[kictanet] Voiceless 'Knowledge Workers'

Sun Jun 15 18:06:07 EAT 2008

Shem,
We may share a few differences on perspective of development of ICT but in
all, I concur, A good master plan that is driven from that top, that has all
stakeholder participation from the beginning and a skilled team that is able
to drive it is a sure way to success.

Best 
Monica

On 15/6/08 5:58 PM, "Shem Ochuodho" <shemochuodho at yahoo.com> wrote:

> 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
> Œnurture, harness and utilize¹ 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.
> Ojwang¹ (now Justice Ojwang¹), Œmediocrity, political expediency, and ethnic
> bigotry¹ are among the main ills bedevilling Kenya. In Rwanda, to an unusually
> large extent, merit reigns  and I call that Œgood governance¹. 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 Œknow someone¹. 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 Œlow-volume¹ consumer like Rwanda benefiting from such a rate.
> ii)                   content is important, yes, and that¹s why I cited the
> example of Rwanda¹s home-grown ŒSmartGov¹ (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 Œcontent¹, but also e-applications. There is
> little point to have Œsuper-highways without vehicles to drive on them¹. And
> this is why a ŒMaster plan¹ is vital, because it assists to ensure that Œall
> bases are covered¹.  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 Œcards¹), settlement of electricity bills via
> sms-top-ups, on-line Visa application (hope that¹s how you dealt your visa 
> if you needed one), Rwanda Development Gateway¹s 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 Œaccess¹ to technology, but also
> Œtheir use¹. Last year, a further study was initiated under the SCAN-ICT
> program to go even beyond Œaccess and usage¹ to Œassessing the impact¹,
> because Œusage¹ 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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