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General Musings iAdvocate Publications

My News and Views Roundup (2020-)

A curation of essays, interviews, talks, op-eds by and/or featuring yours truly. Also, additional roundups on COVID-19 and for 2014-2019). 2024 Global governance of digital technologies: A contemporary diplomacy challenge (My Masters dissertation [2021, finally published publicly] addressed the challenge of global governance of digital technologies, advocating for the reform of international institutions to include […]

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General Musings

‘Quomments’ on COVID-19

A curation of my questions-cum-comments, aka ‘quomments’, as we navigate these unprecedented times. No one can definitively claim to have the answers; we are thinking, reasoning, hoping, mourning together. As we must, I suppose. The Evolving Role of Tech During COVID-19 I joined this conversation series hosted by Dalberg Advisors and Amref Health to contextualise […]

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General Musings iAdvocate Publications

My News and Views RoundUp (2014-2019)

A curation of interviews, talks, op-eds by/featuring yours truly. You can also check out my op-eds for Kenya’s Daily Nation (2014-2017) here and 2020 onward here. 2019 Recapping 2019: a special podcast interview with Dickens Olewe BBC 100 Women 2019: Who is on the list this year? (Yours truly was! 😊) On Conferences/Events about Africa(ns) […]

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General Musings iAdvocate

On Writing about Tech in Africa (part 2): our toothbrushes, toilets and bulbs

 Back in 2009, some journalist -perhaps trying to make her story about “the pearl of Africa” land some eyeballs- stated that Uganda was “a place where cell phones could outnumber light bulbs.” Now, that little nugget has morphed into the widely parroted factoid, that there are more mobile phones than bulbs in Uganda. It’s been […]

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General Musings

A much needed clapback

Right off the bat, this is not a dose of political correctness, but a much needed clap back to the vitriol some women have had to bear on the Internet streets. — First and foremost, I want to address the comrade Boniface Mwangi, who is on a meteoric rise to leadership in this country, and who’s […]

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General Musings

Taking Free Basics in Kenya for a spin.

(As posted on Medium).  I’ve been meaning to do this for a while. At iHub, we believe in having user experience at the heart of consumer-facing technology. Also, I’ve heard many a Facebook exec counter the backlash with a valid question: how many advocates (for/against) have actually used Free Basics? So, on a lazy Sunday […]

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General Musings

Should Government Regulate Social Media in Kenya?

In the past week, we have seen one faux-pas in an Embakasi digital prayer cell group go viral, and the private recordings of a private affair between a DJ and a woman become a matter of ‘public interest’. All irreversible. All embarrassing to those in them, and entertaining and/or appalling to the (un)willing recipients.   […]

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General Musings iAdvocate

On Writing about Tech in Africa

(As posted on Medium) Read an article (on international media) lately about some tech startup or innovation in Africa? Have the words “disrupt”, “revolutionise”, or phrases like “the next big thing” appeared? Have you found yourself believing that there’s a “tech revolution” across the continent (country) of Africa? Add "disrupt" to that list 🙂 https://t.co/GaYSLs3lc6 […]

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General Musings

The Future of Cyberspace in Kenya

(As first posted on Medium). The Global Conference on Cyberspace, hosted by the Kingdom of the Netherlands on 16th and 17th April, 2015, was a very interesting one to have attended. The convening drew attendance from governments and private sector players; civil society were invited to the table, with a one and a half day […]

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General Musings

Kenya Tech Community’s ‘Dalliance’ with the Goverment

It is no doubt that many Kenyan stakeholders have benefitted from the ‘Silicon Savannah’ and ‘East Africa ICT Hub’ monikers bestowed upon Kenya. It is also no doubt that ICTs are a player in virtually every aspect of society and industry today, and are here to stay. All stakeholders are clamouring to establish their significance […]