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New Masks, Old Faces

Written by Alexander Eichener

Wednesday, 02 May 2007

I am not sure which gives a worse online impression of itself: the Ministry for Information and Communication, or the Directorate of E-Government (in the Office of the President).

One seems to wish to outdo (id est: to underperform) the other. In the Ministry for Information and Non-Communication, Dr. Bitange Ndemo is asÂ permanent secretary and therefore First Civil ServantÂ responsible that his ministry's fabulous "website " (bwahaha) does not have a contacts.htm page (dead link), has a service charter consisting of a single page without text content (only the title page), has a departments listing consisting of nought (nil, zero), and which up to a few weeks ago did not even have an email address. Yep, that's right. The Ministry of Information and Communication did not even communicate an email address to the visitors of its website.

And the Directorate of E-Government? Previously, their website sported two different email addresses. One bounced (was not valid at all), and the other remains perpetually unanswered. Yes, that's the Kenyan way^TM of doing e-government, doubtlessly.

Now, they have changed that a bit. Imagine. Oh, they have a website, of sorts. It just lacks any functionality. No email address on the website anymore (!!), no contacts form either, no street address, no telephone numbers, no list of its departments or officers... wow. And of course, no site map. Only in Kenya !

Alexander Eichener
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Appraisal from abroad...
written by aeichener , May 02, 2007

Post Scriptum:

For a deservedly critical (but fair) assessment of Kenyan attempts towards "e-government", see this voice from Princeton:

http://courseblog.cs.princeton...28f/?p=211

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written by Bosibori , May 02, 2007

Well an "under construction" website does not necessarily suggest poor ineffective leadership: give the man some credit in his little stay he is showing some genuine interest and involvement to better wananchi's lives.

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Overly Cynical
written by That Kenyan Loser , May 02, 2007

Alex,
Here you go again with your we-want-it-all-now attitude.

As you have acknowledged in the past, the Internet is new to us. Countries that have effective government Web sites did not build them overnight. They build the infrastructure before making sites user friendly. After all, how many Kenyan are going to visit that site now?

Ndemo highlighted what he is doing to improve Internet connection. Let's be fair to him. If he fails, I will be the first to join you in condemning him, but only after I have seen that he was negligent.

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Internet not New!
written by emmo opoti , May 03, 2007

I find it profoundly unfair that anyone should have such low standards for their countrymen as to feel uncomfortable when they are under criticism.

Can anyone with a fair mind really read Alex' post and find that it goes over-board? I am not a patriot but surely patriotism demands higher standards than congratulation for mediocrity. I have not had reason to need contact with the government but if I did would feel let down by the shortfalls he mentions here and in the post under Rebecca Wanjiku's article.

Here is a question for a patriot! Why would you have such low standards for your people? Do we not believe that we are capable of better?
Once I wrote an article for this newspaper, and it was returned to me for upgrading. I was very grateful that unlike Kenyan newspapers which consistently refuse to respond to email, I got an email and I improved my article and had it published. If we praise Ndemo for his responsive down-to-earth attitude, then we must expect that that same attitude will appreciate it when we point out where he ( his organisation) could be doing better.

Criticism of government does not mean you hate it!! or are opposed to it!

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written by Tim Norwood , May 03, 2007

I do want it all now!! I part built this website and it did not take forever, neither was it a task we expected congratulations for and yes there is always room for improvement. I have noticed for example that we do not have a site map, or a contacts page, or an email address for our masters to reach us from. All these will now be ready in a short while.

Some of our most faithful writers, have had moments when they have criticised some aspect of the management of the board and every time, rather than look at it as an attack we have striven to react in a way that improves the customer experience.

Civil servants, public servants. Get it now? Best strategy is to mix it. Credit where it is due, criticism where it is!

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written by editor , May 03, 2007

We have transferred the interesting and vivid "patriotism debate" into a thread of its own. See the current Question of the Week.

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Voice of Emptyness
written by Alexander , May 03, 2007

Just received an email from Dr. (Sylvanus) Juma Okech, ICT Secretary in the Office of the President.

Incredible, and herewith presented either for public hilarity or for resigned/exasperated shrugging of shoulders, depending upon mood. I just wonder where and how such people with their empty arrogance get their daktari titles... *sigh*.

From: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
To: Alexander
Subject: Re: New masks, old faces
Date: Thu, 03 May 2007 08:58:13 +0300

Hi Alexander,

Thanks you for your observations. You will appreciate that listing of officers, departments, etc is what is referred to as Stage One - e-Government. We are well past that. Moreover. what goes in our website is at our discretion, and is certainly not a joke as you insinuate.

Also, you might wish to know that we have some capacity of our own to do some nice things without the help of donors, as is in this case. Show it to any donor as you say, and find who amongst them, if any, was involved.

We welcome positive criticisms and encourage you to do so.

Thank you,

Juma

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written by aeichener , May 07, 2007

And the clownishness continues. This time, the fool's sceptre is handed over from daktari Juma Okech to the Ministry of Information and non-Communication.

This latter on its website boasts to offer "Kenya's most powerful government search" engine. Well, sounds nice. Let's see. We are being lead to a search page with three entry forms: http://www.information.go.ke/search.htm
Try them.

The first ("general search" smilies/wink.gif

is a blind entry. A fake. Nothing happens when you select and click.

The second ("advanced search" smilies/wink.gif

is a more elevated kind of fake. Yes, someting happens this time. But regardless what you select from the pull-down menu and what you enter in the search field, the result is always the same. It leads you to the kiambudistrict.htm and that's it. Reminds me of these plastic toy computers for very small children: regardless on which key one presses, it always emits the same squeaking "computerish" sound.

The third ("detailed search" smilies/wink.gif

is a more basic fake again. You select and enter - nothing happens.

Wow. What a stellar performance of Kenya's most powerful government search. Bitange Ndemo can be sooooo proud of his ministry's website.

Alexander

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written by aeichener , May 10, 2007

As to the Directorate of E-Government, its website is a bit like a balloon: nice colour, deflates quickly, no content, and little use except for play.
The following picture shows daktari Juma Okech with his toys (he is the guy in the middle, looking into the camera):

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Daftness continued
written by aeichener , June 15, 2007

Now, back to the Directorate of E-Government. You have read the pompously incompetent answer that we had received from daktari Juma Okech. Now the next chapter:

We had remarked in the article that the aforementioned Directorate quite purposefully did not show any contact details on its website ("transparent? accessible? accountable? Not us!" smilies/wink.gif

.

Now, the hearty kick into their backside did provoke a reaction at last. They have entered their postal address in the previously empty "contact us" page. But no email.

That's right.

The " smilies/grin.gif

irectorate of E-Government" has no email address. That is soooooo brilliant; a true testimony to the luminous geniality of its secretary.

"Only in Kenya..."

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Five months later...
written by aeichener , November 08, 2007

Five months later... still no email address. Of course not. Why would sheep need email?

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Another six months later...
written by aeichener , May 11, 2008

Six more months have passed. The "Directorate of e-government" still exudes the same pompous incompetence from its money-padded cosy offices. No positive change has taken place. No email address. An almost contentless website.

Can't someone assign the daktari some useful work for the People, e.g. handing out food and blankets to IDPs?

Alexander

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