<div dir="auto">Hi Jimmy, <div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">I hear your frustration, but let's not give up. It really tough in govt. perhaps that is what "kills us inside" 😥. People quickly realise they are pushing mountain and some give up trying. We will ask Dr. Getao about the data centers as well. </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Kind regards.</div><br><div class="gmail_quote" dir="auto"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Jul 6, 2020, 13:00 Jimmy Gitonga via kictanet <<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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<div dir="auto">Sen. Abshiro and Ali,<br>
<br>
Dr. Kate Getao, then a director at the ICT Authority, at an Oracle Developer Conference at PanAfric Hotel was asked this precise question.<br>
<br>
She explained that the government had a Disaster Recovery Centre at Ruaraka and that the government was building a datacenter in Naivasha, close to Olkaria (for power purposes) to house all the data from and for government agencies.<br>
This data centre would then be opened up for counties. She carefully did not give a date but we were thinking with the “digital government” promises, we would see this come to fruition within that election period.<br>
<br>
Note, the problem is not lack of expertise in ICT. It seems we do not “love” our country. I am not talking about patriotism, I am talking about a good balanced pride in our country.<br>
When people join government as elected officials or the civil service, it is like they die inside. Something happens and I cannot figure out what it is.<br>
<br>
Ali is strong. Some of us stopped asking questions because it is tiring.<br></div>
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<div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px"><b>Jimmy Gitonga</b></div>
<div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px"><span style="color:rgb(68,26,15)">@Afrowave</span></div>
<div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px"><span style="color:rgb(68,26,15)">Web : Motion</span></div>
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<div name="messageReplySection">On 6 Jul 2020, 08:58 +0300, <a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>, wrote:<br>
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<div>Message: 1<br>
Date: Mon, 6 Jul 2020 08:55:34 +0300<br>
From: Ali Hussein <<a href="mailto:ali@hussein.me.ke" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">ali@hussein.me.ke</a>><br>
To: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions <<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>><br>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] .Ke domains cross the 100,000 Mark (Reminder<br>
to Team KeNIC to make good on their promise during last year?s AGM on<br>
transparency and improving on Corporate Governance. The silence is<br>
worrying) - REMINDER NO. 2<br>
Message-ID:<br>
<<a href="mailto:CAPjmBy1wbNPNA4ibbCAe9KKsdKON4O2tEs+G6UsiTrGORy98Kw@mail.gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">CAPjmBy1wbNPNA4ibbCAe9KKsdKON4O2tEs+G6UsiTrGORy98Kw@mail.gmail.com</a>><br>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"<br>
<br>
Mheshimiwa<br>
<br>
Thanks for your personal attention on this matter. My two cents:-<br>
<br>
1. First to answer your two issues.<br>
<br>
a) *T**hat government jobs are so temporary especially for a certain cadre<br>
of peopl*e - For as long as one is in Government employment everything that<br>
person does on behalf of the people of Kenya remains the property of the<br>
people of Kenya. I think the confusion starts when government employees mix<br>
personal business with government business. There's a possibility here that<br>
there is a requirement for some sensitivity training. We do take a lot for<br>
granted but we shouldn't. Bottomline. ALL OFFICIAL BUSINESS SHOULD BE DONE<br>
OFFICIALLY. ON GOVT COMMUNICATION CHANNELS. Which means official .<a href="http://go.ke" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">go.ke</a><br>
emails.<br>
b) *Tech maintenance and support is so bad* - I will not be surprised if<br>
this is the case. However, this should not be an excuse for not using<br>
official Govt Email. To be honest, Mheshimiwa, its super embarrassing for a<br>
country that is kicking ass (forgive the slang) in the technology space<br>
worldwide to have a conversation with colleagues in say Nigeria, and one<br>
sentence about Government Ministers using gmail/yahoo/hotmail deflates the<br>
conversation. Isn't the ICT Authority supposed to sort of act as Government<br>
CIO (Chief Information Officer). May be its time for a substantive<br>
Government Chief Information Officer responsible for all ICT issues in<br>
Government? including Data Centres, ICT Strategy etc? Do we need to revisit<br>
ICTA's mandate?<br>
<br>
2. In today's world, we cannot afford sensitive government documents all<br>
over the world wide web on servers that we have zero control of. My sense<br>
is that we need to have some basic **musts** that need to be engrained in<br>
government employees. This could actually be an act of parliament on how<br>
govt operates ICT Infrastructure for its day to day operations. Here's an<br>
example of how the U.K Government deals with this email issue<br>
<<a rel="noreferrer">chrome-extension://ohfgljdgelakfkefopgklcohadegdpjf/https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/207131/Private_Email_guidance.pdf</a>><br>
.<br>
<br>
3. Lastly Mheshimiwa, this issue of government email use has been discussed<br>
for years on this list and others. I don't honestly think (with all due<br>
respect to all responsible) that it has been taken seriously enough. Time<br>
to take it a notch higher. Could it possibly be something that the Senate<br>
ICT Committee can take up and see it to its logical conclusion? I mean if<br>
the National Government is in such a rut when it comes to basic email<br>
communication can you imagine what is happening in the counties?<br>
<br>
I think that should be enough to keep you busy on this issue. :-)<br>
<br>
*Ali Hussein*<br>
<br>
Digital Transformation<br>
<br>
Tel: +254 713 601113<br>
<br>
Twitter: @AliHKassim<br>
<br>
Skype: abu-jomo<br>
<br>
LinkedIn: <a href="http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim</a><br>
<<a href="http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim</a>><br>
<br>
Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely<br>
mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the<br>
organizations that I work with.<br>
<br>
On Sun, Jul 5, 2020 at 11:33 PM Abshiro Halake via kictanet <<br>
<a href="mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
> Ali, Twahir, team,<br>
><br>
> Great idea to enlighten the government and its agencies on this. The ICT<br>
> Ministry should actually take the lead. We could put a parliamentary<br>
> question to the ICT Ministry as to why the government continues to use<br>
> personal emails. That being said, I was once told that there are two<br>
> reasons why this is the case - 1. that government jobs are so temporary<br>
> especially for certain cadre of people and 2. tech maintenance and support<br>
> is so bad. Not sure if these are just excuses but it may be worth it to<br>
> still put the questions. Can someone send me a few pointers to include in<br>
> the question/statement? Perhaps why it is important to change this and also<br>
> reassurance on security etc.....<br>
><br>
> Thanks and kind regards,<br>
><br>
> Sen. Abshiro<br></div>
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