ATF 2024: Policies should enable tech innovation – Kenyan ICT Cabinet Secretary

Kenya's ICT Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Margaret Nyambura Ndung'u to the African Tech Festival 2024 that for innovation to thrive on the continent, African governments need to have an enabling environment.

Speaking during a ministerial panel discussion titled 'Striking the Balance: Achieving Innovation-Friendly Tech Regulation' at the 27th annual Africa Tech Festival held in Cape Town this week, Ndung'u said the Kenyan Constitution mandates policy makers to seek public consultations when coming up with policies.

"We work with the private sector, we work with stakeholders to ensure that our policies are as progressive as they can be," she said.

She highlighted that Kenya has built and continues to build digital infrastructure for data centers in collaboration with the private sector.

"We have also collaborated with the private sector to lay fiber, our target is to lay 100,000 kilometers in the country," she continued.

African government ministers from Uganda, Zambia and Kenya agreed that innovators need an enabling environment to operate successfully. (Source: Matshepo Sehloho)

Ndung'u said that Kenya also has ICT training centers, which are spearheaded by Mastercard, and the country has also opened data innovation hubs.

"We are encouraging young people to come up with innovative sustainable solutions," Ndung'u explained.

Collaboration is key

Zambia's Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Technology and Science, Dr. Brilliant Habeenzu, agreed with Ndung'u that African governments needed to collaborate with the private sector in order to further digitally transform their countries.

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"To ensure collaboration, the Zambian government has what it calls the Public Private Dialogue Forum (PPDF)  which facilitates public-private sector engagement on policy and regulatory matters," he added.

He said through that forum, there are many private sector players in the country contributing to a digitally transformed Zambia.

He added that the forum also played a key role when Zambia was hit by a drought, affecting its ability to produce constant hydro-electricity.

"That drought affected us adversely when it comes to matters of quality of services, especially in the telecoms sector. As a number of towers go off because of not having enough power in the country," he explained.

Habeenzu said the government engaged with mobile network operators in the country to come up with ways for stakeholders to work together to resolve the power crisis.

No tech without youth

Uganda's Minister of Science Technology and Innovation, Dr. Monica Musenero Masanza, highlighted that another key to collaboration is youth involvement.

"There was once an advert that alluded to the fact that a certain gadget was easy to use, and young person in the advert said its so easy, even my dad can use it. Therefore, we cannot speak about technology without involving the youth," she explained.

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In her view, the majority of innovators and generators of technology in Uganda and across the continent, are young people.

"We cannot design effective policies without understanding young people, without giving them a voice, or even involving them in the day-to-day decision making," she highlighted.

"In Uganda, we want to make sure that policy is well informed by data on the ground and not by a general sweep that happens globally, no, we do our own research and collect primary data. Sometimes we find that the popular trend is not favorable to our local ecosystem," she said.