Initial thoughts, letter to Kictanet

I republish here a wrote to the kictanet mailing list on the whole debate about the various agencies in Government. I give a perspective only from my position as the CEO of the Kenya ICT Board www.ict.go.ke. I draw references from the recent 2nd Connected Gov summit/workshop in Mombasa. My team is preparing the final conference report for public consumption and this is not an attempt to extract a report.The public sector is busy transforming in a way that matters to the common citizen, and in a way that will long term impact.

As an example, Public sector leaders presented 5 interesting case studies in government automation at the just ended connected government workshop (all slides and photos on www.ict.go.ke/connectedgov).

Kenya Revenue Authority on their progress since inception on automation, By their IT Head Mr Saina

The automation of the Company registry including the initial reorganization of the registry, the on-going digitization and future service targets for citizens benefit. Presentation by Mr Wanjuki Muchemi, Solicitor General

The Integrated Population Registry System, presented by both the PS Immigrations Mr Emmanuel Kisombe and his team. Of note here is the role this would play in giving the government a ‘single point of truth’ of the citizen.

The on-going automation of the Kenya Medical Supplies Agency (KEMSA). Presented by the Director KEMSA

The Government Data Centre, presented by John Sergon Ag Director E Government.

Private sector was surprised by how committed and well thought and these projects are. These are just examples and they illustrate a government committed to laying the foundation for better citizen services.

Those projects, when combined with the Government’s role in TEAMs, the just commenced shared services project, the project to digitize the judiciary and the Ministry of Lands point to clear priorities. Private sector should align themselves around the opportunities presented by government. ( I cannot stop preaching this).

Vision 2030 Director General provided an update on the work to develop a national value proposition proposed to anchored around Kenya’s core strength as a hub and a centre of entrepreneurship and innovation within Africa.

Indeed in his wrap up, PS Dr Ndemo re-iterated the level of opportunity this all represented, but also stressed that there was still work to be done to get to where we want to get to.

While there can be no shortage of ideas on how the government can and should be structured the debate could be enriched by discussion around where greater co-operation could break down silos and the role private sector might play. Indeed PS Ndemo pointed this issue out during the Prime Minister’s Round Table recently. Private Sector, Civil Society and Academia add value by providing case studies of successes and failures locally with IT deployments, how the common citizen may be better served, even within the current reality. Good examples of successes include Safaricom’s roll out 3G services even in very remote parts of Kenya to enable citizens have better broadband experience, Cisco is rolling out training in their Net Academies to enrich the digital villages concept by enabling training in rural communities and Oracle is investing in the capacity of IT leaders both government and private sector, to understand how to deploy complex technologies that are necessary, in order that we have simplified IT access. (as you know there is always complex systems behind simplified access. If you doubt that, try rolling out a WIMAX network, or running a BPO firm.).

Some private sector participant observed to me that there might be a trend perhaps among a few on always putting forward suggestions without knowledge on what is on the ground, always proposing alternatives and not building on ideas and listening without internalization. While there is no harm in this, I would suggest a greater role for private sector, civil society and academia. These sectors could use their constituencies (if these are professional bodies, or associations, or working groups) to create forums for discourse on the issues and provide leadership and guidance, that is seen to be drawn from the constituencies themselves. The ICT Board interacts with many stakeholders and indeed many of them are also themselves looking for a suitable professional home. (be it the CIO Forum, KIFF, TESPOK, Kictanet, Skunkworks, Mobile Monday, Mobile Value Added Service Providers, the BPO sector, the systems intergrators, the Multinationals Forum, Pasha Trainees. They have diverse needs. Before the town hall meeting, my team could provide a brief summary of our observation in interacting with all them. Indeed in doing the rounds, we have not covered many of them. They are many..

It is entrepreneurs who will build a true ICT sector, one business at a time. Fortunately we have plenty of them in Kenya. Many who seek guidance and counsel on where to direct their energies. There are some who believe IT is fibre optic and others still in the ‘buy ICT equipment and sell mode”. We are always encouraging them at forums such as the Tandaa Conferences and the Mobile Boot camp to widen their view into applications, solutions, project management, consultancy, new media development (animation, web marketing, mobile marketing) etc. This requires concerted effort. During the Connected Gov workshop, we showcased animations developed by Home Boys Studios in Kenya using local talent (who had no prior animation training). These animations are being shown on UK TV. Local companies like Symbiotic, Cellulant gave case studies of the challenges and opportunities entrepreuners face, and Seven Seas a large Kenyan system integrator demonstrated how the government could deploy a digital dashboard and how partnering with Safaricom, they have developed  capacity building program to train for IT.

One last observation is that as ICT becomes more sophisticated, perhaps we can look at the role of the CIO and the CTO within both private sector and public sector structures. On this score, a few private sector firms in Kenya provide examples of ideal IT governance structure and we all could welcome them to share their experiences.