Edith, <div><br></div><div>I am one of those who suggested a full Audit of the system but only after the elections and I am definitely looking forward to this weeks #140 Friday with Brian, I hear people involved will be available for candid discussions. </div>
<div><br></div><div>What I am seeing and I stand to be corrected is the spectator syndrome, when everything is ok and the international press highlight Kenya as a tech destination, Mpesa is praised, Ushahidi and startups with all our Mvitus, we celebrate, claim our team (#teamtech/ICT) is winning and write long blog posts and gazillion tweets etc</div>
<div><br></div><div>This only last as long as nothing goes wrong, but when it does, suddenly the conversation changes from "we" to "them", they have failed, they dint consult, they dint test, they... not us. This is what most football fans/Spectators do, they love their football team only when its winning, which basically makes one wonder are we players or are we fans of this game?<br>
<br>But to bring this home, we have a bigger problem, if this community started asking about the procurement process, the system architect and the companies that were selected to implement the IEBC system only after it failed, we are not engaging enough, are we saying that nobody in this list bid for this system? nobody tried? ... doesn't that mean we are just talking ..... and talk is cheap.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I would like to challenge the community to engage more with an aim to problem solve, to tender and bid for local contracts, to build more open source solutions, to fundraise with an aim to seed fund startups, if we dont... we are going to be running around in circles and then move to Rwanda and guess what we will all say ..... they dint do xyz... </div>
<div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Let ask Ourselves ... who is they?</div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 4:35 PM, Edith Adera <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:eadera@idrc.ca" target="_blank">eadera@idrc.ca</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div lang="EN-CA" link="blue" vlink="purple">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Harry,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Not sure you were in Kenya or buried your head in the sand!<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">It’s a fact that the system did not work and IEBC had to revert to the manual system as reported by the Chair of the IEBC on TV.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">We need to learn to tell the truth as a country and confront our issues. Someone suggested on this list, can’t remember who, that as an ICT industry an audit should be carried out so we know what went wrong
and learn for the future.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Why do we always turn to the easy targets….tribalism, partisan interests etc when hard questions are asked?<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Edith<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<div>
<div style="border:none;border-top:solid #b5c4df 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> kictanet [mailto:<a href="mailto:kictanet-bounces%2Beadera" target="_blank">kictanet-bounces+eadera</a>=<a href="mailto:idrc.ca@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank">idrc.ca@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Harry Delano<br>
<b>Sent:</b> March 12, 2013 3:22 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Edith Adera<br>
<b>Cc:</b> KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [kictanet] Our Response to Systematic ICT Systems Failure at IEBC<u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div>
</div><div><div class="h5">
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Aye..!<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Could someone please aver what the furor was all about on this list when systems failed at IEBC last week. I thought it was so that<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">we could address systemic issues in that part of the election process..? Please someone correct me, but I seem to be settling on<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">this conclusion that we collectively only raise hue and cry when the system(s) are perceived to be working against “us”, or not in
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">“our” interests – whichever side of divide each one of us sits. Once they serve ‘our’ interests, we quickly move on.. So where is
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">posterity in all this..? A pattern emerges where well calculated intellectual arguments everywhere nowadays, that thinly veil and
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">mask the real motives in us. We completely bury our heads in the ground and deny that we have deeply rooted issues that stem<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">from tribe, class etc and as a result, we are caught up in this vicious cycle that we cannot seem to free ourselves from and which
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">clouds our entire vision as a nation. Who will free us, if we do not take initiative ourselves..? How and when will we as a nation
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">confront this ‘monster’ head on, by first of all acknowledging it exists. Then moving to deal with it. Can this list be at the forefront
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">of it..?<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">If so, let’s start now..<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Harry<u></u><u></u></span></p>
</div></div></div>
</div>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br>Warm Regards,<br>------------------------<br>Sam Gichuru<div><br><div><br></div><div>twitter: | <a href="http://twitter.com/samgichuru" target="_blank">@samgichuru</a><div>
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<div>Skype: Sam.gichuru</div><div>Cellphone: | +254-722-730565 </div><div><div><br></div><div>Co-founder/ Director /Nailab Incubation</div></div></div></div><div>Location: | Nairobi </div><div>Website: | <a href="http://www.nailab.co.ke" target="_blank">www.nailab.co.ke</a></div>
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