[kictanet] Incompetence gallore

Wed Sep 25 12:00:46 EAT 2013

Josiah,

How can you possibly fix it???  Tell the taxis out front to pay the city
council fees?  They'll laugh in your face.  Maybe if iHub pays the fees for
the taxis or something since they're the prime users?

As for buying chai for the guards to let you park in select parking spots
downstairs, that seems like a difficult thing to defend against unless you
have an everybody pays policy.

As with everything else, only structural solutions will solve entrenched
problems and it won't be easy.

Best of luck,
Adam

--
Kili.io - OpenStack for Africa: kili.io
Musings: twitter.com/varud <https://twitter.com/varud>
About Adam: www.linkedin.com/in/adamcnelson

On Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 11:56 AM, Josiah Mugambi
<josiah.mugambi at gmail.com>wrote:

> Hi Adam,
>
> Thanks for the info on the Bishop Magua parking. We definitely will be
> looking into this. It is something that neither the iHub nor Ushahidi
> management has been aware of.
>
> We certainly intend to do our bit in the fight against corruption.
>
> Josiah Mugambi
>
>
> On Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 11:34 AM, Adam Nelson <adam at varud.com> wrote:
>
>> I'm well enough off that I try not to bribe as often as possible.  When I
>> first moved here, the policeman took the keys out of my car and I had no
>> choice but to give him 1000ksh.
>>
>> I've now been pulled over approximately 10 times since then (ever 2 weeks
>> or so) and have successfully talked my way out of bribing every time.  I
>> take the keys out of the ignition and put them into my pocket now (lesson
>> learned).
>>
>> The parking people in front of iHub will take 100 bob for the day instead
>> of 140 for city council but I almost always pay the full amount.
>>
>> The security officers at the iHub building also collect 100 bob for
>> parking downstairs - I don't pay them, which is why I park out front.  If
>> the home of Ushahidi can't even stop corruption on its doorstep, what
>> chance is there?
>>
>> At the least however, I think people who can afford to pay the 40
>> shillings should make the precedent - they'll sleep better at night.  If
>> you can't afford it, I don't condemn you and I think you should continue to
>> bribe.
>>
>> I've been waiting some time to get my PIN, we'll see if I can do that
>> without a bribe - fingers crossed.
>>
>> --
>> Kili.io - OpenStack for Africa: kili.io
>> Musings: twitter.com/varud <https://twitter.com/varud>
>> About Adam: www.linkedin.com/in/adamcnelson
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 11:24 AM, S.M. Muraya <murigi.muraya at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> Adam,
>>>
>>> Well noted.
>>>
>>> In Kenya we buy (bribe for) contracts/employment in government
>>> (including the police and military) as we also do in the private sector.
>>>
>>> If your career begins with your family bribing to get you inside, it is
>>> likely to continue with you becoming a major bribe collector.
>>>
>>> Possibly, public officials privately collect almost as much money for
>>> themselves, as they collect for the state through legal/constitutional
>>> channels.
>>>
>>> We in the private sector are as guilty as they are in practicing
>>> corruption, in corrupting public officials. The end result is we best
>>> "perform" for kickbacks not ethics.
>>>
>>> Sadly.
>>>
>>> On Sep 25, 2013 11:04 AM, "Adam Nelson" <adam at varud.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>  I drove by a dead body this morning on the bypass between Wayaki way
>>>> and Grevillea Grove.  He was clearly beaten to death and been there for
>>>> some time.  We called an emergency line and ostensibly the police will
>>>> come.  On Ngong Rd across from Brew Bistro 2 weeks ago a boy was killed by
>>>> a truck and his body lay on the side of the street for 2 hours (Ngong Rd,
>>>> one of the busiest in town) before anybody official arrived at the scene.
>>>>
>>>> How can it be expected that the Nairobi police handle one of the most
>>>> complex hostage crises of the decade when they can't even respond to a dead
>>>> body on the side of a major thoroughfare within 2 hours?
>>>>
>>>> I visited Kigali 3 weeks ago and what it made me realize is that it's
>>>> not an 'African thing' or a 'Developing World thing' that Nairobi is a
>>>> disaster.  It's a total lack of excellence at every level of government.
>>>>  Kigali is better run in every respect than Nairobi and for the most part,
>>>> it just comes down to better management.
>>>>
>>>> I'm not one for recriminations and at a time like this am mostly just
>>>> sad.  In the end, I'm an American and can't effect change here - it's up to
>>>> Nairobians and Kenyans to say enough is enough and to demand that the
>>>> public safety system be reformed.
>>>>
>>>> 1. A 911 (or 999) emergency call center
>>>> 2. All police wearing ID numbers and equipped with a ticket book so
>>>> they can write tickets
>>>> 3. A new type of police with a different uniform that receive double
>>>> pay but will be fired if found guilty of corruption
>>>> 4. All police equipped with a mode of transportation (even just a
>>>> mountain bike)
>>>> 5. All police equipped with a radio
>>>>
>>>> Is this too much to ask of a city that bills itself as the capital of
>>>> anything?
>>>>
>>>> -Adam
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Kili.io - OpenStack for Africa: kili.io
>>>> Musings: twitter.com/varud <https://twitter.com/varud>
>>>> About Adam: www.linkedin.com/in/adamcnelson
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Sep 25, 2013 at 10:18 AM, Dennis Kioko <dmbuvi at gmail.com>wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>   A Standard article explains how disorderly and dangerous the
>>>>> operation was, Kenyans troops killed each other, and endangered the lives
>>>>> of hostages in a haphazard operation.
>>>>>
>>>>> The familiar shoot to kill order was given out http://t.co/M5tJ67KcPk
>>>>>
>>>>> Sent from my Windows Phone
>>>>>  ------------------------------
>>>>> From: robert yawe <robertyawe at yahoo.co.uk>
>>>>> Sent: 25/09/2013 08:29
>>>>> To: Dennis Kioko Mbuvi <dmbuvi at gmail.com>
>>>>> Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
>>>>> Subject: [kictanet] Incompetence gallore
>>>>>
>>>>>  Editorial from a Saudi Paper
>>>>>
>>>>>    -  Something wrong in Kenya
>>>>>
>>>>>    There can be no denying the extraordinary challenges facing the
>>>>>    Kenyan government. Yet as the last terrorists were being rooted out of
>>>>>    Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall at the end of a slaughter spree that has
>>>>>    killed some 70 people and injured hundreds more, the Kenyan authorities
>>>>>    need to be asking themselves some hard questions.
>>>>>
>>>>>    This is a country which because it is actively involved in
>>>>>    combating Al-Shabab terrorists in Somalia is supposed to be on the very
>>>>>    highest state of alert. Kenya did not choose this confrontation. In 1998 it
>>>>>    was an amiably corrupt and easygoing country with merely a nasty record of
>>>>>    armed robberies, mostly of rich Western tourists.
>>>>>
>>>>>    Then Al-Qaeda launched one of its very first international
>>>>>    attacks, a deadly assault on the US embassy in the Kenyan capital which
>>>>>    left 224 people dead the great majority of them Kenyans. Thereafter, there
>>>>>    was a succession of small attacks by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab which
>>>>>    culminated in raids on Kenyan coastal tourist resorts and a Somali refugee
>>>>>    camp, targeting and kidnapping foreigners.
>>>>>
>>>>>    It was the final straw. Nairobi sent troops into Somali striking
>>>>>    Al-Shabab fighters in the rear as they were pressed from the north by
>>>>>    African Union forces. Thereafter, the terrorists resorted to low-level
>>>>>    violence, mostly hit and run grenade attacks across the Somali border,
>>>>>    until the attack by some 15 heavily armed men on the supposedly
>>>>>    well-guarded up-market Westgate shopping center. The attackers managed to
>>>>>    negotiate their way with all their weaponry through the capital’s
>>>>>    roadblocks. They contrived to organize their deadly assault without the
>>>>>    Kenyan intelligence services picking up the slightest inkling of what was
>>>>>    about to happen.
>>>>>
>>>>>    Something has got to be wrong somewhere. And the closer one looks
>>>>>    at the way the tragic events unfolded, the more difficult questions it
>>>>>    seems that the Kenyan authorities have to answer. Why for instance did it
>>>>>    take almost half an hour for the first properly armed and equipped teams to
>>>>>    arrive at the shopping mall? Why was there no proper building evacuation
>>>>>    scheme nor any obvious plan to respond to a terrorist outrage within the
>>>>>    complex?
>>>>>
>>>>>    Acts of bravery by shopping center staff, individual police
>>>>>    officers and ordinary members of the public cannot mask what appears to
>>>>>    have been a series of bungles by all those who should have been responsible
>>>>>    for the safety of the complex and its visitors. Journalists noted that when
>>>>>    heavily-armed special forces arrived, some seemed nervous and confused,
>>>>>    perhaps as a result of the shouting that could be heard from senior
>>>>>    officers who themselves seemed poorly briefed and unprepared and as a
>>>>>    result unsure of how best to proceed. The inevitable report into this
>>>>>    horrific event may find that by delaying a rapid and firm response to the
>>>>>    attack, the authorities permitted the terrorists to continue their killing
>>>>>    spree and also allowed them to consolidate their position within the mall.
>>>>>
>>>>>    Perhaps a clue to what went so disastrously wrong at the Westgate
>>>>>    mall can be found in the devastating fire at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta
>>>>>    International Airport last month. Though the blaze broke out in the early
>>>>>    morning, meaning no one was killed, the extent of the fire and the
>>>>>    extraordinary delays in getting fire appliances to the scene raised major
>>>>>    questions about the competence of the Kenyan authorities. The Westgate
>>>>>    tragedy must compound these serious concerns.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>
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>>>>>
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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.
>>>>
>>>
>>
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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.
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Josiah Mugambi
>
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