The board was tasked with the sole responsibility of marketing Kenya as an outsourcing destination; and many people in the business were hoping that their fortunes will turn around.

So, it was shocking to me when Nick Nesbitt of KenCall wrote in one of the mailinglists "I have just spent a week in the UK meeting with some of the largest outsourcers in the world.  They have never heard of Kenya as an outsourcing destination.  Very interested now, but completely unaware.  We stopped marketing Kenya as a BPO destination before we had built international recognition and credibility, which raises questions  in these prospects' minds about our commitment as a country to making Kenya an outsourcing destination..."

Earlier, Gilda Odera, the chair of the Kenya BPO society had commented to a story I was doing on why the industry had not snapped up a $ 7 million subsidy and said that maybe the BPO subsidy could have been handled better.

When commenting on my questions, Gilda is very brief and its almost hard to guess the real issue. You see once you interview many people, you can almost guess who will say what, and what they mean when they say this. For Gilda to say that there has been no flow of information from the board, it consoled me, it made me believe that am not the only one that the board does not respond to.

Gilda's response also made me believe there was a problem at the board, no one wants to speak ill about it but for people to talk about failings in marketing and the lack of information, surely there must be something.

For instance; I wrote to the board asking for names of organizations that had benefitted from the subsidy, I wanted to know whether the subsidy was the real problem with the sector, but no answer. I stuck for a week, trying to convince the board to at least answer the questions, even in part; but nothing.

In the end I had to forward the same questions to Bitange Ndemo, the PS and he answered by the end of that day. The question I always ask; how comes Ndemo is always accessible to answer the questions and the board does not? Ndemo is good, he is probably the only PS you can send an email and he will respond with answers bet he needs to convert his soldiers... a song I will keep singing.

Anyway, I also came to realize that am not the only journalist that the board does not respond to; Michael Ouma told me that he even sends texts to the people in the board that he knows, and he gets no responses, so am consoled.

But why would an agency, tasked with marketing, hug its data or be stingy with information?

Back to the question of BPOs, Agosta Liko responded to my article saying that maybe what the industry needed was not subsidy, given that the cost of connectivity has come down; maybe they needed customers. And he is right.

I bumped into Ndemo at an exhibition hall yesterday and he also commented on that piece saying that bandwidth is the last thing on people's minds, they want to have business, because without clients, they cant pay workers even if they had the fastest connectivity in town.

So, if Ndemo knows this, how comes the board does not know? After all, they are the marketing experts!

Then there is the question of the digital villages, what happened after launching them with all the pomp and color and promising to revolutinalize Kenya? Two years after, am yet to hear of anything else apart from the one opened in Kangundo.

Anyway, I have written all that but I am still not sure what is wrong with the ICT board.

So much promise so little to show!

Ethiopia has no port, the goods come through Djibouti, Port Sudan and Somaliland.

Am sure the port of Mombasa will get business if we can sort out road issues.... The great North road is mid way..

The book comprises case studies from Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Zambia and attempts to show how the lack of legislation on FOI has impeded women's right to demand transparency and good governance.

Written in a clear and simple language that is easily understood by those who are grounded in tech and those who are not, the book identifies ways women can benefit be demanding greater access to information from the government as well as the public sector.

Out of all the countries studied, only South Africa has enacted the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) in 2000. The Act is part of more than 800 pieces of legislation since the fall of apartheid, mainly calculated ti address inequities, imbalances and social injustices that had previously existed.

In the countries profiled, the right to freedom of information was seen more like a domain for the media to demand and not the general population. In this case, women have not lobbied hard to have the FOI laws enacted.

While identifying the slow legislative mechanisms in most countries, the book identifies ways women can compel their governments to act.

One legislative glitch which may have hindered the speedy enactment is the constitutional provision on freedom of expression. In this regard, most countries define FOI as part of the wider constitutional guarantees, yet the countries may retain other repressive pieces of legislation.

For instance, in Kenya, the FOI bill is still pending in parliament; the government claims freedom of expression is well provided in the constitution, yet it maintains the archaic Official Secrets Act, which gives government institutions the discretion to decline information requests.

The book is an important resource for organizations that want to deepen their knowledge in advocacy and the nexus between women's rights, FOI and development.

Others are government officials who say they have opportunities but lack talented techies while others are corporate heads who justify bis spending on international software on the fact that Kenya lacks talent and even where it exists, its isolated and the technical support is wanting.

In my position, I have always wondered how to link the techies with some of the government or corporate heads and share the benefits. I have also wondered how to share the info and be part of the solution.

So, when Erik (Hash) told me the idea of the innovation hub I was already bubbling with ideas, I remember telling him how Ndemo one day told me that he has lots of bandwidth and was willing to support techies with it. This is because in the course of one of the many interviews I had mentioned the challenges that techies face.

Immediately I heard about the idea, I was sold on, I knew I had a chance to contribute in some way. I am sure people will wonder whether am still a journalist or not. The best thing is that IDG, the guys I work for, have no problem at all, provided when there is a big story, I disclose my links, in which case the story will be an opinion piece, where I can inject my inside knowledge and analysis. Like this piece on how Ushahidi has elevated Africa's global tech status.

The key idea behind iHub is to bring together a larger group of techies under one roof. I believe that if you get enough brilliant people together, they're going to generate a lot of ideas really quickly, and just as quickly weed through them to keep from working on dead ends.

The idea is to eliminate the problem, sometimes seen today in research for example, where isolated researchers work diligently to solve problems that other researchers have already solved, or perhaps more importantly, that other researchers have shown face insurmountable obstacles and so should be abandoned in favor of other approaches.

The iHub will therefore be a place for people to share ideas; not steal them, where you can call copyright lawyers to talk to techies about their rights, where we can all learn ways to incorporate companies in cost effective ways, where techies can talk to their mentors and where techies can have video conference links from Silicon Valley or India.

Techies face a variety of problems; for some, local regulatory environment, for example, is a critical determinant while for others, the availability of venture capital or the presence of a demanding local customer base are key.

In some cases, the challenges are imagined or are based on rumors from people with no first hand information. In other cases, some of the problems can be sorted through dialogue; for instance, if mobile content providers have a problem with the Ksh 200,000 license fees, maybe a talk with the CCK Director General will help both parties understand each other and maybe reduce the fees.

While a hub’s initial success can often be fueled by relying primarily on local talent, the importance of attracting, developing, and retaining a vibrant base of world-class talent increases as clusters mature and grow in complexity, which can be absorbed in other government initiatives like Malili Technopolis or Sameer ICT park.

In short, iHub will nurture the talents and link them with people who have succeeded in techprenuership. After the business grows, the techie will need space and will probably move on, giving space to other upcoming techies.

To succeed, the industry is key, and that is why we are grateful to those who have volunteered their time to offer technical services at the iHub set up phase and for the equipment donated.

We shall be open to equipment donations till February 5th (next Friday) and after that we will start the set up.

If you have good equipment to give, no junk, let us know. If you want to help with the set up, let us know.

For instance, at the Africa Union meetings, representatives of our governments sit and discuss how ICT is going to accelerate Africa's development while you can just see through it; some of these guys don't care about the stuff. If they did, then they would take the right steps or at least attempt to.

At the press conference, I listened to the AU secretary say how ITU and World Bank heads are going to address the heads of state summit. Then I asked myself, where is ICANN?

Yes, Africa has always felt comfortable with ITU because its an inter governmental body, where they can talk to their own kind while ICANN is a body dominated by the private sector. But the roles of ITU and ICANN are complementary!

How does Africa expect to develop without addressing issues of critical internet infrastructure? How do we develop while most of the domains are not operational or have one issue over the other?

Yes, the ITU will help by setting the policies and giving funds to governments, something that ICANN doesn't do, at ICANN, each country must make its own networks and get into partnerships with other people in there. There is no funds or donations but if there is a business case, then the country can benefit.

How can a country use ICT for development while connectivity costs are high? How can the country develop if it has no local content? How can local content develop if you do not have control over your domain? Even if you control the domain and the registry, how can local content develop while it is hosted abroad because the cost of hosting locally is high and affected by power outages? Even if there is the domain and local hosting, there is need to invest in critical infrastructure like the Internet Exchange Points where local ISPs can share and exchange local content (peer).

Yes, ICANN can not answer or solve all these questions but neither can ITU!

In the course of my job, I have heard all manner and sorts of allegations on why the governments have not leveraged on the power of ITU. If you hear some of the issues you will be disgusted at the lack of knowledge, ignorance or misinformation over the role of ICANN/ITU in the whole debate.

I would have loved to see Rod Beckstrom, ICANN CEO and president take the stand at the heads of state summit and address the presidents. Maybe tell them of ICANN's commitment to Africa and that almost all of the problems are local and can only be solved by actions from the higher offices.

It is unfortunate that when decisions come from above, then they are implemented faster than the ones coming from bottom to top. So it would have been the right thing to do.

I would have loved to hear what Rwandese president Paul Kagame will say about the fact that .rw is yet to be sorted out, am sure if he directs the relevant people to do what is necessary, it will be done. Kagame is considered the emblem of ICT progress among African heads of state.

Of course all these will amount to nothing if the public is not educated about locally available resources and why they should promote their domains. Kenya may be far in managing its domain but you can read this post on what is the problem with .ke.

The voting closes on January 30th..... vote here

a while, I get to do things that I will have to struggle to understand or grasp, just to remind me that I still have a long way to go.

So, my comfort zone is ICT and all the tech stuff; I am in Addis for the AU meeting on ICT which starts on Monday, Jan 25th. But before then, there are a flurry of meetings at the AU complex in Addis; one of the meetings is a meeting on AU and gender and I attended.

I used to write on women issues in my early journalistic years but I can not remember why I fell out of love with the whole NGO movement. As a member of the Association of Media Women in Kenya, I covered lots of women stuff but this week, I have been wondering why I fell out of love.

It did not take long for me to remember; on this first day of the gender meeting, I tried to interview one of the AU gender reps and the way she blew me off, you will never believe it.

I introduced myself earlier in the day, because she had two presentations and indicated that I would love to talk to her at the end of it and she agreed. She had presentations, and thats all I wanted.

She will not give me her presentations; even when I said that I wanted to get the facts correct, she refereed me to another NGO member, saying that she understands the jargon better than me.

The AU is known for data hugging or for being stingy with info (look at the website) but I got my own taste.

She had brilliant ideas of what the AU is doing to coordinate with the UN resolution this and that, and I just wanted to get it right, quote her right and not give her an opportunity to say she was misquoted.

She even said that 2010-2020 is going to be a decade for women and there is even a budget and its only fair to get the presentation. Can you imagine if I was asking her to put it on a website? Data hugging at best.

Its just like coming to an Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) meeting where people are saying.....I think its wrong for GAC to take such stand on the AoC which the gNSO, ccNSO and ALAC have shown the changes so far... and the African ccTLDs are doing better than last year.

For many people, the statement is just gibberrish or mumble jumble...but to someone in tech and within internet governance circles, they would understand well or get a drift.

Anyway, I met the other person and explained to her how disappointed I was because Litha heads the gender department at AU and she would have been willing to shed more light or at least share the info.

The incident reminded me of some accusations I have heard; that some people in the NGO movement like to behave like a "secret society" where everything is shared among them, maybe because they understand the issues better and won't ask elementary questions like me.

Others point to the fact that some of the NGOs have had the same leaders for long or the leaders revolve around the same NGO circles. I have no facts to support the argument, just throwing words here and there.

What my first day at the gender meeting taught me is that maybe am better off with my tech circles or the private sector circles.

But the terms, and resolution this and that.... UN security Council resolution, AU protocol, policy this and that; it made me feel like a first year University student in a philosophy class.

I bet today I was at my lowest productivity.

Back to my tech stuff; at least by monday, I will not feel like a fish out of water so much....

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I have been following Africa's challenges and opportunities within ICANN like this post on why Africa should stop whining and an interview with Ann Rachel on ICANN's activities in the region which shows that majority of the work is with us in Africa, even though in a separate post, I address the digital gaps within ICANN

My position has always been that ICANN has a role to play, and it would help if ICANN understood the region more. With all due respect, I spoke to Rod Beckstrom, ICANN CEO and president, at the meeting in Seoul and it was clear that he needed to understand the region more, what the issues are and the nexus with ICANN.

I even told Brad White, ICANN media Director that by the time the Nairobi meeting is held, he should discuss with the boss more about the issues or atleast read my interview with Ann Rachel, just to make sure that at the end of it, issues concerning the region with be given prominence.

Yes, ICANN cant go out of its way but it would help very much that in his usual press conference, which in this case will have many local and regional journalists, (I hope), the CEO can connect our challenges with the opportunities at ICANN and that can only be done if he understands the issues well.

But there is always time, and we all have a role to play.

To some extent, the ICANN folks can not help us much in some of the problems, they require policy direction, investment, and consumer education. So, even if the whole government goes to an ICANN meeting, if you have not solved some of those problems, there is little that people can do.

I recall at the Cairo meeting, the late Ndukwe Kalu, from Nigeria, stood at the public forum and told participants of the problems that Africa was facing and that we needed help. The participants, who are usually busy on their laptops, stopped for a moment, then went back to normal business and no one actually responded to Kalu. Why? Because most of that has very little to do with ICANN; its the government and the IT industry to do 90 per cent of the work.

Then there is the thorny issue of redelegation of African domains, most African countries have complained, whined and all that, yet the TLDs are still a mess. Why? Because most of them are yet to make meaningful investments in critical infrastructure.

So, for the meeting to be in Nairobi, I am sure it will raise awareness on some of those issues, the issues that ICANN can help and what it can not. It will also be an opportunity for technical training for Africa's technical managers, for instance, AfTLD will be holding its meeting and training a week before.

It will also be a networking opportunity, and am sure some of the registry managers from the west, may feel compelled to help in one way or another. After all, they will be our visitors and according to African traditions, we treat visitors well because you just never know when you might need their help.

Yes, the meeting will have its positives but am in no way saying that the security situation should be ignored. Yes, it is important to me too, I have had my share of insecuruties, and I live with them every day, but life goes on. It is actually very safe at the 5-star hotels, the problems maybe in my neighborhood, where the unemployed youth and wannabe thugs terrorize the residents, you will have none of that because even in my neighborhood, we have security measures in place! But no one can guarantee me that I will not be mugged!

Yes, I am sure the police force will be on major alert and they will pour more cops on your that you can handle. But taking the meeting to Gigiri at the UN complex is no solution.

In my Gikuyu language we say "Mbura itekura igwatagia ruhuho" loosely meaning that that if its windy and rainy, then the rain might just not be sufficient and the wind will serve as the excuse.

In this case, if ICANN does not meet our expectations, because am sure there are expectations, then the security issue may just be an excuse. For instance, if ICANN does not draw the usual 1000 participants, it might say, ohh you know of the security situation in Nairobi bla bla bla....

Believe me when I say, Nairobi is safe, and people go on with their business as usual. By the time ICANN is held, the issue of the Jamaican muslim cleric might be solved, maybe the government will work out a way to repartriate him.

So, ICANN is important, but so are we! We are in Kenya, we are not planning to move, people are holding international meetings every day.

I think I can rest my case!

But the events that followed the 2007 elections meant that the meeting was cancelled, it was such a shame but that was understandable; after all, you do not want the people who control internet resources to fall into the traps of rival tribal gangs or to be caught in the cross fire.

After another round of presentations last year, the Kenya delegation led by Kenic and the Communications Commission of Kenya was able to convince the ICANN community that Kenya is safe enough, and they agreed to host the meeting this March.

We have been busy sweeping the roads and upgrading the hotels just to make sure that the most important ICANN community is happy, but they have never been, and I do not think they will ever be, if you ask me. I have been talking to sources within the organizing committee and ICANN has always had one niggling problem after another.

Last Friday's fracas with the muslims seems to have tipped the balance; ICANN now is contemplating moving the meeting to another safer city.

But if you ask me or any other ordinary Kenyan, I think ICANN does not understand the country and how it operates. Since 1998, Kenya has never been secure, according to US and UK embassies, yet its their installations that make us targets.

For whatever reasons, the country has always been rated poorly security wise, but which city is safe? New York? J' Burg? Cairo? Cassablanca? Am sure this is open to debate.

I think ICANN has its double standards; if they were truly concerned about the security, the meeting in Seoul would not have taken place; South Korea is always under alert because of North Korea nuclear intentions.

The meeting in Mexico city would not have gone on, after all every one there is said to carry a gun and the senior executives within ICANN membership were at risk of kidnappings. But the meetings took place.

So, why all the security farce about Nairobi?

I would love to point out a similar incident during the 2005 or around there Cricket world cup, where New Zealand forfeited their match with Kenya in Nairobi because of security situation. Sri Lanka agreed to play their match in Nairobi provided they were given top notch security, the government obliged.

By the time the plane carrying the Sri Lanka cricket team entered the Kenyan air space, they were escorted by helicopter gunships and all the other stuff you see in the movies. But Sri Lanka soon realized that no one was bothered with them; we whipped them and by the time they were going back to the airport, they took taxis and realized that no one cares.

In short, ICANN should know that they will come, they will hold their meeting, they will go away, and no one will probably remember they were here. How many people know about ICANN and what it does? How many people know that the people present are online millionaires?

ICANN has made demands that the meeting be moved to the UNEP Complex in Gigiri, and that the government should pay for all the charges bla bla... I think this is a move to alienate themselves from the ordinary kenyans. Getting to Gigiri is hectic let alone getting through the mean UN security staff.

Trust me, I have had my share of security incidences in Nairobi, but I do not think its worth canceling a meeting.

From my sources, I am told the government is paying for the gala dinner and all that, in other countries, ICANN has paid for that. So I think this is just a way for ICANN to make their demands and demonstrate their authority.

I am not saying that security measures should be ignored, but just know that poor security rating means more hardship allowance for the UN and embassy staff, so its in their interest to show Kenya on fire all the time.

One thing you should know that Kenya is a highly political company, all year round, stupid politics and we the media love it and exalt it, so deal with that. When you come and when you go, we will remain the same, and it does not mean ICANN will change anything, so get over it.

By the way, most people who will come will be holed up in lavish 5-star hotels where the thugs will not reach. The insecurity problem is for people like us who will have to walk home and deal with the neighborhood thugs.

The upshot of it is that ICANN should come, hold their meeting, give us the revenue, visit Maasai Mara and all the other areas, and go home. I am sure there will be enough cops guarding everywhere.

So, insecure or not, I think the meeting should go on. If you guys are not convinced, then you can move the meeting to wherever you want!

Ends

But what happens when the bank suspects the other bank of less than transparent activities? They don't care, its none of their business; its between you and you bank. Period!

Sample this; last year, I got a Barclaycard, which is has helped me in some of those travels at the same time, I gave instructions of direct debit from my account at Family Bank.

Family bank received instructions of the direct debit and on five random occasions, about shs. 9,500 has left my account to pay my card.

One problem; the money has never been received on the side of Barclays, card section or otherwise. When I ask Family Bank, the manager says that the money left my account and was transfered to Barclays bank pursuant to the direct debit instructions.

I raised the issue with Family Bank Sonalux branch manager, Arthur Washe and he was adamant that the money went to Barclays though he could not provide the evidence. I tried to ask for the account and branch the money was transfered to but to no avail.

To be honest, I feel the manager has treated me so unfairly that I resolved to close that account come the new year. I had opened that account because the previous manager, Francesca, was my friend and I was tempted to ask for her help in determining where the money actually was transfered to; but Washe should give this info.

I raised the issues with Barclaycard and after supplying statements and explaining the issues to five different customer care agents, nothing doing. Barclays even ditched email and wrote a letter explaining that the direct debit was not activated.

Again, my question is; if the two banks have a problems tracing where the money is, why will they not talk to each other? Isn't it easier that way? I thought so, it would have made my work easier.

I wrote so many emails that Cynthia Kweya, a customer care rep at Barclays, decided to shove me from one agent to another and I have to explain over and over again and that is part of the reason I decided to write this post, at least I dont have to explain over and over again.

To any proper reasoning person, there should be no question, Family bank owes me the duty of care over my money and should explain where every cent was transfered to and which branch. That is what even the lawyers will tell you.

Just to understand how it goes, I spoke to a friend of mine from the anti banking fraud unit, who told me that an employee at Family bank could have transfered the money to a "suspense" account and from there the money can move anywhere.

That could be a fact supported by Barclays when they say that the money leaving my account was a fixed amount, and the card amount varies from month to month, which is true.

In short, Barclays was trying to tell me something fishy is going on at my bank. But they could not say it in so many words; just suggestions that I go back to my manager and try sort it out.

But when I emailed Arthur, the bank manager and introduced the fraudulent angle, he decided to ignore my emails. I agree that am a small customer who shs. 45,000 means a lot and therefore the manager may feel am wasting time.

So, am at a loss on what to do but I will ask my lawyer to do a demand letter and hopefully the manager will take his time and tell me where my money is.

Its so frustrating and I believe banking should not be frustrating and when it is, its a sign that its time to move on, but its not before I get my money. Where I come from there is one rule; thou shalt not leave your money, even the coins. Period.

Ends