[kictanet] the budget and ICT

[Ngũgĩ Kĩmani]

Back in March 2010, the Kenyan government had announced a proposed ban on
second-hand computers, aimed at avoiding dumping and reducing electronic
waste in the country.

Well I've not heard that the ban is being enforced, or lifted, but I am a
buyer of second hand branded computers and I have established that they are
indeed more stable and reliable than "new" assembled klones.

I would advocate that the sale of second hand Dells and HPs and Compaqs etc
be allowed to continue, in fact be encouraged over assembly of klones,
because some of those computers have a minimum of 256 MB RAM + 2.something
processors and this is clearly adequate to run most open source
applications. What does a new user of computers need anyway - just OS
proficiency + word processing + spreadsheet. They can then move to faster
computers as their proficiency increases.

:)

--
Ngũgĩ Kĩmani
Fundi wa Mitambo


On 11 June 2010 11:58, Josiah Mugambi <jmugambi at gmail.com> wrote:

> It is safe I suppose to assume that not all targeted schools have a
> reliable (if any) source of electricity. Is there a plan for this?
>
>
> --
> Josiah Mugambi
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 11, 2010 at 11:35 AM, Vitalis Olunga <volunga at yahoo.com>wrote:
>
>> The plan (purchasing of) for computers for schools, if implemented, seems
>> more sustainable than the last year's budget for mobile ICT buses for
>> constituencies. What the constituency leaders should now work for is to
>> ensure the allocation of resources from the CDF to build computer labs in
>> schools where they may be lacking. Many emerging schools may still be
>> lacking computer labs and science labs as of now. One such school where I am
>> the chairman of BGO (Obambo, Siaya) is yet to have a computer lab in
>> place, and has no equipped science lab,  but is it one of the best in the
>> district (both in academic performance and sports).
>>  Regards
>>
>>
>> Vitalis
>>
>>  ------------------------------
>> *From:* "ikua at lpakenya.org" <ikua at lpakenya.org>
>> *To:* volunga at yahoo.com
>> *Cc:* KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>> *Sent:* Fri, June 11, 2010 9:20:18 AM
>> *Subject:* [kictanet] the budget and ICT
>>
>> Listers,
>> The Government will spend 1.3B to buy 300 computers in each of the 210
>> constituencies. That means that each of the 63,000 computers will cost the
>> taxpayer KSh 20,634/=. This is a very good initiative.
>>
>> Now, they say that these computers will be assembled by institutions. I
>> just hope this does not mean they will go for clones. They would do much
>> better with branded, refurbished computers. As far as I know, the minister
>> did not mention anything touching on used computers in the budget.
>>
>> Now then, at this price, there is absolutely no allowance for software
>> purchases. Which is all well as these computers can be loaded with open
>> source software that will give much more value to the investment anyway. So
>> we will be watching keenly to see what kind of deals Microsoft will try to
>> push at the government to include their software in these computers,
>> probably at a ¨small price¨.
>>
>> The open source community is available and willing to advise the
>> Government on the best way of ensuring that tax payer money is used
>> prudently for the benefit of this country.
>>
>> Ikua
>> LPA-Kenya
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> kictanet mailing list
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>>
>> This message was sent to: volunga at yahoo.com
>> Unsubscribe or change your options at
>> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/volunga%40yahoo.com
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> kictanet mailing list
>> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>>
>> This message was sent to: jmugambi at gmail.com
>> Unsubscribe or change your options at
>> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/jmugambi%40gmail.com
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
> This message was sent to: ngugi at mafundi.co.ke
> Unsubscribe or change your options at
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/ngugi%40mafundi.co.ke
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20100611/1384fa18/attachment.htm>