Since their
inauguration by the new constitution, county governments have of late been in
the rush to implement some really over ambitious plans. Nakuru County has, for
instance, rolled out free Wi-Fi in town CBD. My question is, do we
really need these hotspots in the town, or rather should the free internet be
such a priority in a town like Nakuru. For clarity, I am from Nakuru County and
I have worked in Nakuru town and therefore quite conversant with the place.
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| Nakuru Town CBD |
Sometimes times back
Nakuru town drew continental attention as the cleanest and the fastest
developing town in Africa. The development of Nakuru town is much inclined on
agriculture and of late estate development. Tourism is also worth a mention as
Hell’s gate, L.Nakuru national park, Menengai Creator come to mind. On the side
of agriculture, Nakuru is on a very strategic location severing as the main
business area for some notable producing zones. Horticulture and Dairy farming
in lower Nyandarua (Dundori, Tumaini etc.) rely on this market. Meat production
and horticulture (water melons) from Baringo, Maize farming from Solai ,
Tomatoes farming from Subukia region and
Potatoes from Njoro and Molo also
have in one way or another to pass through this market.
It’s clear that
agriculture is the colossus investment in Nakuru County and any development
that the county government makes should be channeled towards the same. The main
question is how will the free Wi-Fi promote agriculture and tourism, enhance
security, reduce traffic congestion and may be reduce unemployment? The answer
is that IT CANNOT.
To start with, who are
the users of this free internet? Most of them are young idlers who do nothing
better than stream movies, social network and download pirated music
online. I know of no College or campus
that doesn’t offer internet for its students, so students are obviously not core
users of the same. Another drawback is mobile battery life (most people use
Android ran devise or Nokia Asha) especially when connected to Wi-Fi. Most
devices will only run for at most an hour. I think they should too have
installed free electricity charging spots.
I do not want to sound
too sadist on this development on by my county government, and you are probably
asking if no free Wi-Fi then what? Okay I believe the only way to solve any
society problems is through empowering the common “mwananchi” – Swahili for
Citizen, regardless of the generation gap, education level and cultural background.
What I mean is that any major solution implemented by a government should in a
way cater to benefit the high school dropout as well as a PhD holder or a 50
year old business man as well as a 19 year old
addicted to gaming. In the next paragraphs I will give my thoughts on
what I think the Nakuru county government should do both in ICT and other
fields if she is interested in promoting the lives of her citizens.
1.
Create
a thorough County Information and
services system
The county government could possibly go ahead and map out all the
agriculture practices in the county develop an information pool and linking it
with all county services to the advantage of the farmers. For instance mapping
all the livestock in the county, giving farmers codes and associating them with
the county veterinary officers. This assists tracking of breeding methods and
also outbreak of diseases e.g. the infamous Rift Valley fever. Farmers can also
get assistance through text and app based methods to get urgent vet services.
Buyers of livestock will simply need to log in to the system and view the
livestock on sale (auctioned by farmers through app or text) with the
confidence of tracking a stocks history from a very young age thus assured of
quality.
Horticulture farming can also be promoted by this system in a similar
way.
2.
Giving
the WI-FI to SMES and Schools
This
free internet connection could also be given to SMEs to optimize their
operations. The county government could invest on possibly two large servers
and promote SMEs by improving their visibility online. Think of assisting them
to attain online, text and app –based orders and payments through mobile money as
well as mapping their locations to existence to outside world. Think of a
mechanic looking for a second hand part simply he can’t afford a new one.
Texting, calling or an online log on simply gives him many potential dealers of
the same.
Better
still we can take the Internet to Schools and to aid in learning of the
students. Most schools nowadays have at least a computer lab.
3.
Creating
a traffic management system in the county
An
idea I have conceived from a project I am working on. Basically this assists in
reduction of accidents, traffic congestion and corruption on roads.
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| A traffic rush in Nakuru town |
Creating an
on board device that monitors the vehicle especially PSVs (Public Service
Vehicles) like say takes an infrared image to determine if the sitting capacity
is exceeded, tracks the speed of all other vehicles on the road from an
intelligent online system. This assist you to get constant updates on the speed
to move in to avoid congestion somewhere else on the road. Traffic police need
only to check from tablets the over speeding any other irresponsible traffic
behavior. The system also records the intervention of the traffic officers …A
thorough discussion and implementation of this project will come on this blog
immediately I get enough cash to get the Arduino boards.
4.
Using
Technology in enhancement of formation of SACCOS
Most
farmers, I have also done tomatoes farming at Subukia, are highly manipulated
by middle men. This county government could assist them by bringing a reliable
market a click of a text away or a USSD a way….how?
One
way is by promoting formation of SACCOS then as a county take the SACCOS online
in on pool as the SACCOS of Nakuru. Since county officers are influential, they
should get offices in the regions where these products are sold are install stores
for the products, maybe.
5.
Train
pupils and students on ICT
Using
the cash to train kids and high school students on Raspberry pi and such
technologies.
6.
Funding
business ideas by young people and incubating startups
The fact that we have free WI-FI in Tokyo does not
make it an obvious good idea for Nakuru. A call to all county governors: please
give a rethought on the ideas you are implementing for the citizens
