisimbi 'Earth Satellite Station' linked to a Transponder in Stockholm, in October 2006 Rwanda was able to negotiate with Intelsat bandwidth rates down from US$ 4,500 per Mbps a month (which is what everybody pays - some countries pay as high as $6,000) to $1,300. COMESA/ADB have now adopted the facility for use for regional air-traffic
 control and surveillance. 12. On the e-legislation front, Rwanda was one of the first Africa's countries to evolve an IPR Law, and its e-Transactions Law (like ours) is under consideration.  .... I could go on and on with the list. If these don't constitute 'achievements', then I don't know what does. Btw, several African countries I know of are borrowing one leaf or the other from the Rwandan 'humble' experience (including its plans).  But then again, is it fair for Kenya to compare with Rwanda? Shouldn't we have done much better than we have? I recall a saying that 'one thing's their mother is the best cook in the world until you taste another woman's dish'. Of course am not saying we have done nothing/little; my contention is that there are strategic things we could and should do to make an even greater leap.  Best rgrds, Shem

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