Above Gregory Wanyembi’s desk hangs eighteen small pictures of Máxima. “I like your crown princess,” he says, “I think she’ll be a very good queen”.
But Maxima couldn’t stop Wanyembi from leaving Holland: today he’ll fly back home to Kenya, just day after defending his thesis, ‘Improving ICT Management in Public Universities in Kenya’.
During the past fifteen years, computer technology has been introduced in Kenyan companies and universities. And with this technology comes a great demand for computer knowledge too, which almost nobody in Kenya has. “While I interviewed people, I usually could immediately see the problem. Once I visited a university where they had about 24 printers from a donor in US. They all broke down and the official in charge had no choice but to store them in his office, where they remained, while the staff and students for whom they were intended were crying for these printers.”
The problem clearly was not about modern equipment; it was about planning. “The people who donated the printers should also provide backup support on how we should maintain and repair these printers when they break down,” Wanyembi says
Solution
Wanyembi conducted research in three public universities in Kenya to determine their current ICT situations. “I also made a program that enables universities to depict their current ICT situation, qualify the situation, and define a better and improved ICT situation.”
Wanyembi will present his work during a seminar at his university, Moi University, where he’ll teach and conduct further ICT research.
Wanyembi is also planning to interest other African countries in his work, especially Tanzania and Uganda, as these countries have recently joined Kenya in a revival of the East African Community (EAC). “I want to form a research group and find out how these three countries can best use ICT for economic and social development. We are Third World countries and all want to improve our living standards. I hope my work contributes to that, because that’s what motivates me. Besides, three countries together are stronger than one. We experience the same problems. My thesis provides part of the solution for Kenya’s ICT problems, but I don’t have the whole solution. There should be ideas everywhere. Ideally, people from the EAC will come together to share our solutions with each other, and then one day we’ll have the whole solution.”
Above Gregory Wanyembi’s desk hangs eighteen small pictures of Máxima. “I like your crown princess,” he says, “I think she’ll be a very good queen”. But Maxima couldn’t stop Wanyembi from leaving Holland: today he’ll fly back home to Kenya, just day after defending his thesis, ‘Improving ICT Management in Public Universities in Kenya’.
During the past fifteen years, computer technology has been introduced in Kenyan companies and universities. And with this technology comes a great demand for computer knowledge too, which almost nobody in Kenya has. “While I interviewed people, I usually could immediately see the problem. Once I visited a university where they had about 24 printers from a donor in US. They all broke down and the official in charge had no choice but to store them in his office, where they remained, while the staff and students for whom they were intended were crying for these printers.”
The problem clearly was not about modern equipment; it was about planning. “The people who donated the printers should also provide backup support on how we should maintain and repair these printers when they break down,” Wanyembi says
Solution
Wanyembi conducted research in three public universities in Kenya to determine their current ICT situations. “I also made a program that enables universities to depict their current ICT situation, qualify the situation, and define a better and improved ICT situation.”
Wanyembi will present his work during a seminar at his university, Moi University, where he’ll teach and conduct further ICT research.
Wanyembi is also planning to interest other African countries in his work, especially Tanzania and Uganda, as these countries have recently joined Kenya in a revival of the East African Community (EAC). “I want to form a research group and find out how these three countries can best use ICT for economic and social development. We are Third World countries and all want to improve our living standards. I hope my work contributes to that, because that’s what motivates me. Besides, three countries together are stronger than one. We experience the same problems. My thesis provides part of the solution for Kenya’s ICT problems, but I don’t have the whole solution. There should be ideas everywhere. Ideally, people from the EAC will come together to share our solutions with each other, and then one day we’ll have the whole solution.”
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