[kictanet] Opinion Technology, transparency, and the Kenyan general election of 2013

Sat Mar 30 23:11:49 EAT 2013

Since I have developed a reputation for saying the unpopular things that
people think but are either too shy or too conflicted to talk about I will
make a simple point that I have observed over the past few years.

While the coalition government was lauded as a reasonable way of dealing
with the electoral debacle that we faced in 2007, the truth is that for the
past 5 years there have been some very strange and unusual dynamics at work
in the operations and makeup of Government departments and agencies. A
massive plus has been the much higher levels of scrutiny and
accountability. But I would like to suggest that the benefits have been
outweighed by the disadvantages.

A good example, and one that I would like to use here is the IEBC - it is
no secret that the two principals had to "share out" the various positions
that needed to be filled both a commissioner as well as senior management.
This has been the pattern for almost all appointments and recruiting
exercises across Government.

I venture to say that this approach has been counterproductive and aside
from yielding teams that can work together in planning, policy, strategy
and implementation within their departments/agencies has yielded a replica
of the competitive, antagonistic, selfish and almost vindictive tension
that has been evident between the two principals since day one.

It is my sincere hope that the next government will be marked by a complete
change in attitude, with more of a genuine team-based dynamic in terms of
setting and achieving organizational goals.

My two cents,

Brian

On Sat, Mar 30, 2013 at 10:21 PM, Dick Omondi <Dick.Omondi at ke.airtel.com>wrote:

> Now that we have a court decision that clears the matter of the
> presidency, perhaps it is now time to remove the emotions of the decision,
> turn away from politics and get down to the core issues in real
> institutional management and those surrounding the processes and the people
> around the IEBC lest we sit back and get through another four years and put
> together another unit in the last year of the 5 and go back to the same
> merry go round.
>
> ------------------------------
>  *From*: kictanet **
> *To*: Dick Omondi
> *Cc*: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions **
> *Sent*: Sat Mar 30 21:40:14 2013
>
> *Subject*: Re: [kictanet] Opinion Technology, transparency, and the
> Kenyan general election of 2013
>
> Thank you Ali. I appreciate your comments. Shukran.
>
>
> On Sat, Mar 30, 2013 at 1:38 PM, Ali Hussein <ali at hussein.me.ke> wrote:
>
>> Wariga
>>
>> Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed the read. I want to however object to the
>> words:-
>>
>> '...the election results show that technology has failed them.'
>>
>> I humbly submit that what failed us in this case is a mix of partisan
>> politicking, a knack for jostling to see how each proponent could
>> manipulate the process for their own benefit and lastly the failure of the
>> IEBC leadership to accept and tell Kenyans to our faces that the most
>> expensive technology ever bought for elections in Kenya (and Probably
>> Africa) was designed to fail before it landed in the country.
>>
>> I would replace the sentence '...the election results show that
>> technology has failed them.' with the sentence
>>
>> '...the election results show that *leadership* has failed them.'
>>
>> The saving grace is that we have a sober Supreme Court and we thank God
>> for them.
>>
>> Ali Hussein
>> CEO | 3mice interactive media Ltd
>> Principal | Telemedia Africa Ltd
>>
>> +254 773/713 601113
>>
>> "The future belongs to him who knows how to wait." - Russian Proverb
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>> On Mar 29, 2013, at 11:05 PM, Warigia Bowman <warigia at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> I thought you guys might enjoy this piece.
>>
>> http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/03/2013329135519365308.html
>>
>> Take a look, and tell me what you think. :-)
>>
>> Warigia
>>
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>
>
> --
> Dr. Warigia Bowman
> Assistant Professor
> Clinton School of Public Service
> University of Arkansas
> wbowman at clintonschool.uasys.edu
> -------------------------------------------------
> View my research on my SSRN Author page:
> http://ssrn.com/author=1479660
> --------------------------------------------------
>
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> 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
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