[kictanet] Dreams of a cosy career that turned into a nightmare

Wed Nov 21 13:12:38 EAT 2012

This is a case of fraud. Shouldn't the commissioners lose their jobs?
Unless as a country we decided that we should set a thief to catch a thief.

On Wed, Nov 21, 2012 at 9:13 AM, Grace Mutung'u (Bomu)
<nmutungu at gmail.com>wrote:

> It is sad that where a junior employee is innovative, the dynamics of
> getting their intellect rewarded (either by promotion or remuneration) are
> complex, especially in the public sector.
> And the bigger issue is that the Government and employers generally need
> to have policies for IP generated by employees.  All the same, this ought
> to be settled out of court.
>
> 2012/11/20 Phares Kariuki <pkariuki at gmail.com>
>
>>  Perhaps I misread the articles (there are two of them), but it seems
>> that the KRA commissioners wanted to tender for a system that was
>> internally available (the innovator simply wanted to secure his
>> employment). They effectively wanted to tender for the system that the
>> employee had developed (and KRA won an award for deployment) whilst using
>> IP from the employee, effectively paying a third party for the employees
>> initial innovation.
>>
>> If someone is to get paid for the innovation (given that now KRA suddenly
>> had the budget to pay for the system), it's only fair that the person who
>> built the system gets remunerated for the system instead of a predatory
>> third party and I think that's why the employee sued. The email excerpts
>> are rather revealing, there was mischief afoot.
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 4:43 PM, Baiju Shah <baiju at tele2media.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Ali/Grace,****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> We should not forget that KRA provided platform and the time for Samson
>>> to develop the innovation. Here is the case of shared IPR and Samson needs
>>> to be rewarded by KRA in light of the exceptional work he undertook and
>>> also given the right recognition. This sort of issue should have been
>>> managed by the Human Resources department properly, it is really a shame
>>> that it has gone to the courts, it is a serious loss of momentum for both
>>> the parties involved.****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> Best Regards,****
>>>
>>> Baiju Shah****
>>>
>>> Managing Partner****
>>>
>>> Telemedia Africa.****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> *From:* kictanet [mailto:kictanet-bounces+baiju=
>>> tele2media.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke] *On Behalf Of *Ali Hussein
>>> *Sent:* 20 November 2012 14:26
>>> *To:* Baiju Shah
>>> *Cc:* kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>>> *Subject:* Re: [kictanet] Dreams of a cosy career that turned into a
>>> nightmare****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> Grace
>>>
>>> I guess that's the question the courts will answer as I believe this has
>>> already been taken up by lawyers for Samson.
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.nation.co.ke/Features/smartcompany/Dreams-of-a-cosy-career/-/1226/1623712/-/qdkj18z/-/index.html
>>>
>>> I think though the bigger question is how are we preparing our young
>>> brilliant minds for the rough and tumble of starting and building
>>> sustainable businesses?
>>>
>>> ****
>>>
>>> *Ali Hussein*****
>>>
>>>  ****
>>>
>>> Twitter: @AliHKassim****
>>>
>>> Skype: abu-jomo****
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ****
>>>
>>> On Tue, Nov 20, 2012 at 12:37 PM, Grace Githaiga <ggithaiga at hotmail.com>
>>> wrote:****
>>>
>>> Ali****
>>>
>>> Does the innovation belong to the employer considering it may have been
>>> developed to suit the needs of the employer? This might be open to various
>>> interpretations by different lawyers. ****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> This caught my attention:****
>>>
>>> "According to the letter, KRA has used the technovation and communicated
>>> it to a third party, although the law states that this entitles the
>>> technovator to “a remuneration which shall be fixed by mutual agreement
>>> between the technovator and the enterprise.****
>>>
>>> This is because KRA went ahead to submit the system to an international
>>> innovation fair, where it won an award. It has since publicised the award,
>>> even on its website".****
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.nation.co.ke/Features/smartcompany/KRA-caught-up-in-Sh1-billion-tender-row/-/1226/1623708/-/item/2/-/rpgfcm/-/index.html
>>> ****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>> ------------------------------
>>>
>>> From: ali at hussein.me.ke
>>> Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2012 09:58:01 +0300
>>> Subject: [kictanet] Dreams of a cosy career that turned into a nightmare
>>> CC: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
>>> To: ggithaiga at hotmail.com****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> Listers****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> This is an interesting case study of the link between employer/employee
>>> relations on Intellectual Property. Who owns the IP when you
>>> invent/innovate while working at a company and the invention/innovation is
>>> directly linked to the work you have been hired to do?****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> *IN SUMMARY*
>>>
>>>    - When Mr Samson Ngengi beat thousands of applicants to land the
>>>    coveted position at the tax agency in December 2009, the graduate of Jomo
>>>    Kenyatta University of Science and Technology (JKUAT) had one thing on his
>>>    mind; to ensure that he gets absorbed into the job****
>>>    - Mr Ngengi came up with an innovation that links plot boundaries
>>>    and location, ownership, and building details as well as tax status of a
>>>    taxpayer as a single view in a computer application, in an effort to give
>>>    KRA an insight into how to get its pound of flesh from the lucrative real
>>>    estate sector****
>>>    - His innovation was named the Geo-spatial Revenue Collection
>>>    Information System (GEOCRIS). But little did he know that he would, early
>>>    in his career, find himself fighting his employer****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> Is there a strong case here to also focus our Techpreneurs on the
>>> 'softer' stuff of turning their ideas/products etc into viable businesses?
>>> You know the boring stuff...the nuts and bolts of building an enduring
>>> business? Protecting your business idea, building a business system to
>>> deliver on the values opposition, sales, legal standing (company
>>> registration) etc..****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> What would have happened if Samson had decided to quite his job at KRA
>>> and develop his idea independently?****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> There has been lots of news of late about the hype that has become known
>>> as 'Silicon Savannah'. It would be sad if the hype is not concurrently
>>> followed by serious efforts to build an ecosystem to support all these
>>> brilliant (and not so brilliant) ideas and turn them into strong enduring
>>> businesses. ****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> For every Cellulant there are maybe tens of others that will never see
>>> the light of day. ****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> There is a case here for a new type of Multi-stakeholder intervention -
>>> between government, private sector (VC, Companies etc) and Not For Profits.
>>> I suspect this is already happening in some form or other. More focus is
>>> required.****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> Ali Hussein****
>>>
>>> CEO | 3mice interactive media Ltd****
>>>
>>> Principal | Telemedia Africa Ltd****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> +254 773/713 601113****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPad****
>>>
>>> ** **
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Warm Regards,
>>
>> Phares Kariuki
>>
>> | *T*: +254 720 406 093 | *E*: pkariuki at gmail.com | *Twitter*: kaboro |*Skype
>> *: kariukiphares | *B*: http://www.kaboro.com/ |
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>> 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.
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Grace L.N. Mutung'u (Bomu)
> Kenya
> Skype: gracebomu
> Twitter: @Bomu
> Website: http://www.diplointernetgovernance.org/profile/GraceMutungu
>
>

-- 
Warm Regards,

Phares Kariuki

| *T*: +254 720 406 093 | *E*: pkariuki at gmail.com | *Twitter*: kaboro |*Skype
*: kariukiphares | *B*: http://www.kaboro.com/ |
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