[kictanet] Bitange for President? Further Extension!

Sun Aug 21 15:53:19 EAT 2011

Muraya,

This is a difficult question but one that we have hope will be sorted
out with the revamped Judiciary.  In effect we are on the rtight path in
dealing with this vice.   It is not just grand corruption.  Corruption
of any kind is not good for the economy.  It is estimated that we waste
in excess of Ksh. 50 billion to inefficient procurement system.  We must
automate in order to close some of these loopholes.  It is frustrating
that the issue of corruption keeps on cropping up every time we have an
election.  I am encouraged by the requirement of those who will serve at
the new Independent Electoral Commission.  If you saw the advert, it
clearly states that applicants must not have been mentioned in any of
the past scandals.   This is what we need for Presidential hopefuls as a
minimum.

It will serve as a deterrence for any future corruption.  We also need
clarity from KACC if there will be amnesty for those who return public
property.  I hear many want to return.  This will at least help salvage
what is left.  I do not know if there is any one on the list from
Western Kenya since they have dealt a big blow to thieves by somehow
making them eat grass.  If this discovery in Western is scalable, we can
effectively use it to get all those who stole from the public.

Remember I said that if any future government must reestablish trust
with the citizens.  This will not come overnight but actions taken
especially on the corrupt shall help restore this.  The GoK has done a
commendable job in dealing with the hunger crisis in the north but due
to mistrust by the media and the public in general, it has only received
kicks of a donkey (Asante ya Punda ni mateke).  

I want to disagree with you that we have failed as a state.  What we
have not done is consistently trying to close loopholes of corruption
through automation.  This is what most governments have done that we
have not done.  People are equally corrupt world over.  What makes a
difference is learning the mistakes and correcting them.

Regards

Ndemo.

From: kictanet-bounces+bndemo=information.go.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+bndemo=information.go.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke]
On Behalf Of S.Murigi Muraya
Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 6:37 PM
To: Bitange Ndemo
Cc: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Bitange for President? Further Extension!

Daktari,

You have not talked about prosecution of grand corruption which is where
Kenya has failed as a state.

How do we deal with parastatal chiefs / boards which bought properties
(grabbed by their political allies to sell to parastatals at exorbitant
prices) -- increasing real estate property prices? This happened before
NARC come into power. So this has little to do with the property prices
increases over the past 5 years.

If young men in major towns and cities do not have sports grounds to
relieve some stress in, what to do? Do we just open more bars?

On Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 7:29 PM, <bitange at jambo.co.ke> wrote:

Grace,
I shall try to respond.

Q:  Murigi had raised the concern of how the billions returned annually
to

the Treasury could be utilized to provide social goods and services,
and
would be possible to set aside 1.5 % of the budget for ICTs?

A:  We need not return monies that have already been set a side for
specific projects.  Most of these are either loans or donor funds that
are
tied to a specific project.  Most of these projects have conditionalties
that do not make sense even in the best of times.  "Candidates" Ndemo
will
suspend all donor funds that we did not solicit for.  You will be
shocked
to learn that in some projects you have several competing funds.  One
good
example is KEMSA.  Even if you get the best logistics expert you will
still be innefficient since there are more than 600 donors with their
own
conditionalities.  It will be much easier to manage things within your
own
capacities and avoid running around trying to please every donor.  We
had
a similar problem in ICT but we said if something does not meet our
projected priorities, we do not want the money.  This paid off and you
begin to see logic on what we are trying to do.

Some donors give aid even when you do not want it then tie it to
conditionalities that will take many months to meet.  Further we need to
change the procurement law.  Specifically, we need to punish losers who
bring frivoulous appeals that delay implementation.  Such suppliers
should
be made to pay costs of delaying the project if they lose.  We also need
to reduce tender process period.  It takes up to six months sometimes to
complete a donor funded procurement process.  By the time you begin
implementation you are returning the money.  There are also contractors
who do not meet timelines hoping to hurry up the accounting officers to
pay in order to avoid pending bills.

Q:  Harry Delano to comment on how ICTs be utilized to help confront
tribal and racial profiling.

A:  I have responded to this a number of times.  We have begun the
process
of developing a public key infrastructure (PKI) that will give every
citizen a unique ID that even used in itself can be a good identifier.
With such infrastructure we do not have to use names that automatically
starts the profile of the citizen.

George Nyabuga requested for an update on digital migration process. His
questions were:
1. What is the progress on the migration from analogue to digital? Will
the country meet the deadline for the migration?

A:  We have made significant progress and for sure we shall meet the
deadline as promissed.

2. Has the government released enough funding for the process? How much
is
required,and what has the government released?

A:  We have given KBC Ksh. 600 million for the project.  They are about
to
launch DVBT2 in some parts of the country.  This should happen before
the
end of the year and we should cover at least 70% of the country by June.
Northern Kenya and other remaining parts will be served via sattelite or
DTH.  This means that the entire country will indeed have access to
Digital TV by end of June.

3. What is the state of digital media uptake in Kenya at the moment?

A:  We slowed down the uptake of DVBT since the technology had changed
but
we should get back to an aggressive programme of promoting DVBT2.

4. What is the position of KBC as far as digitization is concerned?

A:  KBC through its subsidiary Signet is the only current signal
distributor and as stated, we should be ready by June.

5. Will the public service obligation of KBC change?

A:  No.  We shall even improve on the existing programs since we shall
have more resourses.  Here I really want help with especially
educational
content or edutainment programs.  We are in a sorry state with respect
to
content as we unlease more resources. George, this is where the
Universities need to come in as a revenue stream.  I will donate my time
to content development advisory.

6. What 'public service' obligation will commercial media have any under
the digital regime?

A:  We have always wanted commercial broadcsters to dedicate at least
one
minute every hour to public service.  We can use that minute to promote
peace for example and many other social interventions.

Regards

Ndemo.

>
> Listers
>
> Again, there are requests to allow 'Candidate" Ndemo to continue
engaging
> with listers. We have consulted and considering that some concerns
raised
> are important, we are now extending it to August 31, 2011. Please
raise
> your concerns within this extension period.
>
> And now to "Candidate Ndemo". Could you kindly respond the following
> issues raised by listers?
>
>
> Murigi had raised the concern of how the billions returned annually to
the
> Treasury could be utilized to provide social goods and services,  and
> would be possible to set aside 1.5 % of the budget for ICTs?
>
> Harry Delano to comment on how ICTs be utilized to help confront
tribal
> and racial profiling.
>
> George Nyabuga requested for an update on digital migration process.
His
> questions were:
> 1. What is the progress on the migration from analogue to digital?
Will
> the country meet the deadline for the migration?
> 2. Has the government released enough funding for the process? How
much is
> required, and what has the government released?
> 3. What is the state of digital media uptake in Kenya at the moment?
> 4. What is the position of KBC as far as digitization is concerned?
> 5. Will the public service obligation of KBC change?
> 6. What 'public service' obligation will commercial media have any
under
> the digital regime?
>
>
> And finally in response to Yawe's concerns on the Somali community,
could
> you kindly go ahead and elaborate on the economic implications of the
> issue?
>
> Kind Regards
> 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!
>
>
>
>> From: bitange at jambo.co.ke
>> Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2011 18:10:27 +0000
>> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Bitange for President? Xenophobia
>> CC: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>> To: ggithaiga at hotmail.com
>>
>> Harry,
>> Examine Robert's logic through his metaphor of how long a cow takes
to
>> die out of hunger. If he meant that we should have seen it coming
then
>> he is a master of contradiction.
>>
>> What is happening around Lake Victoria must be stopped. If indeed
this
>> were businessmen, then they need not spend money to silencing
>> politicians. Infact some politicians speak like Robert. "Our people
are
>> lazy". This is a grave matter. We cannot fight poverty by telling our
>> people to compete in a 200 meter race when the vistors are starting
at
>> 100 meter spot (Capital unlimited) and we cannot vouch on the sources
of
>> their immense financial strength.
>>
>> The impact of excess liquidity in the market affects everyone through
>> inflation and inflated property prices as well as rent. You do not
need
>> an economist to tell you this.
>>
>> I do not blame Robert's puritanical reaction. This is typical of us
when
>> we fail to look at a global picture. If it wasn't the fact that the
>> official "campaign" is over I would have spent more time on the
economic
>> implications of the issue at hand.
>>
>>
>> Ndemo.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>

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