[kictanet] Has the ICT Sector Failed?

Dorcas Muthoni dmuthoni at gmail.com
Thu Mar 7 09:37:29 EAT 2013


Dr. Ndemo,

You are very right. I have worked on many government software projects and
i know that many times providing unsolicited professional assistance or
advice can land you in many problems due to mistrust. Even adding a
nice-to-have feature to a software solution can give you worse problems.

What i think we need to learn from this experience is that an institution
within government needs to be mandated to lead quality assurance and IS
audit process for all agencies.

This "independent organisation/commission" mindset and attitude may lead to
lots of problems due to omissions, inexperience and incompetence.

Regards,
Muthoni

On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 8:15 AM, <bitange at jambo.co.ke> wrote:

> Edith,
> As Walubengo has said, working in Government is like trying to solve a
> giant jigsaw puzzle.  Our new governance structures have made it even more
> complex.  We have several independent organizations that literraly want to
> be independent from government.  My interpretation of the constitution is
> that independent organizations are only functionally independent.  If for
> example we had made an effort to have Muthoni's concerns addressed, we
> could have landed into problems with calls of interverance with an
> independent organization.
>
> As I have always argued in this forum, we as people lack moral standards
> that are essential to mutual trust.  We have spent fifty years since
> independence mistrusting one another.  As we we begin the next fifty
> years, let us build a new Kenya where values and trust are the key
> connerstones of our development.
>
>
> Ndemo.
>
>
>
> > Bwana Ndemo
> >
> > The first article that Muthoni shared which exposed the failure of the
> > system at demo stage asked very fundamental questions. Those questions
> > must be answered as we try to unearth what happened.
> >
> > in this day and age of cloud computing, why would you be talking of a
> > server unable to cope? It seems hacking the system was not difficult from
> > the layers described by Erik and managed by 4-5 different companies not
> > under one management structure.
> >
> > Finally, as an industry, we should have had more interest in interogating
> > and auditing this system.
> >
> > Edith
> > ________________________________________
> > From: kictanet [kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.ca at lists.kictanet.or.ke] on
> > behalf of dmakali at yahoo.com [dmakali at yahoo.com]
> > Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2013 1:51 PM
> > To: Edith Adera
> > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
> > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Has the ICT Sector Failed?
> >
> > Daktari, we are not talking abt the human errors of the voting process.
> > That was manual. Rather we are interested and reviewing what happened to
> > the IT part of the exercise! The transmission of the results did not
> > simply fail from overload or any technical hiccup. What exactly
> transpired
> > that isaack is only referring to euphemistically as "technical
> > challenges"?
> >
> > Am sure you know that the system did not just malfunction but suffered
> frm
> > manipulation. I stand to be correcyted but Can a system trigger itself to
> > generate results and alter its data transmission  logs? Lets just say all
> > of us are being patriotic and acting in the national interest at this
> time
> > but sm1 should not think we are fooled. The truth will sooner than later
> > become apparent.
> >
> > But i truly appreciate your contribution.
> > - Makali
> >
> > Sent from my BlackBerry®
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: bitange at jambo.co.ke
> > Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2013 18:23:33
> > To: <dmakali at yahoo.com>
> > Reply-To: bitange at jambo.co.ke
> > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Has the ICT Sector Failed?
> >
> > David,
> > A lot has been said in the social media trying to advance different
> > theories of. Why the systems failed  but what will matter are the final
> > vote count. These were just provisional results that were to be verified
> > before announcing the winner and were to be transmitted within a given
> > time.  Electronic results were to be like exit polls.  There were human
> > errors that should not have happened.  Look at the number of spoilt
> votes.
> >  Can we say it was sabotage?
> >
> > Ndemo.
> >
> >
> >
> > Sent from my BlackBerry®
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: dmakali at yahoo.com
> > Sender: "kictanet"
> > <kictanet-bounces+bitange=jambo.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke>Date: Wed, 6
> > Mar 2013 17:45:13
> > To: <bitange at jambo.co.ke>
> > Reply-To: dmakali at yahoo.com
> > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Has the ICT Sector Failed?
> >
> > Why is this being addressed as IT "failure" and not "sabotage"?. I would
> > think failure is when a system "fails" to function according to its
> > intended or programmed purpose and not when its "functioning" is
> > interfered with so as to derail it from performing the set task.
> >
> >
> >
> > Sent from my BlackBerry®
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Edith Adera <eadera at idrc.ca>
> > Sender: "kictanet"
> > <kictanet-bounces+dmakali=yahoo.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> > Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2013 17:10:13
> > To: <dmakali at yahoo.com>
> > Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> > Subject: Re: [kictanet] Has the ICT Sector Failed?
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
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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
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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.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > kictanet mailing list
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> 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.
> >
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Unsubscribe or change your options at
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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.
>



-- 
Muthoni

My Blog: http://rugongo.blogspot.com/
--------------------------------------------
Mahatma Gandhi once said:-

First they ignore you,
Then they laugh at you,
Then they fight you,
AND THEN YOU WIN!!!
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