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Archive

How sustainable is OGP?

Having been involved in promoting the Open Government Partnership over the past couple of years in Africa, I have had a couple of experiences that have introduced a nagging worry at the back of my head that has continued to grow. Today, in conversation with colleagues at OpentheGovernment.org, ...

Meeting IMF Managing Director, Christine Lagarde

This week I meet Ms. Christine Lagarde, MD, IMF. This week, the 11th Managing Director of the IMF, Ms. Christine Lagarde is in Nairobi, at the end of a three year (2011-2013) credit facility to Kenya of $750 Million (over KES 65 Billion). Interestingly, this ...

I object: Government cannot regulate politics at parties.

Today, I saw this permit that is required when one wants to host a party during this festive season. I think its a good thing that the government through Nacada has moved to regulate recklessness during this festive season and after and of that I ...

I am worried.

I am worried. What is worse, is that my worries are non-specific, nagging and lurking at the back of my mind constantly as I go through my day. On the face of it, I have every reason to be optimistic - we have a new ...

Lessons from KODI: Completing the Job

My friend, Alex Howard from O'Reilly Radar, asked me a question in September last year that I have wrestled with since: "What are the lessons learnt from the Kenya Open Data Initiative experience?"  I have wrestled with this question all of this time because I don't take "Lessons Learnt"questions ...

This man Sonko… a new kind of leader?

This man Sonko. That he has had three blog posts on this blog, (this being the third after this one and this one), must say that he is making an impact - especially if you examine the changing tone of the posts. I mentioned in ...

Getting Open Data to the people – An example: GotToVote!

I am really excited. Just yesterday, I was speaking at a conference organised by Development Initiatives in Nairobi, where Civil Society Oorganisations were thinking through how to work with Kenya Open Data Initiative, how they can use it and add value to it and so on. ...

WE PROTEST: #KOT Against Mps Bonus

Today, Kenyans on Twitter (#KOT) staged a protest in Nairobi, which was against the Members of Parliament awarding themselves a Kshs. 10 million per person bonus (!) At a time,when teachers struggle to live and hospitals in Kenya have no services to treat our children, the ...

Why not? Why can’t Kenya vote via SMS?

In my last post, I promised to share my musings on the Kenyan elections. I did muse a little on this subject at the NDI Conference on Technology and Transparency and in general, the faces of my audience told me that I am too simplistic ...

NDI Conference: Open Data and Elections

This past week I was invited by the National Democratic Institute team in Kenya to speak at a conference they organised in Nairobo to discuss the elections. They asked me to discuss lessons from the Kenya Open Data Initiative that might be useful in thinking ...