[kictanet] Who is ICT Board? Hijacked

[alkags at alkags.com]

I have been following this conversation quietly for a while.  Very valid points being raised even though as it has been pointed out it is a re-discussion from a few years ago. That said, it is important to discuss it until we get it. 

I submit that the roles and mandates of the various government agencies in this industry are well known. To see how they inter-relate we would merely have to read them side by side and it would be clear. I am willing to bet that one of the learned people here could draw a flow chart easily to show this. 

I agree that, that being the case, a lot of work needs to be done to build all the agencies' capacity to implement their mandates in the best way and a government CIO or vision holder could be a good idea. I do think that bitange ndemo is doing a good enough job of this as it is - despite the inter-ministerial limitations that he has to operate with (protocol, etc). 

Also the public engagement by some of the other agencies should be improved e.g. The NCS, so that what they do and how becomes more visible. The ICT board warrants so much review (rightly so) because of its outward role. The more cerebral agencies could be more 'with us'. 

But. 

I'd like to add something to this re-discussion that I wonder about. It seems to me that one of the things that need to be improved by us in the private sector and civil society is how we engage with government. Especially, I submit, the "thinkers", "pundits", "intellectuals" - here being researchers, scholars, consultants etc. 

I think there is space for the engagement with government to be more systematic, more structured and most importantly, more proactive. Currently (and I seek correction here) our engagement with government is fragmented and uncoordinated and therefore asks more questions than it answers. I find further that our discussions then remain in the armchair analysis phase and little systematic research and analysis is presented to stengthen government ways of business. 

Here is a clear indicator of this: in this re-discussion (as in previous ones) there have been calls for a platform that would coordinate thoughts and positions for government engagement. This, while KICTANET, computer Society of Kenya, ICT association of Kenya (which I saw today) etc., have low memberships, little interaction, and little delivery - well, with the exception of KICTANET which requires little physical exercise to participate in. 

It seems that the only time that we actually do contribute our time and knowledge is when we are asked or invited to by government - sometimes for allowances. I remember during my time in government the many conversations I had with pundits from the industry including some of the more vocal ones here, where they would consistently angle for a way to get allowances. In fact some even vociferously criticized the work done just so government could set up a committee or task force for them. I'm sure both Paul and the PS still get harrassed to date. 

But this isn't my point. My point is that we as civil society need to borrow a leaf from the larger private sector players, the multinationals, who organised monthly breakfasts to quietly understand government and offer knowledge in a systematic fashion that is then used to build on initiatives in a coordinated way. The MNC forum found competitors leave their competition outside and come together in that room. It is that initiative that gave rise to the Connected Government initiative that saw both various ministries come together and try to lower the silo walls but also create coordinated initiatives through private sector consortium building. 

Similar initiatives should be held by us in the civil society and smaller ICT businesses. Shouldn't we?

Al Kags
Head of Marketing and Partnerships, KCDF;
Chairman, MCLABS;
Founder, Al Kags Trust 
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Zain Kenya

-----Original Message-----
From: Kamotho Njenga <kamothonjenga at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 06:27:29 
To: <alkags at alkags.com>
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Who is ICT Board? Hijacked

_______________________________________________
kictanet mailing list
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet

This message was sent to: alkags at alkags.com
Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/alkags%40alkags.com