gmeltdown

This week there was much buzz about the Kenya 2009 census results, the on-going contest among our mobile networks, and other developments in the Kenyan online content space. What may have passed some of us in the midst of the noise is the announcement of one category of winners for the first round of Local Content and Software Applications Grant . As earlier mentioned on this blog, the initial processes of the grant had a number of useful insights if the ICT Board's post-application survey was to go by. Applicants for the grant in the government information portal / firms category were announced on 31st August 2010. In this category, seven proposals were chosen from a list of 166 proposals by firms according to the ICT Board's  press statement . The seven proposals were Octopus Solutions Limited -  HIV and AIDS in the workplace e-Learing Course - To assist implementation of the HIV and AIDS work place policy among civil servants Infotrack Strategic Solutions Ltd -...

Today morning the Kenya ICT Board through its Tandaa Kenya newsletter  shared the results of a survey it administered on its grants application process. The survey was administered to applicants of the Local digital Content Grant a day after the proposal application deadline expired. Some highlights of the results were shared through the newsletter and also mentioned in Moses Kemibaro's blog including the following :- Barely 15% of lead contacts for applicants were female < Affirmative action needed?  77.9% of those who participated were satisfied with the grant application process (more than half of these were  very satisfied ) < Confirmation of sentiments in my earlier post 20% of those who participated had attended a  Tandaa Symposium   < More effort might be required to interest more professionals and entrepreneurs in the Kenya ICT Board activities 369 (55%) of the 667 completed applications were made on the last day. < Explan...

This week I have had several chats with some of my learned friends about the Communication (Amendment) Act 2008. I am convinced that there are still major gaps or areas of improvement if we are to have a conducive legal environment for the growth of a knowledge economy. Perhaps the biggest gap is the basic one of awareness among law enforcers, advocates, judges, prosecutors and the public in general. Many of my learned friends are either themselves ignorant of the existence of the law or are simply skeptical that it is not a practical law. Various sections of the law seem simply Utopian to the some of the lawyers. Some lawyers merely dismiss it as a law doomed to automatically contradict other existing laws. With the lawyers themselves skeptical about our cyber-laws the public confidence on economic activity through the web and other electronic platforms is seriously undermined. The communication amendment act having already been passed and signed, there are at least two more bills ou...