As we steadily step into the year 2014, it is always important to look back and consider the year past. Here at Kachwanya.com we shared with you a number of important topics so here is the list of the topics that touched you the most in 2013. We hope that as a society we will always look back and improve on some of the issues that were raised by these articles.

1. Digital Migration: Consumer Federation warns Kenyans against StarTimes STB decoder

As the deadline for digital migration loomed, stakeholders got themselves prepared to embrace the new technology and StarTimes did not want to be left behind. They came up with a strategy of complying with CCK’s demand for Pay TV providers to provide Free to Air Channels – freely, and the strategy was to sell a dual decoder that allows viewers to switch back and forth between Pay TV option and FTA option. Consumer Federation however thought that consumers should not be given such an option but instead Pay TV providers should unlock the FTA channels from pay bouquets.

Seemingly consumers still thought that StarTimes offer for dual decoder is good hence a few days to the digital migration deadline (that has since been postponed to 6th February this year), many people opted to buy the StarTimes dual decoder that is selling for Kshs 4,999.

An issue with StarTimes has always been an opinion by the public that it is a low class service. We would like to recommend for StarTimes to shed off  the image of substandard products. Their new decoders should help in this. Since many have bought the new decoders, StarTimes needs to work on their programming and quality of broadcast to have a brighter 2014.

One thing the Pay TV providers ought to know is that the first provider who will come with a pay per channel subscription model will likely be the next Safaricom, at least before Internet TV become affordable to most consumers.

2. Even when gone….Thus spaketh Idd Salim – R.I.P

Part of the saddening news in 2013 were the deaths – everywhere; and BAKE wasn’t spared. As bloggers we lost a man who never feared to speak his mind the way he knew best. A man who never minced his words; a man who will not be forgotten any time soon..R.I.P.

3. Is Safaricom Being Greedy By Launching Services to Compete With Start-ups? 
Safaricom has been accused left right and center by SMEs (and a few big corporates) of either stealing their ideas or dishonoring NDAs…it has been accused of being greedy. Well, every business must be greedy in this man-eat-man society to make those billions of profits Safaricom makes, otherwise you’ll end up being the prey. Star-ups need to man-up and master a greedy strategy. They should know that nobody will make it easy for them.

4. Bank to avoid
I honestly didn’t know that Kenyans were a dissatisfied lot by the banking sector, not until this article got published. A call to the banks, improve on your services for a better 2014 banking experience.

5. 5 lies by Daily Nation on Digital Migration
The media lost the public somewhere in the course of 2013. They badly needed the public to sympathize with them in their attempts to fight the government on the media bill and on digital migration. To help them get this sympathy, Daily Nation decided to write a number of lies concerning the circumstances surrounding digital migration…we exposed those lies in this article. The media should learn to be fair, truthful and honest at all times. They should not just shout the loudest about government’s undoing when their interest is at stake but forget to even whisper a word when the interest of Kenyans is swept under the carpet; but most importantly it is now time for everyone to be sober about digital migration.

6. Konza City -Meet the Design Of a White Elephant Project in the name of Silicon Savannah 
Tell us when you last heard someone talk about Konza city…The new CS ICT is just a parrot of the Jubilee campaign slogan “we are digital”, nothing more.

7. Confusion Everywhere over the Deployment of 4G Network in Kenya 
Talks are sweet, words are cheap. Since 2008 Safaricom has been talking about testing 4G…then there were rumors that those were PR gimmicks – we heard remarks that Kenya is not ready for LTE (4G) since even the 3G bandwidth available has not been exhausted. In the meantime, Internet speeds on Safaricom have dwindled almost to ground zero. Hopefully Digital Migration will roll out faster and guys like Safaricom will be able to get their spectrum to let us enjoy the fast speeds of 4G connectivity this very year.

8. #theTrend: can Ryan truly see beyond a blindfold?
Larry Madowo brought some seven year old boy in the studio to feature in his programme #theTrend as a kid who can read while blindfolded. We questioned the possibility and luckily we got assurance from the kid’s guardians that indeed he can read blindfolded. It was only that, a re-assurance. What we want is to prove, by approved scientific means (forget the magic tricks), that Ryan can actually read while blindfolded. We are ready to prove this physically.

9. MyMARKET: OLX should fight to remain relevant
Since the death of Mocality (and dealfish et al before that), Classifieds in Kenya has become synonymous with OLX thanks to OLX’s aggressive marketing campaign everywhere…but the sad part is that OLX has been a philanthropic classifieds platform where both buyers and sellers use it for free. In short, they haven’t made a dime since launch. Word has it that in 2014 OLX wants to introduce paid ads (to sellers) as they have been able to make the site the default classifieds site in Kenya. Let’s wait and see if the strategy, that failed to work with dealfish, mocality and kalahari before, will be able to work on OLX…2014 might be the year to make or break OLX.

10. Uwezo Fund Is a Bad Idea, Create Investment Wing For Proper Funding

Uwezo Fund, Youth Enterprise Development Fund, Women Funds, Funds for people with disabilities, all these funds are good. But they have one weakness in common, they are tailored to achieve political goals – first; everything else comes second…and third…and last. We hoped someone in the policy formulation could listen and refocus the fund to target Startups that have viable business strategies per county…someone, anyone?

Or Uwezo Fund shall remain a badly executed good idea.