[kictanet] Taking Care of the Future

Barrack Otieno otieno.barrack at gmail.com
Tue Sep 25 08:44:00 EAT 2012


+ 1 Ali, Daktari to quote you ' We must move up the ladder through
research and begin to lead the rest of the world.' who is supposed to
spear head this , does government have a role to play?

On Tue, Sep 25, 2012 at 7:37 AM, Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke> wrote:
> +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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>
> 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.



-- 
Barrack O. Otieno
+254721325277
+254-20-2498789
Skype: barrack.otieno
http://www.otienobarrack.me.ke/




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