how-kenya-ict-board-kills-the-spirit-of-tech-innovators-and-content-generators on Techmtaa website (how true is this??)
On 6/20/2011 10:15 AM, saich wrote:
http://www.techmtaa.com/2011/06/20/how-kenya-ict-board-kills-the-spirit-of-t... <http://www.techmtaa.com/2011/06/20/how-kenya-ict-board-kills-the-spirit-of-tech-innovators-and-content-generators/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter>
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Afew good points raised there, but as usual, Alai kills the good points with the bad ones. He hit the nail on the head when he asked for a review into the progress of the grantees from last year's Tandaa Competition. I don't think any of them have made the progress they were expected to. It seems as if they made up some fancy presentations and were rewarded on that basis. Take for example Kenyabuzz, who were supposed to 'mobilize' their website. One year later, and all to show for it is a faulty mobile site: http://www.kenyabuzz.com/mobile Take another company, ibid labs. These guys were supposed to create a virtual museum for Kenya. But alas, they conveniently folded soon after the grants were issued: http://www.ibidlabs.com Jumuika media solutions site seems to be down, and on their Facebook group, it seems their subscribers started having issues with their SMS network early this year: http://jumuika.co.ke According to this Powerpoint presentation <http://www.mespt.org/documents/Media%20Edge.pdf>, Media Edge Communications conveniently changed their name to Edge Africa shortly after the competition. They were supposed to produce an m-farming product from the grant, and have only a pathetic shell of a website to show for after the Tandaa competition: http://edgegroupafrica.com Jamobi were supposed to make a Jua Kali book keeping app with their Tandaa money, but it seems they have not got down to it. Their product page leads to a service page, which in turn leads to lengthy descriptions, with no app in sight: http://www.otbafrica.com/OTBWeb/Products.html Kenya school of technology studies have come out with a mobile learning portal, which seems to have been done half-half, but I think it's a commendable effort when put side by side with the rest: http://m.ksts.mobi Makutano Junction and Ask a Doc are the only ones to come out of that Tandaa grant with some credibility. They implemented their solutions fully and beautifully: http://askadoc.co.ke <http://askadoc.co.ke/> http://www.makutanojunction.org.uk/
If the allegations are true then I am deeply saddened because this lot will have done nothing more than seriously damage the chances of those who are deserving among next lot getting access to much needed funds. Was there a clause along the lines of "In case of failure to deliver as per commitment, the Board reserves the right to recover disbursed funds". Does/will the ICT board audit grantees to ensure that the monies were put to good use? On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 5:14 PM, Webmaster <webmaster@kenyanlyrics.com>wrote:
** On 6/20/2011 10:15 AM, saich wrote:
http://www.techmtaa.com/2011/06/20/how-kenya-ict-board-kills-the-spirit-of-t...
_______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing listSkunkworks@lists.my.co.kehttp://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Ruleshttp://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke
A few good points raised there, but as usual, Alai kills the good points with the bad ones. He hit the nail on the head when he asked for a review into the progress of the grantees from last year's Tandaa Competition. I don't think any of them have made the progress they were expected to. It seems as if they made up some fancy presentations and were rewarded on that basis. Take for example Kenyabuzz, who were supposed to 'mobilize' their website. One year later, and all to show for it is a faulty mobile site:
http://www.kenyabuzz.com/mobile
Take another company, ibid labs. These guys were supposed to create a virtual museum for Kenya. But alas, they conveniently folded soon after the grants were issued:
Jumuika media solutions site seems to be down, and on their Facebook group, it seems their subscribers started having issues with their SMS network early this year:
According to this Powerpoint presentation<http://www.mespt.org/documents/Media%20Edge.pdf>, Media Edge Communications conveniently changed their name to Edge Africa shortly after the competition. They were supposed to produce an m-farming product from the grant, and have only a pathetic shell of a website to show for after the Tandaa competition:
Jamobi were supposed to make a Jua Kali book keeping app with their Tandaa money, but it seems they have not got down to it. Their product page leads to a service page, which in turn leads to lengthy descriptions, with no app in sight:
http://www.otbafrica.com/OTBWeb/Products.html
Kenya school of technology studies have come out with a mobile learning portal, which seems to have been done half-half, but I think it's a commendable effort when put side by side with the rest:
Makutano Junction and Ask a Doc are the only ones to come out of that Tandaa grant with some credibility. They implemented their solutions fully and beautifully:
http://www.makutanojunction.org.uk/
_______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke
On 6/20/2011 6:21 PM, Rad! wrote:
If the allegations are true then I am deeply saddened because this lot will have done nothing more than seriously damage the chances of those who are deserving among next lot getting access to much needed funds.
Was there a clause along the lines of "In case of failure to deliver as per commitment, the Board reserves the right to recover disbursed funds".
Does/will the ICT board audit grantees to ensure that the monies were put to good use?
On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 5:14 PM, Webmaster <webmaster@kenyanlyrics.com <mailto:webmaster@kenyanlyrics.com>> wrote:
On 6/20/2011 10:15 AM, saich wrote:
http://www.techmtaa.com/2011/06/20/how-kenya-ict-board-kills-the-spirit-of-t... <http://www.techmtaa.com/2011/06/20/how-kenya-ict-board-kills-the-spirit-of-tech-innovators-and-content-generators/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter>
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Afew good points raised there, but as usual, Alai kills the good points with the bad ones. He hit the nail on the head when he asked for a review into the progress of the grantees from last year's Tandaa Competition. I don't think any of them have made the progress they were expected to. It seems as if they made up some fancy presentations and were rewarded on that basis. Take for example Kenyabuzz, who were supposed to 'mobilize' their website. One year later, and all to show for it is a faulty mobile site:
http://www.kenyabuzz.com/mobile
Take another company, ibid labs. These guys were supposed to create a virtual museum for Kenya. But alas, they conveniently folded soon after the grants were issued:
Jumuika media solutions site seems to be down, and on their Facebook group, it seems their subscribers started having issues with their SMS network early this year:
According to this Powerpoint presentation <http://www.mespt.org/documents/Media%20Edge.pdf>, Media Edge Communications conveniently changed their name to Edge Africa shortly after the competition. They were supposed to produce an m-farming product from the grant, and have only a pathetic shell of a website to show for after the Tandaa competition:
Jamobi were supposed to make a Jua Kali book keeping app with their Tandaa money, but it seems they have not got down to it. Their product page leads to a service page, which in turn leads to lengthy descriptions, with no app in sight:
http://www.otbafrica.com/OTBWeb/Products.html
Kenya school of technology studies have come out with a mobile learning portal, which seems to have been done half-half, but I think it's a commendable effort when put side by side with the rest:
Makutano Junction and Ask a Doc are the only ones to come out of that Tandaa grant with some credibility. They implemented their solutions fully and beautifully:
http://askadoc.co.ke <http://askadoc.co.ke/>
http://www.makutanojunction.org.uk/
_______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke <mailto:Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke> http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 <http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94> ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke
_______________________________________________ Skunkworks mailing list Skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke http://lists.my.co.ke/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/skunkworks ------------ Skunkworks Rules http://my.co.ke/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=94 ------------ Other services @ http://my.co.ke I purposely placed links to back up all my statements. Feel free to click them, although be warned, some are faulty and others are extremely slow :-|
On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 20:02, Webmaster <webmaster@kenyanlyrics.com> wrote:
** On 6/20/2011 6:21 PM, Rad! wrote:
If the allegations are true then I am deeply saddened because this lot will have done nothing more than seriously damage the chances of those who are deserving among next lot getting access to much needed funds.
Was there a clause along the lines of "In case of failure to deliver as per commitment, the Board reserves the right to recover disbursed funds".
If all these points are beyond reproach, then Paul Kukubo should step aside so that a forensic investigation can be done on the process that was followed to award the grants. I hope they were not engineered towards lining some pockets - aka "out time to eat". -- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254733744121/+254722743223 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ I can't hear you -- I'm using the scrambler. Please consider the environment before printing this email.
The rabbit-hole is bigger than you think ;; the 'fund' was supposed to be in millions of dollars from what I saw before it came into effect. The Kenyan way is - lets get 320 million USD (not KSH) for ICT reforms - then .... 1. 2/8 of that money goes into you knows who and other high top gova 'processes 2. 2/8 goes into building infrastructure 3. 3/8 of that money - salaries, operational expenses, allowances (hardship and otherwise) and finally 4. 1/8 goes into 10 projects - awarded 'grants' to develop. Seriously, because giving 100k for some developers is nothing compared to the original fund. In my opinion, I really dont think Paul is the perpetrator here- he may be the PR guy, managing the third fund, to keep the IT scene happy that something in ICT is happening. The chain of all these events goes higher ! And its higher than the PS too.
In this age of technology and with the current constitutional provisions on access to information in the public interest, what is the procedure for requesting for financial accounts of the Kenya ICT board? Or is it a private company? Im guessing this would clear issues as serious as those indicated by ndungu. On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 8:31 PM, ndungu stephen <ndungustephen@gmail.com>wrote:
The rabbit-hole is bigger than you think ;; the 'fund' was supposed to be in millions of dollars from what I saw before it came into effect.
The Kenyan way is - lets get 320 million USD (not KSH) for ICT reforms - then ....
1. 2/8 of that money goes into you knows who and other high top gova 'processes 2. 2/8 goes into building infrastructure 3. 3/8 of that money - salaries, operational expenses, allowances (hardship and otherwise)
and finally
4. 1/8 goes into 10 projects - awarded 'grants' to develop. Seriously, because giving 100k for some developers is nothing compared to the original fund.
In my opinion, I really dont think Paul is the perpetrator here- he may be the PR guy, managing the third fund, to keep the IT scene happy that something in ICT is happening.
The chain of all these events goes higher ! And its higher than the PS too.
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-- *“The twentieth century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: the growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy”* ~ Alex Carey ~ Tel No: 0x2af23696
@Webmaster, when I first read your response and if it is true, this is terrible news. If I remember correctly, I floated and free for anyone's use the virtual museum idea on this very list just about 2 years ago and was impressed when a local company took up such a project of their own. Virtual Museum was a personal favourite of mine as it would take local content to the next level and have been waiting to see the end results of how the company did the virtual world. Wow, what does the donor community now think of us is too embarassing to even think of, since I remember reading that the funds for this tandaa thing were part of a bigger fund. I'm truly lost for words here and also saddened that we have just lost a big chance to build our image as innovators. Truly a crappy day Monday indeed, even the weather does not help.
In my opinion, any project should not be funded if it exists in a power point presentation alone. It has to be on the ground and have signs that its not a special purpose vehicle for the sake of the funds. Funding powerpoint presentations has a high chance in them remaining just that. As for the Tandaa Grant winners, it was stated that the funding was for milestones - if a project that is not off the ground has received full funding, then it raises several questions
This is truly sad. :( Kelvin www.likechapaa.com <http://www.dukapress.com>www.dukapress.org -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We help make your website a success. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 7:28 PM, Dennis Kioko <dmbuvi@gmail.com> wrote:
In my opinion, any project should not be funded if it exists in a power point presentation alone. It has to be on the ground and have signs that its not a special purpose vehicle for the sake of the funds. Funding powerpoint presentations has a high chance in them remaining just that.
As for the Tandaa Grant winners, it was stated that the funding was for milestones - if a project that is not off the ground has received full funding, then it raises several questions
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participants (9)
-
[ Brainiac ] -
aki -
Dennis Kioko -
Kelvin -
ndungu stephen -
Odhiambo Washington -
Rad! -
saich -
Webmaster