ITU regional forum for Africa, prep meeting open in Kenya

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The three-day Regional Development Forum for Africa Region (RDF-AFR) and Regional Preparatory Maeeting kicked off on Monday 7 April 2025 in Nairobi, Kenya, with African ministers calling for proactive collaboration in development of Information and Communication Technologies, reports ITREALMS.

This would be followed by the Regional Preparatory Meeting for WTDC-25 for Africa (RPM-AFR) from 8 to 9 April.

Kenya hosts AMRH 1st continental forum for safe medicines - ITREALMS

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The African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization (AMRH) programme has concluded plans to host the first Heads of Medicines Registration and Marketing Authorization Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, reports ITREALMS.

The forum slated to take place between April 10-11, 2024, ITREALMS gathered, marks a significant step in strengthening Africa's regulatory framework for medicinal products.

ITW promises exciting digital infrastructure week in Kenya - ITREALMS

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The digital infrastructure industry promises to take centre stage as Nairobi hosts Africa’s first International Telecommunications Week, reports ITREALMS.

The ITW Africa, the leading platform for digital infrastructure and connectivity professionals, is set to unlock immense opportunities within the African market. This highly anticipated event will bring together industry leaders, decision-makers, and experts to explore the vast potential of Africa's digital infrastructure and connectivity landscape.

Cybersecurity Kenya, 2023: Exito partners Cyber Era NG - ITREALMS

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After successful 15 editions of Cyber Security Summit, Exito is set to host another milestone event- which serves as an ideal platform to enhance insights of Kenya’s Cyber Security Models for Tomorrow.

The Cybersecurity Summit is an invitation-only in-person event exclusively for cybersecurity leaders from leading businesses, institutions and government establishments in Kenya. The Summit, which is in alignment with Kenya’s Vision 2030, will discuss challenges, policies and strategies towards building a cyber resilient Kenya and also highlight the various tech-disruptions for overcoming new risks inherent in digital businesses, and incorporating a culture of information security in all institutions and organizations.

Kenya selects Nigeria’s reconciliation solution - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The Kenya Women Microfinance Bank (KWMB) has selected a Nigeria-based automated accounts reconciliation solution, CLIREC, reports ITREALMS.

This development, ITREALMS gathered will address identified needs for a more efficient and effective accounts reconciliation practices across the institution.

The managing director and CEO of Precise Financial Systems (PFS), Nigeria’s leading fintech firm, Dr. Yele Okeremi, explained why Kenya through KWMB has selected its automated accounts reconciliation solution, CLIREC, to address identified needs for a more efficient and effective accounts reconciliation practices across the institution.

Dr. Okeremi said reason for the project was to deploy a reconciliation solution that would facilitate a reduction of the turnaround time of the reconciliation process in KWMB.

“The reconciliation will enable Kenya Women Financial Trust to increase its operational efficiency by providing a faster resolution to unprocessed items, customer queries and improve responsiveness among other benefits”, he said.

He said the bank had identified its peculiar needs to include faster resolution of unprocessed items, faster resolution of customer queries and improves responsiveness; achieve a near real-time scenario of the reconciliation process, timely reporting to management and automated escalation of long outstanding items.

CIO of KWMB, Mr. Kibet Kipkemoi, attested to Okeremi’s statement, saying that the bank selected PFS’ Clirec because of its records of accomplishment in solving complex reconciliation challenges with its simple processes.

“Clirec was picked as the preferred applications after rigorous selection process by our team and consultants who evaluated all available solutions. We are confident that Clirec will meet all our reconciliation needs. “

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Google celebrates Kenya @54 with doodle - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

Global technology company, Google has on Wednesday, celebrated the business hub of East Africa, Kenya as the country marks 54^th anniversary as a republic with a doodle, reports ITREALMS.

Kenya, ITREALMS gathered is an East African nation with coastline on the Indian Ocean, encompassing savannah, lakelands, the dramatic Great Rift Valley and mountain highlands.

Locally, ITREALMS reports that Jamhuri Day also known as Republic Day, is a national holiday in Kenya, celebrated on 12 December each year. Jamhuri is the Swahili word for "republic" and the holiday is meant to officially mark the date when Kenya became an independent republic which happened on 12th December 1964.

Kenya, also home to wildlife like lions, elephants and rhinos with its capital in Nairobi, which safaris visit the Maasai Mara Reserve, known for its annual wildebeest migrations, and Amboseli National Park, offering views of Tanzania's 5,895m Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Remmy Nweke in Nairobi/ED Ops

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Stage is set for Africa eCommerce 2018, Kenya agog - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The United Nations body responsible for helping leverage on trades, the Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has concluded plans to host the maiden edition of the Africa eCommerce Week in Nairobi, Kenya, reports ITREALMS.

The week-long event which opens today, Monday is to last till Friday, December 14, in what has been classified as the first regional incarnation of UNCTAD’s global eCommerce Week, held annually in Geneva.
ITREALMS reports that under the theme “Empowering African Economies in the Digital Era”, Africa eCommerce Week is a response to the growing demand for e-commerce dialogues, as the digital and mobile revolution continues apace.

It comes at an opportune moment, given that the international community, regional organizations, and individual countries are exploring ways to advance development gains from the digital economy and thereby help achieve the ambition of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Moreover, the landmark African Continental Free Trade Agreement, signed in March this year, is expected to have a positive impact on intra-African trade. As trade increasingly moves online, there is a growing need to discuss the implications of e-commerce for African economies.

Already, in 2017, Africa had 21 million online shoppers – showing the enormous potential of the African e-commerce marketplace.

“Turning this tremendous opportunity into inclusive development requires a massive effort on the part of all of us – in Africa and beyond,” said UNCTAD Secretary-General Mukhisa Kituyi.

“We are at critical juncture – and that it is why UNCTAD decided to have a meeting in Africa, for Africa and by Africa, focused on harnessing the potential of digitalization and the mobile revolution.”

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Kenya wins bid to host Int’l Open Data Confab’20 despite Internet tax - ITREALMS

ITREALMS:

The Government of Kenya has won the bid to host the international open data conference in 2020, despite its recent Internet tax, which has largely attracted condemnation due to its effect on access to data and dissemination, reports ITREALMS.

The hosting right, ITREALMS gathered was based on the consistency and high-level leadership of the Deputy President, Hon. William Ruto, on Open Government and data for development over the last three years.

ITREALMS also gathered that the 6th International Open Data Conference (IODC) will be held in Africa for the first time, in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2020.

This was revealed at the closing ceremony of the 5th IODC 2018 held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from September 27 – 28, 2018 under the theme “The Future is Open.” This year’s IODC was organized by the Government of Argentina, the World Bank, IDRC and OD4D with the support of Google, amongst others.

The International Open Data Conference (IODC) is a bi-annual premier gathering of champions of Open Data from Government, Civil Society, Academia, innovators among others; to share, learn and collaborate on policies, technologies, tactics, tools and platforms for making data more open, accessible, available and interoperable in support of development priorities.

The IODC exists to accelerate collaboration and increase the impact of open data activities globally, across different workstreams such as; Agriculture, health, education, gender and fiscal transparency. For the last 10 years, the Government of Spain, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the World Bank, and the Open Data for Development Network (OD4D) have been the curators of the Conference.

The Government of Kenya won the bid based on the consistency and high-level leadership of H.E the Deputy President, Hon. William Ruto, on Open Government and data for development over the last three years.

Setting the stage for this honor, the Deputy President has previously affirmed, “The President and I are committed to the creation of an inclusive data ecosystem involving the government, the private sector, academia, civil society, local communities, and development partners that tackles the information aspects of development decision-making. We recognize that if Kenya is to move ahead, we must deliberately pursue collaboration between the government, academia, and entrepreneurs. It is no longer an issue of political will, but a matter of rational economic and political choice.”

In response, the Office of the Deputy President has so far co-founded the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD) with over 400 leading Data Companies and Governments, energized the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) by co-hosting a Summit with the Governments of the United States and the United Kingdom in New York, convened a high level meeting on Data for Development in Africa with the Governments of Ghana and Sierra Leone and signed a land-mark agreement on with the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and National Aeronautic Space Administration (NASA), to release 17 Years of satellite data for free to 5 Africa Countries (Kenya, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Senegal).

Mr. Rudi Borrmann, Undersecretary for Public Innovation and Open Government, Argentina's Ministry for Modernization noted that “This will be an excellent opportunity to share lessons learnt on hosting such an auspicious gathering with Kenya, but most importantly, a practical opportunity to strengthen the South-South Collaboration. We look forward to advising and working with the Government of Kenya in the successful hosting of IODC in 2020.”

The theme of the International Open Data Conference in 2020 will be “Bridging Data Communities” a vision that received a resounding endorsement by participants, noting the significance of the year 2020, that will mark, five years after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement (PARIS21), as well as the 5th anniversary of the Africa Agenda 2063 and 25 years since the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA).

The 2020 conference is expected to bring over 3000 participants to Nairobi from over 100 countries. Additionally, over 50 tech international tech companies are expected to participate, exhibit and hopefully invest in Africa’s burgeoning innovation spaces.

Receiving the baton to host #IODC20, on behalf of Kenya, Dr. Korir Sing’Oei, Legal Advisor and Head of Policy, Office of the Deputy President, said that, “We are indeed humbled and honored to be entrusted with the next International Open Data Conference, which will be a tremendous opportunity for the African Continent to showcase impact on how it has harnessed the power of data, technology and innovation, to respond to the age-old challenges of our populations. With this opportunity to host the next IODC in 2020, we are signaling Africa’s readiness to play a leading role in bridging the different data communities to deliver the benefits of data to our economies and leave no one behind.”

Nenye Dom/GEE

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Paradigm Initiative condemns Kenya over Internet tax - ITREALMS

FocusAfrica@ITREALMS:

The Kenyan government has concluded plans to tax internet access as the parliament on Thursday, September 20, approved a measure imposing excise duty on telephone and internet data services, thereby attracting condemnation from Paradigm Initiative. reports ITREALMS.

The President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta left Kenyans surprised by recently proposing an increase in Internet Tax through the alteration of the Finance Bill 2018. This Bill was earlier declared illegal by the High Court.

This tax increase comes at a time when subscribers are also paying increased fee on mobile money transfer services after the government raised excise duty from 10% to 20% in July 2018.

According to Wathagi Ndungu, Paradigm Initiative’s Google Policy Fellow for Eastern and Southern Africa, “this action comes after a public outcry for a reduction on the tax on petroleum products. The president intimated that revenue had to come from somewhere and the first to suffer are Internet data services.”

The proposal to parliament by the president read, ‘Telephone and internet data services shall be charged excise duty at a rate of fifteen percent of their excisable value.”

“Due to this approval, excise duty will increase on telephone, Internet data and mobile phone services. Business will be greatly affected especially small businesses that rely heavily on mobile and Internet money transfer. Other businesses that will suffer by this tax introduction include online businesses such as Vlogging, online writing, e-commerce stores, telemarketing and blogging,” Ndungu added.

What this means is that 100 Kenya shillings worth of  airtime that currently attracts 10 Kenyan shillings tax will now see the Treasury earn an extra 15 Kenyan shillings. This tax is estimated to affect over 44.1 million subscribers, going by the figure on mobile subscribers contained in Communications Authority of Kenya third quarter report  of to March 2018.

“The situation is disappointing since Kenyans are already among the most heavily taxed income earners in the world without any evidence as to how they benefit from these heavy taxes,” Ndungu submitted.  

Nenye Dom/GEE

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Pix: Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyetta

Obama watched World Cup final in Kenya, launches Sauti Kuu project - ITREALMS Online

ITREALMS:

The former United States (US) President, Barrack Obama, on Sunday watched the World Cup final from the city of Nairobi, Kenya, just as he launched Sauti Kuu Foundation project, reports ITRealms.

Mr. Obama who arrived in Kenya on Sunday afternoon in commencement of his two-day visit to Kenya kicked off with a courtesy visit on President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House, Nairobi.

While welcoming the 44th US President in Kenya Sunday afternoon, President Kenyatta commended Mr Obama for keeping his promise to visit the country after his service as US president.

ITRealms recalls that Mr Obama had made the promise when he last visited Kenya in 2015.

President Kenyatta also congratulated the former US president for establishing the Obama Foundation which seeks to empower the youth to become the agents of change in Africa.

The two leaders agreed that the youth in Africa could become the continent’s most valuable asset if their energy and creativity are effectively harnessed.

In addition, Mr Obama would be inaugurating the Sauti Kuu Foundation’s project, a youth centre set up by his half-sister, Auma Obama.

He also visited his father’s ancestral village in Kenya’s South-western Siaya County on Monday and danced to some traditional music with his grandmother Sarah Obama, who was cladded in traditional garb, and was drawn onto the dance floor and getting down to some music by President Obama.

Banji Boye/GEE

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Uber, Old Mutual to extend money course Nigeria, Ghana & Kenya

ITRealms:

A partnership between Uber and Old Mutual in commemoration of the Global Money Week, have agreed to extend its free money management course to its driver-partners in Accra-Ghana, Lagos-Nigeria and Nairobi-Kenya, reports ITRealms.

The course, which held in South Africa this year, ITRealms gathered, reflects Global Money Week’s theme with “Learn. Save. Earn.”

ITRealms reports that Driver-partners who attending the workshops this week, would be empowered with the skills to manage their finances in order to grow their income and save for the future.

In addition, ITRealms reports that drivers will receive an invitation via email to reserve their seat.

Driver-partners across Africa are extremely important to Uber and their own financial wellbeing is an ongoing priority. The technology and flexibility of the Uber app enables driver-partners to start, run and grow a small business on their own terms. By offering skills development in financial management, Uber can assist entrepreneurs in building sustainable businesses.

Recent statistics illustrate the contribution small and medium enterprises (SMEs) make to high growth economies on the African continent. The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics notes that there are over 17 million SMEs registered in Kenya, with these businesses employing half of the Kenyan workforce. In Ghana, 92 per cent of companies registered are micro, small and medium enterprises and contribute 70 percent to the country’s GDP, while Nigeria has seen a 100% increase in small businesses in recent years.

Nonye Dom/GEE

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Kenya hosts over 3,000 Women in Tech Africa

ITRealms:

Over 3,000 women techies from across Africa and diaspora recently met face-to-face and virtually in 40 countries to deliberate on barriers to and opportunities for women and girls working within the technology sector, reports ITRealms.

The meeting, which held under the aegis of the Women in Tech Week commenced on September 26 through 30, 2016 in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

In addition, ITRealms gathered that the week-long event was the first-ever largest  all women event to be held in the African continent.

ITRealms reported that the event was jointly organised by Women in Tech Africa and software giant SAP global, the event will include curated user generated events with partners across 40 countries, bringing together 40,000 users onsite and virtually.

“This is a collaborative attempt to build a pan-African network, allowing us women to compare our challenges, learn from other countries and connect across borders to expand our influence,” says Founder of Women in Tech Africa and CEO of Edel Consult, Ethel Cofie.

“Women need mentors, role-models and a network to share their experiences, challenges and skills. The magnitude of this event in Africa is unprecedented and presents an opportunity for women in this field to brainstorm on how to unlock the continent’s potential,” Ms Cofie added.

The week-long event discussed issues such as the role of women in building Africa’s digital economy, opportunities for research and why there is a need to invest in women interested in pursuing careers in this field.

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ICANN's Africa regional office opens in Kenya

ITRealms:

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has launched its first African regional engagement office in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, reports ITRealms.

ICANN made this disclosure Tuesday at a press briefing at bilateral engagements with the ICT Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Joe Mucheru.

Also present at the ceremony include Tarek Kamel, Senior Advisor to the President and Senior Vice President, Government and IGOs Engagement, Sally Costerton, Senior Advisor to The President & Senior Vice President, Global Stakeholder Engagement, and Pierre Dandjinou, VP Global Stakeholder Engagement for Africa.

The office located on 17th Floor of ICEA building was officially unveiled at an event at the Intercontinental Hotel, Tuesday evening, with various industry stakeholders present to witness the momentous occasion.

The move by ICANN to select Kenya as its African home is a stamp of approval to Kenya's increasingly important role in the Internet ecosystem. The regional presence will further deepen ICANN's engagement with African Governments as well as the private sector players.

Statistics by Communications Authority estimate that Kenya's mobile phone penetration stands at over 88% while Internet penetration stands at 82.6 per cent, reaching about 35.5 million people making Kenya among the most connected population in the world. Kenya also boasts one of the most active online populations on the continent with users increasing every day. The growing reach of the Internet coupled with the rapid spread of mobile phones and the wide diffusion of social media have immensely contributed to Kenya's socio-economic development growth.

ICANN is a not-for-profit public-benefit corporation with participants from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. It promotes competition and develops policy on Internet. Through its coordination role of the Internet's naming system, it does have an important impact on the global expansion and evolution of the Internet.

Speaking at the launch, ICT Cabinet Secretary Mr. Joe Mucheru, said that the government of Kenya recognizes and supports the efforts made by ICANN in ensuring the growth and development of Internet.

"Kenya has continued to work with regional bodies towards the growth of the Internet use in Africa and we are glad to have ICANN make Nairobi its first engagement office location for Africa. We believe that collaboration with ICANN will encourage investors in ICT to provide services from the Kenyan cyberspace through the hosting of root servers, Data centers, cloud services among others." Mr. Mucheru said.

Communications Authority of Kenya chairman Mr. Ngene Gituku said ICANN's regional presence in Africa and its choice of Kenya is a big boost to the ICT sector and further reasserts Kenya's position as an ICT powerhouse.

"As a regulator of the industry we are delighted that Kenya has been chosen to take a front row seat in matters of Internet policy. We are also glad that stakeholders across Africa will congregate here to help set and drive the ICT agenda for the continent. I therefore call upon the various actors in this space to join hands so that our synergies can lead to a better, safer ICT sector in Kenya and Africa at large," said Mr. Gituku.

"We are excited about this new phase for ICANN in Africa with the opening of our first engagement office in the region, here in Nairobi. Moreover, we are very thankful to the Kenyan Government and the community for their amazing support. Over the past three years, there has been much effort, dedication and goodwill from the community and ICANN staff in the implementation of the Africa Strategy," said Sally Costerton, Senior Advisor to the President & Senior Vice President, Global Stakeholder Engagement. 

"In March this year, during ICANN55 in Morocco, the ICANN board of directors and senior leadership announced the opening of the first ICANN engagement office in Africa. This is an important moment for us, as we increase our institutional engagement and outreach in Africa, to better serve the region."

ICANN follows a multi-stakeholder model in which individuals; non-commercial stakeholder groups, industry, and governments play important roles in its community-based, consensus-driven, internet policy-making approach. Its headquarters is based in Los Angeles, California USA, with two operational hubs in Istanbul, Turkey and Singapore. In addition to engagement offices in Beijing, Brussels, Geneva, Montevideo, Seoul, Washington, D.C and today Nairobi, Kenya to afford wider reach and accessibility.

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Civil societies urge Obama, Uhuru to end inequalities, poverty

ITRealms:

The Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have urged Presidents Barack Obama of the US and Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya on Thursday to lessen growing inequalities and chronic poverty among vulnerable and marginalized populations in Kenya which threaten security, national integration, and sustainable development despite notable gains made under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) reports ITRealms.

The Regional Communications Coordinator, Henry Neondo, told ITRealms in a press statement that the CSOs urged the two leaders to ensure delivery of the outcome of their meeting to match the ambition and transformative agenda for the country.

Speaking at the All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi, Kenya, the civil societies and citizens will also ask the two leaders to ensure that no category of population is left behind as their two countries gear up to the UN Summit in New York in September to unveil the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

They added that early intervention and investment in people of all ages, gender and abilities is the surest way to create a more just and inclusive society.  The foundation for inclusive societies begins with investment in health, social protection, security, quality of data and its disaggregation by age and gender, and lifelong education for sustained economic growth and shared prosperity.

Current statistics in Kenya show growing inequalities. In ability to access quality essential services and chronic poverty demands that the State invest further in Social protection programs. 

The CSOs urged the two leaders to support calls for effective, efficient and coherent funding modalities for the design, implementation and extension of social protection programs that meets the needs of the citizens. Additionally they also call on the two leaders to assure and promote the rights of women and girls, youth and older persons while safeguarding the needs of people of all ages. 

“What we need are concrete commitments to implement integrated social protection systems,” said Dr. Prafulla Mishra, Regional Director, HelpAge International, East, West, Central Africa.

 “Our country needs to set national and county human development targets within the framework of universal goals to provide the best opportunity to break out of the cycle of poverty and ensure that the post-2015 framework reaches all people of all ages and abilities,” urged the CSOs. They cautioned against optimism towards private finance to deliver a broad sustainable development agenda saying such approaches are “misplaced”. 

The CSOs also took issue with the existing regressive tax policies such as indirect taxes which disproportionately harm people living in poverty such as older persons, women, minorities, persons with disabilities, and children.

The CSOs said while International Development Cooperation remain critical for development financing and fulfilling the 0.7 per cent commitment made more than four decades ago remains pivotal, Kenya should begin relying more on domestic resources to finance her development.

“That government must increase domestic resources, institute effective and progressive taxation systems, facilitate accountability mechanism and tax justice,” they said adding that an enabling environment for cross-sector, multi-stakeholder initiatives that deliver on the goals in the best interest of children, older persons, people with disabilities, youths and their families and communities is needed.

The CSOs expressed their gratitude to President Uhuru’s offer of his government to seek partnerships in order to deliver on sustainable development but urged him to cast his net wider to include non-state actors.

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