[kictanet] Bitange for President? Extended due to Public Demand-internet price?

[meshack emakunat]

On Sat Aug 13th, 2011 2:05 PM PDT bitange at jambo.co.ke wrote:

>Walubengo,
>Watching news this evening you begin to see that even our media has never
>quite understood the role of government.
>
>I see Media castigating government for not having capacity to distribute
>relief food.  This I call preposterous because government has never been
>good in distributing anything.  The role of government has been and should
>always be facilitating through provision of infrastructure, security,
>legal and regulatory framework.  The rest is the people or better the
>entrepreneurs.
>
>These are real opportunities that we must take every advantage to educate
>people how to exploit these opportunities.  You recall in my earlier post
>I said that we need Uchumi or Nakumatt up North.  Then provide the
>citizens with smart cards.  The intervention of government should have
>been simply to top up these smart cards.  They will then walk to the
>retail store and pick what they want to eat and not forcing them to eat
>maize.  This is more efficient and cheaper.  Further, the majority in
>Northern Kenya would most likely prefer milk and at the same time Uchumi
>will buy their Camel milk for re-distribution to other affected areas.
>
>In my view we are all failures and instead of correcting our mistakes, we
>load the blame on government.  We must remember that communist countries
>tried to control distribution of food in their respective countries and
>they all failed.  It is time the government let the food supply chain to
>private enterprise and only manage it through fiscal policy (give tax
>incentives when production is threatened as well as incentives for storage
>facilities) intervention.   This change will reduce the perception of
>corruption in government by some 30%.
>
>With or without “Candidate” Ndemo.  Issues such as this one that goes a
>long way in managing our food supply chain must be raised with the real
>candidates.  I am willing to shed more light on food security so that we
>are all ready for the candidates.  In my view we must begin to define what
>we need in our country’s chief executive.  In view of the new constitution
>we must start working on the job description.  We need the lawyers to
>interpret how Chapter 7 (Leadership and Integrity) relates to the election
>of our future leaders.
>
>If that will be the case, we must interrogate their decisions with respect
>to CDF.  If someone was not able to manage a CDF kitty of Ksh. 100
>million, that person will not certainly manage trillion shilling national
>budget.
>
>Ndemo.
>
>
>
>> Bw PS,
>>
>> nice insights you have below.  Mine is simply to ask what your thoughts
>> are, in terms of making consumer internet prices affordable. Yes, cost of
>> bandwidth at international gateway level used to be 5,000USD per MB (over
>> satellite) but now it has dropped below  500USD per MB.  Basically it
>> has dropped by 10 times - HOWEVER- in our cyber cafes, the cost of
>> accessing internet is still 1/- to 2/- per minute, pretty much what it was
>> during the satellite days.
>>
>> Mobile data internet which is the more common form of access is not any
>> cheaper either.  There's has been NO  drop per-se, just marketing
>> gimmicks of increasing the amount of bandwidth for the same (HIGH) price.
>> It is like saying lunch costs 2,500/= at some 5star hotel, but since there
>> has been good rains/harvest, for the same 2,500/= you are free to eat ALL
>> you want...sounds good, but ONLY for those who could afford the 2,500/=
>> lunch bracket in the first place - who unfortunately are not
>> many....particularly in an economy whose average monthly income is around
>> 8,000sh.
>>
>> So how do you intend to tackle the internet price problem when you get to
>> be President?
>>
>> walu.
>>
>> --- On Fri, 8/12/11, bitange at jambo.co.ke <bitange at jambo.co.ke> wrote:
>>
>> From: bitange at jambo.co.ke <bitange at jambo.co.ke>
>> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Bitange for President? Extended due to Public
>> Demand
>> To: jwalu at yahoo.com
>> Cc: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>> Date: Friday, August 12, 2011, 9:01 PM
>>
>> Harry,
>> Yes there is a crisis virtually in every country at the moment.  The
>> difference is how you handle the situation.  In Britain the Prime
>> Minister
>> thought he can take a vacation in Italy and forget what is going on at
>> home but he was forced to dash home.  Before I respond to how we take
>> care
>> of our crisis, I felt there is a patriotism lesson that we need to learn
>> from Britain.
>>
>> The first reports we got in our News papers here and even in electronic
>> media, there was no cause of the crisis in Britain.  It was simply
>> reported that London is burning.  Some of our best media houses with so
>> many journalists forgot to ask questions like what, where, when, why, etc.
>>  This would have helped us understand.  This is because the British Media
>> (from where our Media got the story) first looks at their country’s
>> interests first and everything else is secondary.  Does our Media have
>> what they call Kenyan or African interests?  If they did, they would have
>> raised issues relating to racism and African Diaspora.  We shall be more
>> respected if we had the interest of those in the Diaspora at heart be they
>> from Bahamas or Nigeria.
>>
>> How do we respond to our crisis?  This should not be a government
>> project.
>>  The entire society needs a lesson on respecting other human beings
>> because this where our problems start and will open up greater opportunity
>> and sustained harmony for all humanity.  In other countries they make an
>> effort to socially integrate all citizens of different economic classes.
>> Let me elaborate.  In Kenya a good mechanic will never be found drinking
>> with a corporate CEO but in other countries it happens and sometimes you
>> find they are neighbours.  It is not common you find a woman with an
>> undergraduate degree married to a plumber for example.  We have defined
>> classes that we try everything to belong to.  We do not have good
>> plumbers, mechanics, carpenters etc in this country yet we have thousand s
>> looking for white collar jobs.
>>
>> I am sure most of you have watched Cheers.  The artists in the bar are a
>> postman, a doctor, other professional, bar maids and men having a common
>> goal.  Where no one thinks or feels they know more than the other.  This
>> is the begging of building a harmonious society that no one feels left
>> out.  The rift we have created just needs a small thing like shooting a
>> drug dealer (as in the UK) then hell will break loose.  We must not
>> forget
>> that this happened in China in 1949 when the Maoists took over.  They
>> literary killed anybody who seemed to be from upper class.  Land reform
>> was the major focus of policy as a result of China's vast rural
>> population, around 90% of the population were farmers. Lands of former
>> landlords were confiscated by the government and subsequently
>> redistributed to the lower-class peasants.  Do not forget the French
>> revolution.
>>
>> Discrimination in any form should be shunned.  This is because it is the
>> basis of all problems be it class or tribalism.    Three of my close
>> friends have experience that summarizes what I have tried to explain. 
>> Mr.
>> X got six and eighteen points at O and A levels respectively.  At
>> university he came out with 1st class in Electrical Engineering and joined
>> the then EAPL and later obtained an MBA.  Mr. Y had division II and could
>> not afford high school but went to Kenya Science Teachers to become a
>> teacher.  Mr. Z also passed his O levels with Division III and joined
>> Barclays Bank as a Clerical officer.  They have struggled in their own
>> ways and of the four of us Z is the wealthiest.  Any time I am with X, he
>> complains why I should even have time for Y and Z.  Y by the way has
>> struggled for many years and he will soon get his PhD.  According to X
>> these are not our class of people.  He loathes Z as one who failed and
>> now
>> possibly has earned his wealth through corrupt means.  In spite of the
>> fact that I have tried to ask X to forget the past, he feels he belongs to
>> a different class and hangs around some of the “successful� people.
>> Although I have never disclosed this to Y and Z their sixth sense leads
>> them to discriminate X from some events.  At some point we were four
>> young
>> lads who enjoyed life together but now pulling a part because of
>> differences in the way we led our lives after high school.  I hear and
>> see
>> this kind of stories often and make me feel bad about class division in
>> our country.
>>
>> I have had the privilege of deciding who my assistants should be but not
>> once have I ever picked someone because we spoke the same vernacular
>> language.  My current office is a living example and after leading by
>> example, all of my senior officers followed suit.  This is how we should
>> begin to tackle the problem of tribalism.  We also must ensure equitable
>> distribution of resources and start connecting all the counties with
>> roads, energy, water, schools and hospitals.  We have already connected
>> fibre optics to all the counties and are in the process of covering the
>> pockets that exist.  Even with difficult times we have managed to balance
>> infrastructure development to all parts of the country.  We shall
>> continue
>> with similar strategies.
>>
>> To achieve my objectives, I take you back to building sustained regional
>> influence and develop the HUB concept in everything here in Kenya.
>> Transportation, ICT, Industrialization, and practically everything Hub.
>> Of course some of our neighbours will feel jealous.   This is what we
>> need
>> in a sustained way because it will help galvanize Kenyans against some
>> external “aggressor�.  President Museveni used this effectively to
>> get
>> Ugandans behind him when he claimed Migingo as a strategy to get
>> re-elected.  Let us do good to the entire East Africa by building the
>> rail
>> up to Goma, Adis, Juba, Dar and Arusha all terminating in Nairobi.  We
>> must build major transit and logistics airport and make it cheap to access
>> it to all rail destinations.  Develop capacity to serve the entire world
>> back offices.   >From this we shall create a pull effect on our
>> agriculture.  Let me not disclose the entire strategy.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>>
>> Ndemo.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>> Bw Ps,
>>>
>>> Thanks for your articulative responses... Indeed looking at events
>>> cutting
>>> across the globe
>>> now, one wakes up to a realization that we face similar socio-economic
>>> challenges. Bottom
>>> line, is how do we respond. And respond we must. But consequently this
>>> is
>>> what makes the
>>> huge difference between moving forward purposefully to achieve progress
>>> and
>>> backpeddling on
>>> the other hand.
>>>
>>> We'd also wish to understand what strategies would be put in place to
>>> ensure
>>> a balanced
>>> infrastractural development across the regions. I suppose much of the
>>> concentration right
>>> now is around the Capital and it's environs at the expense of the rest
>>> of
>>> the country.
>>> How about dealing with the great tribalism "monster".
>>>
>>> 3rdly, what strategies/plans do you have in place to achieve this dream
>>> you
>>> have.
>>>
>>> Harry
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> 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: Thursday, August 11, 2011 3:32 PM
>>> To: harry at comtelsys.co.ke
>>> Cc: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>>> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Bitange for President? Extended due to Public
>>> Demand
>>>
>>> Grace,
>>> Thank you for extending the debate to Monday.  I hope I get time to
>>> articulate some of the issues that will impact our lives in the next few
>>> years.  Earlier I said that we are not alone in how we are dealing with
>>> our
>>> social development.  I went ahead and gave examples from the US and UK.
>>> Although it is an unfortunate for the British people, it has come to
>>> pass.
>>> Even the Central Bank we got some good debate out of my post.
>>>
>>> Leadership requires selfless commitment to the people they lead.  It is
>>> a
>>> sacrifice one makes.  In this respect, I will seek for advisors who
>>> have
>>> demonstrated ability to serve their country with dedication.  We have
>>> these
>>> people but they have never been given a chance to lead. The constitution
>>> has
>>> accorded us the opportunity to search for such people.
>>> If you read today's front page Standard, it has the requirement for
>>> those
>>> who want to join the electoral commission.  If we follow the
>>> requirement
>>> to
>>> the letter, we shall get credible people.  It is this process that
>>> lacked
>>> before and political operatives took charge in many posts within
>>> government.
>>>
>>> Indeed there will be a policy guideline on all organizations registered
>>> under Societies Act.  It is in the interest of the public that these
>>> organizations file annual returns to the registrar because they are tax
>>> exempt.  Tax exemption means that we the public partly fund their
>>> activities.  Further the state has a responsibility to protect its
>>> citizens
>>> from being taken advantage of.  We cannot burry our heads in the sand
>>> on
>>> this issue no matter how sensitive it is.  We shall also be
>>> implementing
>>> our
>>> constitution with respect to Bill of Rights.
>>>
>>>
>>> Regards
>>>
>>>
>>> Ndemo.
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Listers
>>>>
>>>> We have received requests  (offline) that we allow "Candidate" Ndemo
>>>> more time for him to respond to more concerns being raised.
>>>>
>>>> This is to let you know that the 'official campaign period" has been
>>>> extended up to Monday August 15, 2011.
>>>>
>>>> And now Dr. Ndemo, Harry Delano did ask you to say what kind of
>>>> advisors you would be looking for to help shape policy. Can we hear
>>>> you on this one too? You also make a valid point about churches and
>>>> the fact that they are not audited. I know for example in Washington
>>>> DC, Parish priests have to present audited accounts to Parishoners
>>>> once a year, while the Bishop fundraises through a system that is open
>>>> to public scrutiny. Would you then make a policy decision on this? On
>>>> a light note, may I remind you that your responses will go into the
>>>> 'manifesto' and translate into more or less "votes" :)
>>>>
>>>> Listers, let the debate continue.
>>>>
>>>> Rgds
>>>> GG
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> ------------- If you have the strength to survive, you have the power
>>>> to succeed. Life is all about choices we make depending upon the
>>>> situation we are in. Go forth and rule the World!
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>
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>> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and
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