First, ALL government departments / state corporations should openly LIST all their contractors / consultants.. including those managing / deploying their messaging and workflow (enterprise web) systems.<br><br>My own view is that we should help whoever gets government contracts... not demonize or harass them.<br>
<br>Our government pursued a PHP / Joomla CMS strategy.. Not bad in itself but most PHP web developers in Kenya give up their craft (2-3 years) sooner than developers working on better paying Enterprise jobs / projects. Not easy to find good (experienced) PHP devs willing to compete with school leavers for low wages to improve <a href="http://go.ke">go.ke</a> (php) sites.<br>
<br>Government contracts should be outsourced to firms that are able to recruit or create and keep experts for 2-5 years. Dr. Ndemo knows good staff have to be paid wages above the government scale.<br><br><a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201108012382.html">http://allafrica.com/stories/201108012382.html</a><br>
<br>In Kenya there is too much emphasis on mobile apps. Fewer devs are doing the kind of workflow (enterprise web) apps our government needs.<br><br><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/jobs/jobs-ASPnet-Developer-1801581">http://www.linkedin.com/jobs/jobs-ASPnet-Developer-1801581</a><br>
<br>Favoritism does not necessarily mean malice or incompetence. <br><br>In one telecom customer service center I frequent almost weekly (have been losing credit shortly after loading it) almost all (over 80%) of the employees are from one part of Kenya. The serve me well enough for me not to think of them as more tribal than professional. Employers / employees seek those have more in common with... culturally / socially / intellectually. <br>
<br>We need to create informal links between government technocrats and known technical experts / consultants in the market. It is not right for technical experts to join government so that they can win government contracts as insiders. It does not take long for them to rapidly deteriorate in technical skills as they develop in political skills.<br>
<br>Much technical knowledge should be shared semi-formally over tea / coffee / juice.<br><br><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_universities">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_universities</a><br><br>There is much competition in the GLOBAL market for technical talent. Many of our mobile / web devs are doing small (one man) local and foreign jobs instead of pursuing government projects they know they can never win even if they are competent. As such they are not developing project management skills. Others are competing for Tandaa Funds to help them build systems the government will use in future... <br>
<br>In my limited view the KICTB, through TANDAA funding has done pretty well in keeping a bunch of our youth interested in mobile / web app development. By now many of them would have resorted to managing IT systems or become bankers.<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote"><br><br>On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 12:48 PM, Odhiambo Washington <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:odhiambo@gmail.com">odhiambo@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div class="im">On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 09:41, warigia bowman <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:warigia@aucegypt.edu" target="_blank">warigia@aucegypt.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Dear listers. <br><br>Apparently, NONE of the emails at <a href="http://identity.go.ke" target="_blank">identity.go.ke</a> seem to be functioning. <br><br>What do you think of the fact that several emails and the website at an important government office are not working? <br>
<br>Rigia<br><br>Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:<br>
<br>
<a href="mailto:customer.care@identity.go.ke" target="_blank">customer.care@identity.go.ke</a><br>
<br>
Technical details of permanent failure:<br>
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the
recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for
further information about the cause of this error. The error that the
other server returned was: 550 550 5.7.1 Unable to relay (state 14).<div><div></div><div><br><br></div></div></blockquote></div><div><br>Dr. Rigia,<br><br>Most govt agencies did come up with websites, not because they had prepared well for the digital age, but because it was fashionable to have one (since every other person was having one), the expenditure not withstanding. You therefore should not be surprised that many of the websites are dysfunctional. You'd be lucky if you could find someone in such institutions who can "take ownership of the website". You'll probably be told it is "IT", and whom you'll discover was not consulted and as such is not any interested. So far, what works in KE is physically going there and "causing", to an extent that you stop everything else from happening until they've resolved your issue.<br>
</div></div><font color="#888888"><br>-- <br>Best regards,<br>Odhiambo WASHINGTON,<br>Nairobi,KE<br>+254733744121/+254722743223<br>_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ <br>I can't hear you -- I'm using the scrambler.<br>
<span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#007F00"><img src="cid:image001.png@01CBFF85.F00DA370" height="33" width="35"></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#007F00" lang="EN-US">Please consider the environment before printing this email. </span><br>
<br>
</font><br>_______________________________________________<br>
kictanet mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet" target="_blank">http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet</a><br>
<br>
Unsubscribe or change your options at <a href="http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/murigi.muraya%40gmail.com" target="_blank">http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/murigi.muraya%40gmail.com</a><br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
</blockquote></div><br>