[kictanet] Taking Care of the Future

Tue Sep 25 07:37:19 EAT 2012

+1 Daktari

For bringing to the fore fundamental issues and the potential for the
future of this country.

However, to quote your last sentence* 'That is OK for now.'* Allow me to
humbly disagree..

It is *NOT OK*. We have made great strides in this country and yet a lot
still needs to be done. If we sit on our laurels and thump our chests
because the great companies of the world are now camping in Kenya to
understand what it is that makes this country tick in matters mobile & tech
then we risk all. The Annals of History are strewn with once great
companies and countries that ate their own spiel and found themselves in
the dustbins of history.

The spirit of openness, industriousness, perseverance and risk taking that
make up our whole is something that needs to be continuously watered.

Thank you Daktari for sharing your thoughts and views.

Ali Hussein

On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 7:02 AM, <bitange at jambo.co.ke> wrote:

> Through HR&A our Master Developer at Konza we met two agencies today in
> New York involved with the development of  a futuristic New York that will
> be competitive in the next 50 years.
>
> Hudson Yards Development Corporation was created by Mayor Bloomberg to
> redevelop a section of New York that was their industrial area. It covers
> approximately 300 acres with mostly non high rise buildings. The city now
> wants high rises to meet future office demands.
>
> Here they are buying back most of the land while developing modern
> infrastructure including the subway. Consultants are working day and night
> to ensure the redeveloped area meets current and future needs.
>
> Later we visited the New York City Development Corporation charged with
> NY's future competitiveness.  They noted that in 1890, NY wad basically a
> trading centre. In the 1940s, it became an Industrial City and today it is
> largely a financial and services city.  They now want to switch gears to a
> more technology city.
>
> Through a competitive process, they have put together a number of
> universities to deliberately steer NY into another Silicon Valley. Cornell
> University is paired with Israel Institute of Technology to deliberately
> create multi disciplinary programs in applied sciences and
> entrepreneurship. NY University too will partner with other global centres
> of excellence such as Indian Institute of Technology to also focus on
> innovation and entrepreneurship.
>
> To help create a competitive future, the city will give free land and
> other incentives. They are demolishing one of the hospitals in order to
> create space for a futuristic project. Each of the different university
> grouping will focus in a specialized area that will be critical in the days
> to come. They are coming up with courses like health analytics, smart
> cities etc.
>
> This is how in future we can use data to predict our future. This is very
> critical and many lessons for developing countries. As we continue to do
> things the same way it has always been done, things remain the same and
> this ain't good at all. We need to leverage on what we have and do a little
> more.
>
> In the evening I attended a UN sponsored launch of Better than Cash
> Alliance at the Ford Foundation. Here speaker after speaker lauded Kenya
> for its contribution towards mobile money. Our own Michael Joseph was in
> attendance.  This was a launch to scale up what has been successful in
> Kenya (75% of mobile money transactions world wide happens in Kenya). We
> shall see many researchers coming to Kenya. We must move up the ladder
> through research and begin to lead the rest of the world.
>
> Instead of spending many hours arguing the merits and demerits of SAP
> training some Kenyans we need a mobile payroll system that can be
> integrated with Government's Integrated Financial Management System.
>
> When Matatus were introduced, there was a regulated transport system in
> Kenya. Buses could not just stop anywhere. They were like the proprietary
> software. Mini buses could stop anywhere and charged based on distance
> travelled and eventually dealt a blow to buses in urban centres. The rest
> today is history.
>
> That is ok for now.
>
>
> Ndemo.
>
>
>
>
> Sent from my BlackBerry®
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bitange at jambo.co.ke
> Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2012 04:00:12
> To: Alice Munyua<alice at apc.org>; kictanet<kictanet-bounces+bitange=
> jambo.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Reply-To: bitange at jambo.co.ke
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Subject: Re: Taking Care of the Future
>
>
> Sent from my BlackBerry®
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alice Munyua <alice at apc.org>
> Sender: "kictanet" <kictanet-bounces+bitange=
> jambo.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke>Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2012 20:20:09
> To: <bitange at jambo.co.ke>
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Subject: [kictanet] Invitation to join dialogue on African civil society's,
>  engagement with internet governance processes
>
> (apologies for cross posting)
>
> Dear friends and colleagues
>
> INVITATION TO JOIN ONLINE DIALOGUE!
>
> We invite you to join an online dialogue among African civil
> society, media and other people who care about a free, open and
> accessible internet to share their  views and increase their
> understanding of current trends in internet  regulation and governance.
>
> The UN's Human Rights Council adopted a landmark resolution in 2012 that
> 'human rights apply online as well as offline'. We need to be aware of
> this and help promote the application of this decision at all levels of
> internet policy and regulation.
>
> The dialogue should help us consider questions such as:
>
> 1. What are the implications of the HRC resolution for our work?
>
> 2. How does it relate to broader debates on human rights, governance and
> development?
>
> 3. What do you think are the fundamental principles that should frame
> and guide the decision-making processes that shape the evolution of the
> internet - at infrastructure level as well as at access and usage level?
>
> 4. What are your suggestions to improve the participation of African
> constituencies in the coordination of the internet global resources as
> well as in related policy-making processes?
>
> 5. What are the specific changes you would like to see, if any, across
> the range of entities and processes that carry out the governance of the
>   internet?
>
> Aside from these broader questions it is also crucial that we consider
> upcoming processes such as  the African Internet Governance Forum (Oct),
> the global Internet Governance Forum (Nov) and the  review of the
> International Telecommunications Regulations (ITRs) at the
> ITU's World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) (Dec).
>
> It is hoped that this platform will strengthen African civil society's
> engagement with internet governance processes at national, regional and
> global levels and enable us to contribute to shaping the future
> development of the internet and the telecommunications networks most of
> us depend on for access.
>
> To join this discussion do one of the following:
>
> 1) Go tohttps://lists.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/africs-ig  and follow the
> instructions to join the mailing list.
> 2) Write to Mawaki Chango atmawaki at apc.org  and he will add your email
> to the list.
> 3) Visit our background page
> http://africa-ig.wiki.apc.org/index.php/Main_Page  to learn more about
> this process.
>
> Looking forward to hearing your views and questions. Remember there is
> no such thing as a 'stupid question'! Don't feel intimidated by jargon
> and concepts that you don't fully understand. As a community of African
> internet users we will be able to learn from one another.
>
> Staff and members of the Association for Progressive Communications will
> help facilitate this discusssion. Participants are free to post in
> English and French. We will develop regular summaries and post them in
> both languages.
>
> Warm regards from the APC Africa policy team
>
> Mawaki Chango
> Emilar Vushe
> Anriette Esterhuysen
>
> --
>
>
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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.
>

-- 

*Ali Hussein*

Twitter: @AliHKassim

Skype: abu-jomo
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