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The Y2k Challenge Steering Committee

2021-09-03T10:19:10Z

2021-09-03T10:19:10Z

2000

The Y2K event was one of many "known unknowns" that required the leadership and capability to react and manage the risk of business situations that had no precedent. The historical wait-and-see attitude of some people was not going to work against the so-called "millennium bug". The ultimate test of Year 2000 readiness and success was to be an organisation's ability to manage events and not the crisis. It was the realisation by the Kenya Government and the private sector of the potential of the Y2K problem to disrupt the national economy and social life of our people that led to the establishment in October 1998 of the National Year 2000 Steering Committee to co-ordinate Kenya's Y2K preparations. While the Steering Committee was responsible for co-ordinating national Y2K programme, Y2K was not a competitive issue for firms, and individual organisations throughout our national spectrum - whether public or private - took responsibility for their own Y2K preparation activities. This included due diligence to deliver their own vision to their own stakeholders and to the country, while borrowing a leaf at the same time, from the emerging world best-practices. It was the vision of the National Y2K Steering Committee that every Kenyan resident had a right to normal life - with least disruptions prior to, during and after roll-over date change. 'Normal' life meant the unfettered provision of the basics of life, namely: water, power, finances, healthcare, transport, telecommunications, electricity and security. Consequently, a National Y2K Co-ordination Centre was established to work very closely with the key operators within strategic sectors of our economy to deliver the stated and well-defined national vision. This report represents the culmination of Kenya's Y2K due diligence process. The National Y2K Co-ordination Centre was manned by qualified personnel seconded from their regular places of employment. In the group were engineers, academics, professionals, technologists and managers from dichotomous backgrounds ranging from food processing, banking, power generation, communications, aviation to health informatics, who together were responsible, in working with respective organisations, for ensuring Kenya's Y2K challenge was met. This report has been written in a style intended to engage the reader and at the same time serve as a case study or template for the successful management of future large scale, national complex and uncertain projects. Significant lessons were learnt throughout the project which are of enormous potential benefit in the future and there is commitment to seeing that the challenges and recommendations expounded in this report will be duly communicated to the relevant authorities, with the aim of having them implemented. This will be treated as a matter of national priority, especially the case for strengthening national disaster management systems and establishing an institutional and legal framework to make Kenya an information and digital society for accelerated economic and social development. The smooth transition our country experienced into the millennium with all sectors working as normal, was as a result of tremendous mobilisation of people and resources. It was also due to the commitment of our government, the private sector, the Y2K workers and individual Kenyans that our nation was rated as one of the best-prepared countries in the continent comparable to any in the world. The level of success in meeting Kenya's Y2K challenge gave rise to accusations that it was all a hoax. In fact, it was a triumph for organisation, foresight and collective commitment to a vision. Y2K was indeed not a hoax; we had to tackle the problem seriously and we came out on top. Y2K made it clear that the whole world is an interdependent network of demand and supply chains within which the need for healthy relationships is critical. On behalf of the National Y2K Steering Committee, it is my pleasure to take this opportunity to thank everybody who made Kenya's Y2K compliance a great success. I would like to pay special tribute to H.E. President Daniel T. Arap Moi for his foresight in setting up the Steering Committee and for his support and commitment for the management of the Kenya Y2K process. I would also like to thank in a special way my predecessor as Chairman of the National V2K Steering Committee, Ms. Margaret Chemengich and her committee for laying the strong foundation on which we built the national Y2K success.

MARTIN LUKE ODUOR-OTIENO

http://192.168.150.44/handle/123456789/539

en_US

The Y2k Challenge Final Report

Technical Report