[kictanet] Honouring the man who linked Kenya to world (was Update on Arrangements for Kisumu Reunion – December 21-23rd, 2010)

Sun Dec 12 12:04:38 EAT 2010

Madada Philo na Betty,

Ahsanteni for the pongezi's. It was re-freshening to know the CTO (Commonwealth 
Telecom Organization www.cto.int) domiciled in London, with current CEO being 
Ghana's former Minister for Communication (Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah) could remember 
some of Africa's Unsung Heroes. I am working on a book with that name to 
catalogue the evolution of Internet in Africa - perhaps we should look for 
royalties from FaceBook, Google, mPesa, YouTube, SEACOM, etc! But the efforts 
could not have borne fruit without the inputs of several other people, including 
the techies who alongside Randy Bush burnt mid-night oil (Dr Martin Koyabe - now 
with British Telecoms, Paul Olendo now @UN, Alfred Orimbo, etc) - for several 
nights - to get it all work on Kenya's/indeed Africa's then real terrible phone 
lines.

In the same vein, without Steve Goldstein of the US National Science Foundation 
(who provided the boxes and technology) and Peter Sutherland of UK's Overseas 
Development Agency (ODA now DfID) who took up the initial leased line phone 
bills - used to cost US$ 16,000 (yes, 16k) per month for just a mere 64KBps pipe 
- it wouldn't have happened.

When in 2000 CSK (Computer Society of Kenya) felt I deserved 'Father of Internet 
in Kenya' title, I dedicated the award to three people: Amb. Dr Benjamin 
Kipkorir (then Kenya's Ambassador in Washington), Micah Cheserem (then Governor, 
Central Bank), Brig. (Rtd) Wilson Boinnett (then DG, NSIS aka Special Branch). 
Without these guys' intervention, the KANU regime of the time wouldn't have 
allowed Internet to happen. Not that they didn't try to block it - the then Head 
of Public Service wrote a letter (I have a souvenir copy) to all PS's, Heads of 
Military, Special Branch, etc warning them not to connect to ARCC/Internet/UNEP 
without direct approval from his office. That partly explains why these three 
Kenyan Wazalendo's perhaps deserve these awards more than I.

Last but not least, Jeddy and the kids who allowed me to use one of the family 
bedrooms for initial tests when sections of the University felt by staying late 
in the labs night, we had 'lots of idle time and needed to be given more 
teaching load' had denied us space to do the experiments. But all the Glory must 
always go to God the Almighty, Allah - the One and Only!

For those who missed the story (courtesy Visioner Augustine Oduor), you can 
access it on: 
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/news/InsidePage.php?id=2000024440&cid=159&story=Honouring%20the%20man%20who%20linked%20Kenya%20to%20world.

Best rgrds,
Shem
2010 CTO/GoSS African Internaut (Internet Pioneer) Award Recipient

________________________________
From: Philo Ikonya <philonikonya at yahoo.com>
To: NVK-Mageuzi at yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sat, 11 December, 2010 18:51:39
Subject: Re: [NVK-Mageuzi] Update on Arrangements for Kisumu Reunion – December 
21-23rd, 2010

Adhiambo,

thanks very much for letting me know.. I did not know.. Congrats Shem. You did 
not say it even as I was telling you of my little works?\

Philo

 Aung San Suu Kyi cannot be silenced because she speaks the truth and because 
her words reflect basic Burmese and universal concepts - Vaclav Havel

--- On Fri, 12/10/10, Betty Otieno <betty.otieno at gmail.com> wrote:

>From: Betty Otieno <betty.otieno at gmail.com>
>Subject: Re: [NVK-Mageuzi] Update on Arrangements for Kisumu Reunion – December 
>21-23rd, 2010
>To: NVK-Mageuzi at yahoogroups.com
>Date: Friday, December 10, 2010, 11:01 PM
>
>
>  
>Congratulations Shem on the honor you received the other day, pioneer internet 
>related Kenya.
>
>Adhiambo
>
> 

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