[kictanet] Bitange for President? DrivingKnowledgeEconomy?OnlineInterviewwith PS Ndemo

Sat Aug 6 23:18:15 EAT 2011

Bwana Ps,

First and foremost our condolences, for the loss....

Secondly, I'd really wish to commend the moderator who set this thread off.
For once we have a lively healthy debate,
modelled alongside the live presidential hopeful debates often times held
elsewhere in more mature democracies.This
is the way to go and it heralds exciting times ahead. I suppose this forum
is so well poised to play a leading role in the 
National discourse aimed at building a better Kenya. So let's keep this up,
and perhaps rope in the other "contenders".

But 3rdly, this "Sumptuous" debate is also turning out to be highly
educative and hugely informational for most of our silent 
listeners on the list, who are furiously "taking notes". Dr.Ndemo,many of us
are just realizing to our utter amazement how 
much level of knowledge you possess and are willing to share, and your
amount of energy is so infectious, that somehow I 
in my opinion feel we need not limit you to this forum,but find ways in
which we can have you engage an even wider and 
more larger audience out here especially those from the generation Y
segment. Listers any ideas...?  Would Townhall style 
lectures suffice...? Just thinking..

I couldn't help noticing an earlier debate touching on infrastructure and
feeding our nation, and in the same vein I have also
taken a hard look at the events taking place across our country right
now,and the greater horn of Africa,and it would be an 
understatement when I say it's really infuriating to say the least. It
defeats any imagination why after independence, 51 yrs 
down the line we are not self sufficient in food production, with several
corners of the nation marginalized such that even 
humanitarian aid donated by other well meaning Kenyans can not reach those
who need it most because there is no 
infrastructure such as roads and communication to even talk about in the
first place... It's maddening..

How do you plan to balance infrastructural development across the land, to
avoid over-concentration in specific zones at
the expense of the rest...?

At the same time, what kind/quality of advisers would you be looking for to
help you shape policy/decision making. 
A presidency or leadership is just as good or bad as the quality of the
courtiers that gather around.

Harry

  _____  

From: kictanet-bounces+harry=comtelsys.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+harry=comtelsys.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On
Behalf Of bitange at jambo.co.ke
Sent: Saturday, August 06, 2011 9:01 PM
To: harry at comtelsys.co.ke
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Bitange for President?
DrivingKnowledgeEconomy?OnlineInterviewwith PS Ndemo

Aki,
We are meeting Konza Technology City possible underwriters (local Banks) on
Monday morning 7am at Serena. Please come. Many of the quesions you ask will
be answered then you can make a summary for the listers.

Regards

Ndemo.

Sent from my BlackBerryR

  _____  

From: aki <aki275 at gmail.com> 
Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2011 19:45:44 +0300
To: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Cc: <bitange at jambo.co.ke>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Bitange for President? Driving
KnowledgeEconomy?OnlineInterview with PS Ndemo

Dr Ndemo,

While we look forward to a comprehensive response on the High Tech Sector/
Malili as soon as you have some time, I believe that you mentioned that
completion is about 3 years away. That seems is not a lot of time to get e.g
at least 50 companies who have significant turnovers coming close to about
Kshs 500 million with a % on exports. I think there may be a need for a
review. I already read that IBM super-team is in the country and done some
indepth research and assessment into e-Govt, it maybe a good time to ask
them to re-access the current trends. Mobile, Web and Social technologiy
development platforms trends may only produce slim domestic interest with
extremely small turnovers and virtually impossible that either can later
contribute to significant economic growth. 

There could an alternative which would be to look at Comesa/Igad or other
markets within our region, create Govt/Private ICT or other sector
development action groups to be based at Malili which would also provide
Venture Capitalists/Investors an avenue for serious interests. I've had a
look at very basic Comesa data, seems Agricultural engineering would do well
here. I think JUKAT has the foundations of producing such engineers.
However, there is not enough data to full research what Agricultural
Engineering and ICT development can do. 

Also the topic of electricity generation has raised a manufacturing
interest. Is any Kenyan company manufacturing the High Voltage Lines
insulators ( ceramic/glass based in many cases ) or are we importing these?
Each High/Low Power line on every mounted pole needs these isolators.
http://knol.google.com/k/overhead-line-insulators

Thank you.

Rgds.

On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 10:54 AM, aki <aki275 at gmail.com> wrote:

Thank you Dr Ndemo, and will await to read the comprehensive response. :-)

On Fri, Aug 5, 2011 at 9:45 AM, <bitange at jambo.co.ke> wrote:

Aki,
Whereas by chance one of the aaplications developed here may become a global
brand, we do not want to leave to chance. That is why we are developing
centers of excellency, standards and incubators to make sure we part of
global standards. There is much learning that we must go through. The reason
we should seek to collaborate while guarding our inventions.

As I write, we are working on a digital economy policy. We shall come up
with a specific legislation in this emerging sector. Create special
incentives that would propel it to greater levels.

We also must deal with Universities inorder to create the triple helix that
has worked in many parts of the world. Strathmore is leading in the right
direction. We want to fully their patnership with Sumsang and Safaricom.
Through such arrangement we create capacities that lead to new other
enterprises.

This is an area I have the greatest interest and would want to explore. I am
using the annoying Blackberry so please allow me to respond more
comprehensively when I get to a real keyboard. 

Ndemo.

Sent from my BlackBerryR

  _____  

From: aki <aki275 at gmail.com> 
Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2011 09:13:11 +0300
To: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
Cc: <bitange at jambo.co.ke>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Bitange for President? Driving Knowledge
Economy?OnlineInterview with PS Ndemo

Dr Ndemo, 

I have a final question on regarding the creation of the High Tech Sector in
preparation for Malili. While cheaper rent or infrastructure facilities
maybe an additional advantage, I think we are still to find a way to push
private sector and govt incentives/policies on creating the High Tech
Sector. I believe we are no where at the moment, neither the mobile or web
development sectors even come close to becoming the next billion shilling
industry sectors. These two sectors are in a transition mode where the
demand is for more localised settings.

What will the govt do to ensure that kenyan companies start looking at
holding patents and developing the needs of external markets based on
technology trends. I think the last thing we would want to see is a scenario
where kenyans in ICT become more of daily wage labourers on contract basis.
While this may seem an ideal employment creation scenario, the results will
be negative in the long term. 

What steps and incentives will create the High Tech Sector companies and
will opening up the development of critical govt sectors offer an incentive
to create broad based technologies?

Thank you.

Rgds. 

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