Category: EAKenya

Kenya 2.0 logo mashup

A post over at Ory’s Realm inspired me to create the following mashup of logos as used by the registered (Kenyan) political parties for the upcoming elections. All logos were copied 1:1 from a publication available online (PDF, 1.6 MB) from the ECK website and the listing isn’t complete as not all parties published their logo in time.

politicalparties-kenya-logos

different sizes available @ flickr

As with other smart online content, this mashup work (not the logos themselves) comes with a (CC) Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported licence, meaning you are free to share and remix it as long as you don’t use it for commercial purposes (as I am also not gaining anything by publishing this except maybe for visitors which results in Google AdSenSe increases, but that’s another story). THIS ALSO INCLUDES YOU, dear KenyaTimes ;-)

Seriously, it was great fun copying the logos into one big sheet and seeing how some are really well done while others are…well….judge for yourself.

Using logos instead of just names in a country where the illiteracy rate is still high enough makes sense. But then, also, the most important reason seems to be that there are so many parties with similar names and since most of us humans are visually orientated, I think it’s much easier this way.

p.s.: my favourite logo is the Kikombe one – such brilliant artistic skills! Oh, and btw: logo = symbol [sihm-booohlll]

will work 4 bandwidth

I’ve said it before: the moment, bandwidth becomes available at reasonable rates in Kenya, I – and I guess a lot of other KenyaTourists (KTs) – will resettle to Kenya. Ama?

“The entry of the cable is expected to cut bandwidth costs, currently standing between $6,500 (Sh435,500) and $7,500 (Sh502, 500) per megabyte to around $400 (Sh26,800) per megabyte.” ??? (src)

Seriously, with this initiative by the WB / GoK to subsidise broadband costs in Kenya for the Business Processing and Outsourcing (BPO) Sector, let’s hope that things are improving a little bit faster and that it will help to create a healthy competition within the Kenyan ICT sector + enabling them to compete with other regional players.
If you’re already on broadband, you may be interested in this video where the CEO of Kencall, Nicholas Nesbitt, talks about the relatively high monthly costs of running a call center in Kenya today. Other videos on regional players (aka the competition) are available here.

Imho, it will eventually come down to a few big players who are a) able to afford all these membership fees to this and that political lobbying group, b) able to afford 24/7/365 power supply to their machines and c) able to afford a serious admin team who will make use of *secure* software so that business doesn’t stall just because someone distributed a virus or other malware.

However, the following quote from the above mentioned article really impressed me the most:

To ensure more Kenyans access the digitized services easily, the government is also facilitating installation of Digital Villages countrywide.

This will save citizens the agony of traveling to urban centres to access the online government services and encourage growth of the sector.

To me, this is exactly what people like Prof Ayittey are trying to explain: helping the “Atingas” to promote their business in rural areas as they are the ones who contribute the biggest part to the economy.
And for me, as an environmenatlist/marketing guy for proper sanitation facilities, anything that helps to reduce urbanisation (= by creating local incentives, even if it’s the availability of enough bandwidth in rural areas) is the right approach to promote growth in rural areas. We urgently have to create a good framework for the next generation so that they want to stay in their home area.

On another note: what happens to the Raila/Kibaki virus once the elections are over? Is there any expiry date on them? :-D

Dear Mutuku Nthuli…

Uvoo waku?

In case you’ve been wondering why you’ve never received the desired ecosan information material from GTZ…well…I’ve received that particular parcel today which was returned to our office. “Boy’s given up”, it says on the address sticker.

The letter inside is dated December 18th, 2003.

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Witheka kyau? :-)

anonymous online reporting of corruption

Pls don’t nail me down if this has been mentioned before (as I haven’t been following KBW lately due to other obligations – which is sad because the feed is pretty much interesting these days), but I just stumpled across this interesting note on another network about a German company from Potsdam that apparently programmed a web-based interface which will allow internal whistleblowers (!) to report any cases of corruption anonymously.

In Kenya, that is.

The Kenya Anti Corruption Commission? recently implemented the Business Keeper Monitoring System (BKMS®) which shall assure “anonymity & information confidentiality” as well as an “anonymous diaologue”.

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screenshot from the website

Says it on their website: “The BKMS®? system is used as an internet-based communication platform by whistleblowers worldwide (employees in companies and administrations as well as outsiders) to report misconduct and risks. If necessary, whistleblowers can remain absolutely anonymous in order to be protected against repressive measures.”

Obviously, such a system may not be working for those poor souls who are constantly harassed by the police, and may also come too late for Mr David Munyakei (1, 2, ex 3), but it’s a good start, I think. Also, I am wondering about the – fear – this may generate among members of the public service.

According to the website, the BKMS system is already? in use? with some companies and orgnanisations in Europe, but I wonder if anything like that has already been applied to the EU commission? Ah?

The Kiondo & The Kikoi

Barbara of the GI in Nairobi forwarded the following invitation to a public forum, which? I? think? is? of? public? interest,? hence? the? desire? to? reblog? this? on? my? blog.

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PRESS RELEASE

PUBLIC FORUM
“THE KIONDO AND THE KIKOI”

Tuesday 31st July 2007
4.00 pm to 6.00 pm
Goethe-Institut Auditorium
(=> Maendeleo House, Nairobi)

“The Maasai Market Empowerment Trust in partnership with Legal Research and Advisory Centre invites to a Public Forum “The Kiondo & The Kikoi”.This is a cooperative effort in the highlighting and development of Intellectual Property Rights in Kenya.
The forum brings together artisans, designers, producers, legal officers, law enforcers, activists and policy makers to deliberate, trouble shoot and strategizse on how to tackle intellectual property issues specifically in regard to the Kiondo and Kikoi in an attempt to preserve the Kenyan heritage.The Maasai Market Empowerment Trust is a non profit making organization whose key xobjective is to uplift the standards of living of the people in the Curio-Crafts industry. It is registered as a public charitable trust and is led by a board of trustees drawn from the industry and from other strategic movements with similar ideals.”

I? wish? I? could? just? attend? this? event,? especially? since? this? matter? of? Intellectual Property? Rights? is? something I had blogged about two years ago – after stumbling across an interesting paper by James Shikwati on this matter. I recently met someone of the? (liberal) FNFoundation during an event organized by the GTZ and was pleasantly surprised to find Shikwati’s paper among those primary papers they displayed as proof of their work. Kenyanism everywhere :-)
Also, I am using a picture of a Kikoi I bought on Maasai Market as the header logo of my blog. I founded a Kikoi group on the German equivalent of Facebook, Studivz.de, and am having a particular interest in promoting this part of the Swahili culture as found on the Kenyan coast line. I never travel without one of my Kikois, and as such find myself at terrible unease to associate the brand name “Kikoi(y)” with a UK based privately held company.

magical stuff

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My dear friend Nicky managed to secure this MagicalKenya package from the Kenya booth on the International Tourism Fair in Berlin (ITB Berlin) earlier this year.

After resurrecting her iPod Mini with a new battery, she rewarded me with these goodies: some posters, a tourist map, a cd with a promo video on tourism and why Kenya is THE perfect holiday destination and something like a scarf that reminds us of a Kikoi, or maybe also of that drapery one often finds underneath the TV & VCR setup at a typical middle-class home. Neat!

Another Kenyanesque moment that brought a smile to my face was when I discovered the pre-configured video podcasts inside my new Nokia N95:

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As mentioned earlier, the ability to instruct this phone to go online over a wireless broadband connection such as UMTS (3G), HSDPA (3.5G) or even my local Wi-Fi (at home & at work) and downloading all this content by itself – without any other computer in between – is just very very sweet.
These days, I hardly ever get to watch TV, so being able to pull the desired content from the net “on the go” is just a great help.

ucheshi wa mtoto ni anga la nyumba

In a world where bad news are good news, it’s about time for some really good news that show us something else instead.

My sweet and beloved niece is celebrating her 2nd birthday today, and while she was busy unpacking all her many presents, I couldn’t help but thinking of those many kids that have to share their toys with others. As soon as my niece grows up, I will teach her the joy of sharing.

One of those places dominated by kids and lots of love is The Nest Home in Limuru, Kenya. The Nest Home is “a Project for the Rescue, Rehabilitation and Integration of Children in Conflict with the Law & Children of Imprisoned Mothers” and was founded some years ago with the help of many different people who all contributed to this worthy cause.
The children’s orphanage is located about 20 km outside of Nairobi and provides a loving home for those less fortunate, who’s parents are either in prison or dead.

Nest
screenshot of The Nest Home’s website

The fact that their website currently runs on my webspace actually prevented me from blogging on them for a long time, as I didn’t want to be biased on this. There are in fact many wonderful experiences I could put here, lots of joy I encountered while visiting the Nest last year. This is such a wonderful place!

As MB, who diligently maintains the website, already mentions on one of the pages: there are many ways YOU can actually help these kids!

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On a very personal note, and why I decided to blog about this anyways:

  • fellow blogger AfroM recently informed me that she, Hash, Mental and others are having plans to visit The Nest soon – great! :-)
  • we’ve built this website (running on WP) not only to inform others on the project, but also to show the transparency of the project and that the persons in charge don’t “benefit” in any (financial) way as some sceptical pundits might assume for whatever reason or so…
  • i really appreciate the “ownership” from the Kenyan side, and how locals in Limuru have started to acknowledge the home being inside their community.
  • i recently read this note on the Cutting Edge @ the DN on fathers who want to do some DNA / paternity test to see who’s the real father of their children. now that’s so stupid! that’s exactly why some of these children have never seen their fathers. Being a father, I believe, isn’t about having a coherent DNA with your kid, but about giving it the love it needs. I actually changed my mind on adoption after visiting The Nest Home.
  • maintaining a website in at least two different languages isn’t easy, as some contributions come from countries like Germany where not everyone (especially the older generation) speaks English. The challenge is to include all audiences and showing them how their contributions are being used for the benefit of the children.
    I know many critics will mix up Charitable Trusts with overfunded NGOs, but I can assure you that The Nest Home has a remarkably low expenditure on overhead costs.