Day 1 of Talk to the Senate (2017-2022 Priorities)

Kanini
I mean rather than use technology better for managing the government or providing government services, focus on how citizens can use technology better to improve their lives.

So facilitate access and support private/non-profit sector to provide digital information and services for citizens. Sometimes government should do less and facilitate more (not that government is yet providing a lot of great solutions (information or technology) in health, agriculture, education, transport, commerce etc). There are a lot of such solutions out there that the government can facilitate and support to be more successful, without running themselves, and that this will ultimately radically transform lives of citizens.

Adam

Senior Director, Public Affairs
Huawei Southern Africa
Mobile: +254-7909-85886

From: kictanet [mailto:kictanet-bounces+adam.lane=huawei.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of kanini mutemi via kictanet
Sent: Monday, February 05, 2018 6:17 PM
To: Adam Lane <adam.lane@huawei.com>
Cc: kanini mutemi <kaninimutemi@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 1 of Talk to the Senate (2017-2022 Priorities)

Welcome @Bomu, @Collins @Adam and @Ali to the conversation.

Infrastructure comes up once again and by extension the issue of access. Does anyone have any figures on connectivity in the counties?

@Ali, quite a radical stance on USF but I would say in this instance, radical is welcome. Just to further that thought, what would be the structure of a devolved USF (picking lessons from the efficacy or otherwise of CDF).

@Adam, this caught my eye:

Expanding the focus of ICT in Counties from something that supports the County operations (i.e. internal), to something that drives the County’s development (i.e. external).

Other than subsidization, what else can help counties go from internal to external?

Not to abandon the discussion on cybersecurity as well, there is the awareness concern but let us step back and ask are there conceivable cybersecurity threats in the counties? Are there counties that have adopted online solutions for critical services? Examples perhaps? This would help us appreciate the urgency with which cybersecurity ought to be embraced in the counties.

On Mon, Feb 5, 2018 at 5:56 PM, Ali Hussein via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
@Colins

Couldn’t agree with you more. I understand that NOFBI is currently less than 50% utlilized. And phase 2 is almost complete. We have a major utilisation problem here..It can turn out into a white elephant if we are not careful.

Regards

Ali Hussein

Principal

AHK & Associates

Tel: +254 713 601113

Twitter: @AliHKassim

Skype: abu-jomo

LinkedIn: ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim

13th Floor , Delta Towers, Oracle Wing,

Chiromo Road, Westlands,

Nairobi, Kenya.

Any information of a personal nature expressed in this email are purely mine and do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the organizations that I work with.

On Mon, Feb 5, 2018 at 5:33 PM, Collins Areba via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
From where I sit:

NOFBI should be made more accessible to players , small and large. It is laughable that I can get Internet at $0.17 at EADC in Nairobi , but get charged $60 to relay the same on Government funded infrastructure from Nairobi to Kilifi. Of what use then is Nofbi? if not to facilitate expansion of the larger players>?

Regards,
Collins Areba,
Kilifi, Kenya.
Tel: +254 707 750 788 / 0731750788
Twitter: @arebacollins.
Skype: arebacollins

On Mon, Feb 5, 2018 at 5:25 PM, Adam Lane via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke<mailto:kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke>> wrote:
Good afternoon all

Some of the main challenges include:

– Coordination with central government and between Departments in Counties

– Sharing of best practices and also sharing of systems/solutions to get best value and reduce duplication

– Capacity amongst ICT Depts and also amongst other Depts that (should) use ICT

– Expanding the focus of ICT in Counties from something that supports the County operations (i.e. internal), to something that drives the County’s development (i.e. external)

– Measuring benefits of ICT

– Using ICT to drive (and measure) a better culture amongst county government staff focused on efficiencies and impact

Some of the main risks include:

– Awareness of cybersecurity amongst County Staff and citizens

– Abuse/poor use of internet and/or internet driving more negative behaviors or habits (such as hate speech, betting etc)

Some of the opportunities include:

– PDTP type programs in Counties that provide private and public sector with new ideas and eager/capable youth whilst also providing youth with meaningful work experience

– Open innovation from county government with local start-ups, businesses and youth to find solutions to existing problems

– Government using own budget to seed/incentivize solutions (as the largest customer/puchaser locally)

– Government being aware of existing solutions and rolling them out (many apps already exist, just they lack marketing and consumer awareness which the government can help)

– Government approving/certifying certain solutions/apps so they can be used in public sector and trusted by consumers in regard their content

– Improving CIDPs: better use of ICT, and better engagement with ecosystem in developing CIDPs to improve alignment and use of best available products

– Broadband for public institutions (health, education, police etc)

Regards
Adam

From: kictanet [mailto:kictanet-bounces+adam.lane=huawei.com@lists.kictanet.or.kehuawei.com@lists.kictanet.or.ke>] On Behalf Of kanini mutemi via kictanet
Sent: Monday, February 05, 2018 7:28 AM
To: Adam Lane <adam.lane@huawei.com<mailto:adam.lane@huawei.com>>
Cc: kanini mutemi <kaninimutemi@gmail.com<mailto:kaninimutemi@gmail.com>>
Subject: [kictanet] Day 1 of Talk to the Senate (2017-2022 Priorities)

Good morning Listers,

Welcome to Day 1 of ‘Talk to the Senate’. This must have been what the framers of the Constitution had in mind when they entrenched public participation as a key constitutional principle- an opportunity for us to make a case on what we think ought to be the Senate’s priority 2017-2022. I therefore encourage that we all participate in this session and look forward to an animated discussion.

As Grace had briefed us on Friday, we will have a three day discussion focusing on the counties and opportunities for intervention by the Senate.

This being the first day, our goal is to bring out issues of concern in the counties as far as ICT is concerned. Once we have these, we will proceed to make proposals on how the Senate may be of help in resolving these issues on Day 2. On Day 3, we will discuss how to foster engagements between the ICT community and the legislature.

This is our guiding question for today–

What do you consider to be the ICT

(a) challenges;

(b) risks; and

(c) opportunities in the counties?

As well, if there are ICT success stories coming out of the counties, feel free to highlight them.

We are honoured to have Senator Abshiro Halake (Vice Chairperson, Senate ICT Committee) on the list. Senator, karibu sana.

This discussion is now open!

KICTANet Admin information

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