[kictanet] State cancels the Laptop Project tender process?

Thu Oct 17 18:46:22 EAT 2013

Walu,

I'll take that as a compliment,  thanks.

If the Powers that be wanted to, we have in this community persons who,
could join such Boards, even at no pay, to work for the betterment of our
country.

But, as it is, just about everyone recruited nowadays wants to first and
foremost make money either from their hefty salaries, allowances or
kickbacks.

And in such a setting you can be sure no decisions that would rock the boat
would be made as everyone is on self-preservation mode and answers to a
'Master' somewhere.

We forgot what "Public Service" means.

And I often wonder; our grand fathers died and others were willing to do
the same, so that our generation could live in an independent state. It
wasnt easy.

Why can't our generation rise up and free this country, for our sons &
daughters from our current economic bondage?

If you think about it, everyone of those Ksh 20B about to be used in
over-priced hardware has been raised from the backs of our mothers,
fathers, wifes, husbands, relatives, friends who toil our soil everyday
only to end up paying VAT for bread.

When then accumulated at Treasury, the money 'finds' a PS or Cabinet
Secretary or a Procurement guy in 'Public Service' who is least bothered to
get this country value for money!

Just so you know, from my little 'procurement exercise' covering the whole
of 10mins, I have a quote on Asus Laptops Intel Core 2 Duo @ 1.8ghz, 4gb
RAM, 200GB Hard Drive for the princely sum of 165 USD per laptop if I pick
20, 000 of them.

Go Figure!

Waithaka Ngigi

Alliance Technologies
Nairobi, Kenya

www.A1.io
On 17 Oct 2013 15:10, "Walubengo J" <jwalu at yahoo.com> wrote:

> @Ngigi
>
> +++1
>
> I still do not understand why people like you do not sit on these so many
> Government Boards, Committees, Taskforce, etc.
>
> But then again, its perhaps because your ideas add value to the country,
> while the folks who would be sitting next to you (fellow board members)
> will be thinking "local pocket"...and your ideas will potentially with the
> clash with mood around the table...pricking conscience... a.k.a..noisemaker.
>
> walu.
> --------------------------------------------
> On Thu, 10/17/13, Ngigi Waithaka <ngigi at at.co.ke> wrote:
>
>  Subject: Re: [kictanet] State cancels the Laptop Project tender process?
>  To: "Walubengo J" <jwalu at yahoo.com>
>  Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>  Date: Thursday, October 17, 2013, 2:42 PM
>
>  Listers,
>  This is probably the most important decision
>  Kaimenyi has made to date and also that will define his 5
>  year term in Education. And I totally agree with
>  him.
>
>
>  We are being let down by lack of creativity in our
>  Procurement processes, yet we have persons who profess to
>  have Masters & PHDs in Procurement, but they they
>  can't think beyond their pockets.
>
>
>  Thing is, in large scale procurement, you have to look
>  at how to not only get the best value, but how to manage the
>  risk and also, how to ensure fair play amongst the
>  vendors.
>  Any tender for a country-wide project just
>  can't be awarded to a single vendor. This doesn't
>  happen in industries like roads (Can you imagine GoK saying
>  that they are issuing out a tender to tarmac every road in
>  Kenya that will end up with a single vendor?), but in ICT we
>  do it with impunity.
>
>
>  Since this is a Country Wide Project, the first
>  thing that needs to be made are the standards and
>  specifications for these laptops. Lock them down and then
>  ask Original Equipment Manufacturers to quote on how much it
>  would cost to supply these laptops in batches of 1,000. You
>  do not need HP, IBM, Lenovo. Go and talk to the OEM
>  Manufacturers directly, and let them give you Laptops
>  branded KenyaONE with those specs.
>
>
>  If you are buying 20K Laptops, you can make
>  Laptops to be made to your specification, unbranded at
>  almost half the cost. How do I know, we once had special
>  hardware made for a client here, who was buying just 500
>  pieces with full support and warranty.
>
>
>  If you think I am kidding, just take a look
>  here http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/oem-laptop.html.
>  You get laptops with Intel Core 2 Duo Chips &
>  Motherboards at between 100 - 200 USD depending on
>  quantities.
>
>
>  How do you support them? Give those contracts to
>  every University, College and Youth Group that gets
>  registered and the parts can be bought centrally then the
>  local guys can buy them from there and resell to the
>  schools.
>
>
>  How do you ensure quality? Ask KEBS to approve
>  Samples. Give kids in select schools to play around with
>  them for a month and get feedback, Once approved, then every
>  laptop after that has to meet those specs as per those
>  Samples.
>
>
>  And before anyone screams that China makes
>  'cheap' products, remember every major manufacturer
>  including the one that makes your treasured iPad,
>  manufacturers them in China. Even one DJ CK was shocked how
>  our average perception of China is during a recent visit
> http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/business/2013/08/lessons-from-uhurus-landmark-china-visit/
>
>
>  RegardsWaithaka
>  NgigiA1.iO
>
>  On Thu, Oct 17, 2013
>  at 11:33 AM, Walubengo J <jwalu at yahoo.com>
>  wrote:
>
>
>  NAIROBI, KENYA: The Government has
>  now cancelled the Laptop Project tender for schools over a
>  budget deficit as bidders exceeded the budgetary
>  projections.
>
>
>
>
>
>  Education Cabinet Secretary Prof Jacob Kaimenyi announced
>  that the tender process was canceled as lowest bidder quoted
>  Ksh 32B against an anticipated budget of Ksh 20B.
>
>
>
>  read more @
>
>
> http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/?articleID=2000095732&story_title=jubilee-laptop-project-halted
>
>
>
>
>
>  ~~~~
>
>  Not sure if it is true but I think Kenyans need to ask
>  serious questions on this.  We cannot spend our time and
>  effort putting forward ideas on how to best implement a
>  high-risk project and then suddenly we are told it is
>  over...kapput.. finito..go home. just like that!
>
>
>
>
>
>  For example If money is the problem why not modify the
>  project to fit 20B the budget?  I still think 20B would be
>  sufficient if this project was tilted and tweaked towards
>  the form1 student labs or even university students.  The
>  idea was noble and timely but execution and target audience
>  for me (not Yawe :-) has always been doubtful.
>
>
>
>
>
>  Right now we are told suppliers asked  for 32B Ksh and but
>  we had 20B so cancel the project, no questions asked and
>  perhaps wait for 2-3yrs later to read from the Auditor
>  General about how the 20B was (mis?)used.
>
>
>
>  I think the CS for ICT should make a pitch to salvage the
>  project in the modified form - assuming ofcourse the project
>  was truly intended.
>
>
>
>  walu.
>
>
>
>
>
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>  --
>  Regards,
>
>
>  Waithaka
>  NgigiChief Executive Officer
>  | Alliance Technologies | MCK
>  Nairobi Synod Building
>
>  T +
>  254 (0) 20 2333
>  471 |Office Mobile:
>  +254 786 28 28 28 | M + 254 737 811 000
>
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