Nipate
Forum => Kenya Discussion => Topic started by: Omollo on June 10, 2015, 04:50:44 PM
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Who on earth is still using VHF radio in a world where countries are even getting rid of FM frequencies for ordinary radio broadcasts? And it cost 770 million shillings? Why didn't they advertise for a free used one? I know places with whole systems that were never taken out of the boxes when the mobile phone came! These contraptions do not work, are open to eavesdropping and in fact anybody with a handset can scan and detect your frequency (if he does not already know it). He can then simply interfere with it by pressing the handset on and placing it near a radio playing continuous music.
I would understand if they had used the money to pay Safaricom and other mobile companies to allow them dedicated lines to freely use their masts. One can make a lot of calls for 770 million!
However since it is a small area, they could have explored setting up a mobile phone network dedicated to them. Al though that makes it easy for poachers to sabotage.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) plans to set up a Sh770 million radio communications network for surveillance to frustrate poaching activities that are choking the country’s economy.
In 2014 alone, the KWS revealed that 162 elephants and 21 rhinos were killed in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve and other private conservancies.
In April 2015, Kenya seized ivory worth Sh5.4 million being shipped from Mombasa to Thailand.
The Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Water and Natural Resources, Judy Wakhungu, said the new network is superior and would ensure secure communication between fixed, mobile and portable radios.
“It will initially cover three of eight conservation areas namely, Tsavo, Southern and Central Rift, allowing communication between different parks and KWS headquarters in Nairobi,” said Prof Wakhungu.
SURGE IN DEMAND FOR IVORY
Mr Olivier Picard, president of Ellipse Projects, the contractor installing the network, said the exponential surge in demand for ivory and other animal products over the past three years has forced the KWS to find a more effective way to monitor the reserves.
“The threat to wildlife is (now) greater than it has ever been. Official figures estimate that 25,000 elephants are killed in Africa every year,” said Mr Picard.
He added that the system works by counteracting poaching in a proactive and robust way, deterring poachers who are increasingly heavily armed and well equipped.
It offers surveillance, monitoring, information gathering and storing systems that are extensive, efficient and reliable.
The Sh770 million funding was extended to the government in 2012 by the French government to upgrade the analogue radio network to a digital radio network.
Currently, the KWS is using an analogue radio network that has very low frequency and cannot detect the movement of poachers in remote regions of a park.
It only helps with communication around park gates, with patrol teams and between vehicles and other KWS stations.
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Very suspect indeed. 770M for radio. But it's the French money and it seem they are moving it to digital radio network that is more secure.
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Pundit
There are better options and solutions to the poaching problem. How about operating solar powered drones with high tech cameras to cover the width and breadth of the parks? I was in China to have a look at some of these gadgets and found they had improved on the technology so much I was bewildered. One drone with a camera, transmitting wirelessly to a controller can "guard" a 6 acre plot without noise.
It can be enhanced with ground based sensors and generate alarms pin pointing the threat. The intruder would have no idea where it is located, unlike a tired Luo watchman busy screwing a neighbors wife instead of guarding.
Very suspect indeed. 770M for radio. But it's the French money and it seem they are moving it to digital radio network that is more secure.