[kictanet] Has the ICT Sector Failed?

ericosiakwan at me.com ericosiakwan at me.com
Thu Mar 7 21:58:24 EAT 2013 

Folks:

Whiles this post-motem is relevant, i think the timing is out of sync. In my view the most relevant "to do" now is "how do we get the RESULTS out PEACEFULLY and below is what i suggest members of this list consider;

1. Lets calm tempers and do our best to reduce the tension,
2. Lets find ways of helping the IEBC to deliver on it's mandate of collating and declaring the results,
3. Let all parties be ready to accept the results and if they are not satisfied, approach the law courts instead of the media and streets.

Unfortunately, distance wont allow me to help in this exercise but i trust it can be done, peacefully. Then we can do the post-motem properly.

Eric here


On 7 Mar 2013, at 18:31, ICT Researcher <ict.researcher at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Time to mutually agree that those whom voted electronically continue indulging in ICT nitpicking while those whom voted manually concentrate on manual results announced by electoral authority?
> 
> From: Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo at gmail.com>
> To: ict.researcher at yahoo.com 
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> 
> Sent: Thursday, March 7, 2013 9:01 PM
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Has the ICT Sector Failed?
> 
> @Edith,
> 
> Safaricom cannot explain anything to do with IEBC Servers and laptops and even the Nokia phones IEBC used! I'll try to elaborate slightly:
> 
> 1. Safaricom gives connectivity, much like a highway to drive on at a certain maximum speed. They ensured that IEBC got this and I must emphasize I was a witness to this, having sat with Bob Collymore and other Safaricom's top
>     Manager at the Safaricom Network Monitoring Centre (NMC) from 6.30pm on Monday to about 8am on Tuesday. During this time, myself and other representatives of political parties and representative from IEBC had unfettered
>     access to the NMC and the Engineers on duty to ensure there were no issues affecting the "highway". I don't remember seeing any failures on the highway, and besides there was enough redundancy in place to mitigate that.
> 
> 2. Safaricom DID NOT have access to IEBC servers - which form the "backend" of the transmission system. Neither did Safaricom have access to the mobile phones that were used as "frontend". These two were communicating
>     via a VPN. The encryption within this VPN was IEBCs business. IEBC was responsible for configuring the frontend-backend communication. When IEBCs Server disk filled up (ran out of space) it was IEBCs business to fix, not
>     Safaricoms. I remember when results stopped trickling in, I did raise the question and CORD's representative at the NMC went to Bomas, where he got the information that there had been issues with HDD storage. I also recall
>     Safaricom's Nzioka Waita rushing to Bomas to get to establish what the real problem was. Of course it was beyond his mandate to manage IEBC's Server.
> 
> This whole s*^t is IEBCs to answer for, NOT Safaricom. Look at the failure as being on the "Submission System" (frontend-backend) and not on the highway.
> 
> I am not speaking on behalf of Safaricom, but as one person who has first hand information from Safaricom's NMC while representing a political coalition's interests. Oh, and Jubilee Coalition did not send a representative. I also don't recall seeing someone representing Amani coalition, but they all had invitation to attend.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On 6 March 2013 20:10, Edith Adera <eadera at idrc.ca> wrote:
> Despite Safaricom’s press release, they were involved in transmitting the results. Can they explain why the transmission via their VPN failed?
>  
> Edith
>  
> From: kictanet [mailto:kictanet-bounces+eadera=idrc.ca at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Erik Hersman
> Sent: March 6, 2013 3:02 PM
> 
> To: Edith Adera
> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Has the ICT Sector Failed?
>  
> Does anyone on the list have the contact information for Dismas Ongondi at IEBC?
> Dismas Ongondi - Director of Information Communication Technology
> As head of the ICT department, he has been in charge of the technological revolution at the commission. The implementation of the an electronic results transmission technology and biometric voter registration has been under his docket. He is the man Kenyans will be focusing on tomorrow when Presidential results are relayed electronically. 
> Erik Hersman
>  
> www.ushahidi.com | www.iHub.co.ke
> www.whiteafrican.com | @whiteafrican
>  
>  
> On Mar 6, 2013, at 1:49 PM, Dorcas Muthoni <dmuthoni at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> I would be curious to know when the selected vendor actually indeed receive their contract for the work to begin. My experience with public procurement (GoK, USAID, etc), once the bids are closed, it will usually take more than 30 days to get everything finalized internal to the buying organisation for a contract to be issued and hence works to begin.
>  
> Considering this was a software project for custom tool and several integration requirements with several third party applications. The problems were are seeing are really a manifestation of how the preparedness process went.
>  
>  
> On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 1:24 PM, Erik Hersman <erik at zungu.com> wrote:
> Agosta,
>  
> I think it's clear that we all understand that tech issues happen, on this list we understand that better than most.  However, how are you supposed to help if you don't know what's wrong?
>  
> That's really what's at issue here.  It's about understanding how it works first, then who's involved, then what's wrong, then what (if anything) we can do.  Do you find something wrong in that train of thought?
>  
> Erik Hersman
>  
> www.ushahidi.com | www.iHub.co.ke
> www.whiteafrican.com | @whiteafrican
>  
> On Mar 6, 2013, at 1:01 PM, Agosta Liko <agostal at gmail.com> wrote:
>  
> Daudi
> 
> My point is when people work on complex systems ... like the election system, things fail and most times they recover.
> 
> Lets not have a public hazing exercise -- Unless we say we know for a fact what the problem is
> 
> and in that case, first step would be to offer help to IEBC - or the staff there. We know them !!
> 
> There are too many of us who are now offering solutions on blogs, websites etc etc
> 
> Maybe this will bring in more grants .....
> 
> Thanks
> On Wed, Mar 6, 2013 at 12:55 PM, Daudi Were <daudi.were at gmail.com> wrote:
>  
>  
> On 6 March 2013 09:56, Agosta Liko <agostal at gmail.com> wrote:
> about the RFP ...
> 
> ----------------------------------------
> THIS REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) IS THE EXCLUSIVE, CONFIDENTIAL, PROPRIETARY PROPERTY OF THE INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR ELECTORAL SYSTEMS (IFES). IT MAY NOT BE COPIED, TRANSMITTED, OR DISCLOSED BY ANY MEANS WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF IFES . BY ACCEPTING A COPY HEREOF, RECIPIENT AGREES TO (I) BE BOUND BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CONTAINED HEREIN (INCLUDING BUT NO T LIMITED TO THE CONFIDENTIALITY PROVISONS), (II) USE THE RFP (AND ANY RELATED DOCUMENTS) SOLE LY FOR EVALUATION PURPOSES AND FOR RESPONDING TO THIS RFP, AND (III) RETURN OR DESTROY THE RFP (AND ANY RELATED DOCUMENTS) UPON IFES REQUEST OR UPON YOUR DECISION NOT TO RESPOND TO THIS RFP
> 
> ----------------------------------------
>  
> Liko,
>  
> The RFP maybe belong to IFES (and that can be disputed), the election and the electoral process belongs to Kenyans. 
> We not only have the right, we have the RESPONSIBILITY to question what is going on with the ICT systems at Bomas. 
> Since you keep telling us to expect things to fail and then expect them to be fixed why don't you tell us WHAT failed and WHAT is being fixed. Simple enough. If you don't want to tell us what is failing and what is being fixed then tell us WHY you can not tell us. Is it that you don't know, in which case you should join is trying to find out WHAT is going on. 
>  
> The integrity of our election is much more important that a warning IN CAPS about which obscure company owns which document. 
>  
> We ask these questions are patriots, as concerned citizens who want our electoral commission to succeed. Obscure confidentially clauses or not. 
>  
> D
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
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> 
>  
> -- 
> 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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> 
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Best regards,
> Odhiambo WASHINGTON,
> Nairobi,KE
> +254733744121/+254722743223
> _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 
> I can't hear you -- I'm using the scrambler.
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> 
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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.

Eric M.K Osiakwan
+233244386792


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