AO: This excerpt from the article (below) highlights the key role that liberalizing telecom and fiber networks in Kenya had for attracting American multinational tech companies like Google to set up their regional hub in Nairobi.
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"As the most developed country on the continent, South Africa is the obvious hub for online Africa. And yet when Google was looking for a regional base, it went first to Nairobi. Why? Because Kenya — notably its government and specifically Ndemo — embraced the Internet as few other nations have. Unlike other African regulators, who often see protecting state telecom monopolies as their duty, Ndemo was an early and enthusiastic liberalizer of telecoms and fiber networks and was instrumental in Kenya's decision to lay its own national undersea fiber cable when talks on a regional link failed. Ndemo says the state's ultimate aim is free mobile calls and e mail for every Kenyan who wants them, which he estimates at 60% to 80% of a population of 40 million. The driving principle behind his digital zeal, says Ndemo, is that "the Internet is a basic human right" and a necessity for economic growth."
AO: The excerpt from the article below highlights Bitange's announcement about the Kenya Open Data initiative at Pivot 25 which took place in 2011. The article quotes him as saying: "All the data you want, you'll find it there." Fast-forward almost 10 years ahead, we know that while the Kenya Open Data Portal was indeed launched in 2011, data on the platform was inadequate and quickly stagnated. Today, the Kenya Ministry of ICT is looking to review and revise its Open Data policy.
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"In the first week of July, Kenya's government will become the first in Africa — and one of the first in the world — to be completely data open. It will release online millions of pages of previously internal, often secret government documents. "All the data you want, you'll find it there," said Ndemo. He described the initiative in terms of allowing a government that faces a general election next year to demonstrate service delivery as well as to have a legacy project for President Mwai Kibaki, who is not expected to seek re-election. But the implications of such radical transparency for a government frequently ranked among the most corrupt in the world are immense. In an interview, Ndemo agreed that open government will "completely change the way the government deals with the public and will strike a huge blow against corruption. There has been some resistance — the Planning Ministry refused for a whole year to give us their data — but we have convinced them.'"