[kictanet] Has the ICT Sector Failed?

[Odhiambo Washington]

@Evans,

I disagree. Your perspective of this perhaps suits the level at which
you're comfortable looking at it from - Management. I however would like to
inform you that this particular failure we are witnessing is nothing where
the management would poke their noses and understand. The best they can do
is just watch!
The failure here is the ICT staff and not ICTs - well, that term as used by
Edith does confuse me a lot.

Look at this from the following brief comments, attributed accordingly:

Mbugua Njihia: (http://www.mbuguanjihia.com/iebc-rfp.html)*:*
"
The choice of system design by the IEBC has been on the lips of many. The
techies among us are wondering how and why the system seems to be having so
many glitches while the functions of the said system are “simple”. Simple
used in quotes, not to belittle system design, but to mean we have at
our disposal tools to test all manner of scenarios that may arise in a
system such as this and build the relevant use cases. What I would like to
see is the User Acceptance Test document to see what parameters and
scenarios were taken for a proper workout.

Building mobile application front ends is the least of the tasks, ensuring
secure communication via VPN is neither here nor there. The design of
the back-end is what matters…the scalability, redundancy, data integrity
etc.

For the amount of money put down for this system, I would say that I am
disappointed, mostly because I know what could be.

"

This being a technical failure, we are having a technical perspective of
what-is and what-is-not on skunkworks:
http://orion.my.co.ke/pipermail/skunkworks/2013-March/075988.html

The failure at IEBC cannot in any way be attributed to the ICT Sector, but
to the dumb/incompetent ICT staff employed at IEBC.




On 6 March 2013 09:42, Evans Ikua <ikua.evans at gmail.com> wrote:

> Edith, I beg to differ. Its not ICT that has failed here. Its the
> processes. Just throwing some expensive servers and plenty of bandwidth at
> a problem will not solve it. The top leadership has to fully understand
> their organization's ICT strategy. They have to internalize the
> opportunities that technology brings to the table, as well as the inherent
> risks that come with it. This cannot be left to techies, however good they
> may be. The reason being that if the organization that you lead fails (and
> the reason was technology), its you who is answerable, not the techies.
> This is the spirit of IT Governance.
>
> It would be interesting to know if the IEBC commissioners fully understand
> the risks of the technologies that they are relying on.
> Let us not blame the technology.
>
> Evans
>
> On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 8:55 AM, Edith Adera <eadera at idrc.ca> wrote:
>
>> Listers,
>>
>> It is a shame that for the first time in Kenya's history when IT is given
>> a chance to bring credibility and efficiency in the electoral process, ICT
>> has failed SPECTACULARLY!
>>
>> what went wrong?
>>
>> Edith
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>
>
>
> --
> *----------------------------------------------------
> Kind Regards,
> Evans Ikua,*
> lanetconsulting.com,
> lpi-eastafrica.org,
> ict-innovation.fossfa.net,
> Skype: @ikuae
> Cell: +254-722-955831
>
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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.
>



-- 
Best regards,
Odhiambo WASHINGTON,
Nairobi,KE
+254733744121/+254722743223
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
I can't hear you -- I'm using the scrambler.
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