[kictanet] Has the ICT Sector Failed?

Wed Mar 6 19:48:51 EAT 2013

Mark,

The law requires that the results are transmitted electronically, so it's not a PR exercise! I guess this was made a requirement to avoid rigging and disappearing returning officers like Kivuitu experienced - as these are transmitted in the presence of all party agents observers etc. I guess also a back-up to the actual signed paper copies.

So ICT was playing a very crucial role.

Edith

From: kictanet [mailto:kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.ca at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Mark Mwangi
Sent: March 6, 2013 12:23 PM
To: Edith Adera
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Has the ICT Sector Failed?

The way I understand the electronic system is that it was only meant to be a public facing results platform that would give a general feel of the winners and loosers before the official figures were declared.

The failure of the system thus does not affect the integrity of the elections but only the PR skills of IEBC. The official results are still on form 16a i presume.

On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 11:57 AM, Erik Hersman <erik at zungu.com<mailto:erik at zungu.com>> wrote:
Valid question Edith.  The short answer is that only the people in Bomas can answer that question.  I'm looking forward to when they talk about it as well.

Erik Hersman

www.ushahidi.com<http://www.ushahidi.com/> | www.iHub.co.ke<http://www.ihub.co.ke/>
www.whiteafrican.com<http://www.afrigadget.com/> | @whiteafrican<http://twitter.com/whiteafrican>

On Mar 6, 2013, at 11:45 AM, Edith Adera <eadera at idrc.ca<mailto:eadera at idrc.ca>> wrote:

Erik,

Key question, were these companies working in sync or providing services independently without a lead ensurin tgat everything works.

The demo seems to have failed as per article circulated by Muthoni, why were these not addresed as the same problems were experienced during the`live show`.

Hard to understand.

Why not use one integrated system?

____________________________________
From: kictanet [kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.ca at lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.ca at lists.kictanet.or.ke>] on behalf of Erik Hersman [erik at zungu.com<mailto:erik at zungu.com>]
Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2013 1:52 AM
To: Edith Adera
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Has the ICT Sector Failed?

Agreed with Evans here.

Every single tech system has problems, that IEBC does as well should be no surprise.  I've been spending last night and this morning trying to better understand how the IEBC's data flow works, their lack of clarity here is the only problem that I can find.  You can see my questions, sources and even the IEBC RFP for the system here: http://iebctechkenya.tumblr.com/

 *   Polling station uses Safaricom SIM cards >
 *   App installed in phone, proprietary software from IFES >
 *   Transmitted via Safaricom's VPN >
 *   Servers hosted/managed by Next  Technologies (needs confirmation) >
 *   Google hosted website at http://vote.iebc.or.ke >
 *   Google hosted API at http://api.iebc.or.ke

You'll note that, besides the IEBC itself, there are at least 4 (large) organizations that have to be in sync in order for the system to work (Safaricom, IFES, Next Technologies, and Google).  That's no small task, and as you can see by the list of companies involved, these are largely not local companies.

Erik Hersman

www.ushahidi.com<http://www.ushahidi.com><http://www.ushahidi.com/> | www.iHub.co.ke<http://www.iHub.co.ke><http://www.ihub.co.ke/>
www.whiteafrican.com<http://www.whiteafrican.com><http://www.afrigadget.com/> | @whiteafrican<http://twitter.com/whiteafrican>

On Mar 6, 2013, at 9:42 AM, Evans Ikua <ikua.evans at gmail.com<mailto:ikua.evans at gmail.com><mailto: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<mailto:eadera at idrc.ca><mailto: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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