[kictanet] Taking Care of the Future

[bitange at jambo.co.ke]

Edith,
Let me deal with the rest of my trip then highlight some key points.

On the 25 and 26th we had meetings with HR&A.  These meetings were an eye
opener for me since I got the insight of the American construction
industry.  While HR&A wanted to fully understand their mandate and also
present some of the initial works, they also were making proposals on the
way forward before ground breaking late October/early November.  They used
3D printing to develop the Pavilion model.  We were curious and wanted to
know more.

In one of their works, the Barclays Centre in New York City, everything
was done with the use of technology.  Each part that went into building
the massive center was bar coded and placed exactly how the model was
developed on the computer.  The roof material which had decra-like
material had all the pieces barcoded 3D printed and placed where it was
meant to be.  There are no estimates.  If you have built in Kenya you know
what this method would do to efficiencies in building.  There was no “Mzee
Mabati haikutosha”.  This is precision building.

These new technology is changing and will change the world as we know it. 
In the past nine of my speeches I have mentioned eight times but nobody
ever bothered to fully understand what it is and how we can leverage on
this.  The technology defies the rule of economies of scale.  It is
precisely like any printer where the cost of one copy remains the same
till the last copy.  This means even a small scale producer can be as
efficient as a large scale producer.  It means when you build, you go to a
small scale producer and print the number of Mabatis you need including
angle cuts that is usually the bulk of our waste in construction.

The printer works with a new software code in different prints.  This is
where we shall need millions of software coders for different jobs.  In
building a house you need floor and roof tiles, ceiling, timber, cement,
etc.  Each of the material would need a new software code.  I asked the
consultants to make a presentation to one of the Universities when they
come towards the end of the month.  Architects, quantity surveyors, Civil
Engineers must get themselves acquainted with the technology before they
find themselves irrelevant.

Action: We must get Universities adopting these new technologies now. 
Already we are working with Dr. Gachigi at University of Nairobi to get to
do something tangible before Private Sector jumps in.  We are desperately
trying to raise Ksh. 15 million to buy a 3D printer for a research project
in circuitry.  This is what will translate to jobs both in software and
manufacture of many items.  We could start this project with as little as
Ksh. 4 million.  If you feel we can get together and raise the amount,
please say it.  The bureaucracy in Government will take far too long to
raise the funds.

If you want to know more about 3D printing sometimes referred to additive
manufacturing or computer assisted design, there is a comprehensive
coverage of it in one of the past Economist.  You can start with
Wikipedia.

During Lunch break on the 26th, I met Prof. Beth Noveck of MIT to discuss
issues relating to an upcoming conference on Open Data in November.  In
three minutes the prolific professor and former Obama advisor on
technology had asked why we were in New York, What makes Kenya think it
will the best technology hub, why we want to build a tech city.  She is
driven by data and data is her life and the future in solving the many
problems.  I concur with her and feel bad that we have not exploited what
already is out there in the Open Data Portal.

At JFK I picked Financial Times and was drawn to an article titled,
Chances of Survival are on the rise by Andrew Jack who argues significant
advances have made by scientist in the battle against the disease but
victory remains elusive.  Further he says “poor quality data – in
identifying cases, registering outcomes from treatment and confirming
deaths from cancer – means precise figures are difficult. Yet estimates
from 2008 suggest that, at least 12 million people around the world
contract the desease annually, 8 million die from it and nearly 30 million
are living five years after diagnosis”.

This is precisely what I had been discussing with Prof. Noveck.  How do we
identify a problem as well as solution by utilizing technology?  Can we
for example create a mobile app for Cancer patients?  Can the doctors be
compelled to report the data to a central data bank?  How about indigenous
contribution to this knowledge? What is Africa’s future with respect to
both food security as well as safety?

I was pleasantly surprised ro read in today’s Sunday Nation an article by
a Nation Correspondent in Arusha.  Why Africa food crisis persists?  Here
every data you need to solve the problem was given and I must commend the
writer since he effectively used data to drive the point home.  He says
“one of the reasons for low yields has been the high rate of soil nutrient
depletion”. This is the outcome of excessive land subdivision.  Citing a
report from Alliance for Green Africa headed by Kofi Annan and co founded
by Bill and Melinda Gates, the report says Africa uses only 8Kg of
fertilizer per hectare when it needs to use at least 50Kgs for the same. 
Currently Africa uses less than 3% of global fertilizer and if we doubled
that to 6%, we can improve crop production by 50%.  We need these data
available in all formats if indeed we want to change Africa.  How do we
get this message to the ordinary farmer?

I mentioned to Prof. Noveck that I am carefully analyzing the issue of
Agriculture in Africa because it comes with greater opportunities.  But we
need to tackle what our role should be in creating a modern Africa.  Who
precipitates change?  We have more than 70% of African referred to as
farmers when in fact we know that in as much as small holder farmers
contribute to 80% of the consumption, only less than 10% are what you can
call farmers.  The rest are under employed hangers on in rural Africa
continuously undermining productivity and their activities are not
sustainable.

 Our discussion later drifted into what Universities are doing to prepare
for massive change that is on the horizon.  This is where we feature
poorly.  While some of the leading Universities have changed
significantly their courses, we have not.  We still offer yesterday
programs and we are not able to manage knowledge properly.  We need for
example to have a course in history for everything.  History of
technology, history of cancer, history of agriculture in Kenya and so on.
 What this would do is to force us to begin to understand our past that
will inform our future.

Sometime back I read Prof. H.W.O Okoth-Ogendo’s paper, The perils of Land
tenure reform: a case of Kenya that extensively draws from R.J.M
Swynnetorn Report 1954.  The report first proposed privatization of land
in order to improve on agricultural productivity.  Prior to 1954, land
tenure was communal.  This is where our land disease started and has
spread on to Zimbabwe.  How do reverse the acquired culture and move
people to rural urban cities or communal settlement?  How can we build on
the Maasai land tenure practices?

It will be a mockery of our intellectual capital if we continue to slide
in both food security and safety.  We have the knowledge but we are
looking to elsewhere to sort our problems.  If we do not deal with the
food situation comprehensively, then non of us will be safe in the days to
come.

Action: Let us crowd source the solutions and ways we can take this debate
to rural Kenya.  I started this in selected districts.  Initially I
thought they would call me a mad man but I have four invitations from
different groups in different parts of the country to discuss and propose
the way forward.

Edith, there are many lessons from my NY trip.  We need to draw the job
description of the 1. County Representative, 2. The Member of Parliament
(MP), 3. The Senator, 4. The Governor and 5. The Prsident.  I can bet a
million shillings that the county representative does not know that it is
his/her responsibility to ensure utilities are available in their
locality.  Check with Ongata Rongai, Kitengela and other fast growing peri
urban centers, the representative does not even know where to start.  This
is the problem.  Eng. Rege will tell you that most of the legislatures
hardly know any piece of legislation that goes through Parliament.  We
need to draw a performance contract with all legislatures, at least an
exam on all the legislations that they have passed.  What will the Senate
do?  The Governor, watching the Kiambu Debate on NTV, only God will help
them before they end up in Jail (they were discussing Mungiki instead of
ways of creating jobs for youth).  As for the President, they will need a
lesson from the current President, SHOW THE VISION AND LEAVE THE PEOPLE TO
WORK.

The people of Kenya must precipitate change.


Ndemo.







> Bwana Ndemo,
>
> Interesting peek into New York's future!
>
> I worry that in this country, we talk too much....and do little.
>
> From your New York visit, could you enumerate 3-5 key action points that
> could be taken in Kenya with the future in mind? (A sort of "Ndemo for
> President" manifesto based on your New York visit).
>
> Those in a position to take action (on this list) may run with one or two
> of those ideas and make a difference....
>
> I want to invite you to one of the Universities (that focusses on Science,
> Technology and Innovation) to a deliver a post-New York speech to inspire
> us into action. Agreed?
>
> Edith
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: kictanet
> [mailto:kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.or.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf
> Of bitange at jambo.co.ke
> Sent: September 25, 2012 12:02 AM
> To: Edith Adera
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Taking Care of the Future
>
> 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(r)
>
> -----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(r)
>
> -----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
>
> --
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
> Unsubscribe or change your options at
> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/bitange%40jambo.co.ke
>
> 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.
> _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
>
> Unsubscribe or change your options at
> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/eadera%40idrc.or.ke
>
> 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.
>