[kictanet] Vision 2030: ICT and Other Sectors Converged (Day 2)

[Phares Kariuki]

My queries are below:

When it comes to Economics, we are lagging behind. We had a projected
growth rate of 10%, however the World Bank estimates that we will (on the
upside) have economic growth of 5% in 2012.
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/AFRICAEXT/KENYAEXTN/0,,contentMDK:22600594~pagePK:141137~piPK:141127~theSitePK:356509,00.html,
not sure how the 2030 secretariat is handling this.

On the economic pillar, I have some issues with the BPO sector. As we
approach 2030, our competitiveness will depend on either a weaker currency
or somehow reducing our cost of labour (China currently artificially
prevents it's currency from weakening to remain competitive in exports).
How do we ensure that our growth does not kill the very sector we are
trying to grow?

We also need to ingrain a culture of eating our own dogfood, growing Kenya
as a market for Kenyan produce (e.g. What we have done with tea). How can
we spur production of GSM Infrastructure, have policy that supports local
software as opposed to imported software (use of open platforms would save
this country a few billion USD every year) e.g. It may cost more to
maintain an Open Source software platform (e.g. Ubuntu), but it actually is
cheaper than buying MS (basically, the money is kept in our local
ecosystem, creating more employment for our IT graduates who maintain the
system anyway), Belgium has actually implemented the model... We also have
a model being piloted in the EU, the Living Labs concept,
http://www.openlivinglabs.eu/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_lab,
which can be used for community level innovation.

The latest report by the ICT Board estimates total ICT expenditure at 700M.
If we can prevent the outflow of a lot of this spend (in open information
systems that have equivalent standards) we have the double edged sword of
perfecting our developer ecosystem whilst saving the country in general a
fortune...

On Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 9:00 AM, Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga at hotmail.com>wrote:

>
> Thanks Bwana Kibati for your well articulated responses. As you can see,
> your responses have raised further queries on energy from Brainiac and we
> look forward to your responses.
>
> A great point you raise on the fact that changing our value systems must
> be a national collective effort if we are going to have social
> transformation. We can have all the infrastructure but if we do not have
> values, then there might not be much meaning to Kenyans.
>
> Barrack, Solomon and Harry, you now have it from Mr. Kibati.
>
> Harry, I do hope that you will take on the challenge to present the Vision
> 2030 secretariat with a concept on energy distribution. This will be a
> great outcome of this debate and I am sure Brainiac and other listers may
> want to join you.
>
> Barrack, i think this is your opportunity to influence. Is it possible to
> suggest how Vision 2030 can influence national values using ICTs?
> Tusingojee serikali...:)
>
> As we reflect on the responses, *we also move on to Day 2. *
> **
> *The focus is on the three pillars of Vision 2030.  The vision is
> grounded on three  piilars and we will look at the first one which is the
> economic pillar.*
>
> The Economic pillar seeks to improve the prosperity of all regions of the
> country and all Kenyans by achieving Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth
> rate by 2012.  http://www.vision2030.go.ke/index.php/pillars
>
> The Medium Term Plan (2008-2012 identifies six targetted priority sectors
> namely tourism, agriculture, wholesale and retail trade, manufacturing, IT
> enabled services and financial services.
>
>  Over to you listers. Please feel free to still raise concerns on the
> vision or on Mr. Kibati's responses too.
>
> Sasa basi wakilisheni!.
>
> Rgds
> Grace
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 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!
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
> Unsubscribe or change your options at
> http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/pkariuki%40gmail.com
>
> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>



-- 
Warm Regards,

Phares Kaboro Kariuki
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20111214/f9d20448/attachment.htm>