C4DLab ICT and Innovation Forum. { Public Review Of 'Umoja Kenya’ }

In case you were wondering what I was up to yesterday, here is a small brief. Hehe, actually chances are you weren’t wondering about that one bit, but I will just go with my earlier assumption that you were.

Yesterday was a fun day for me. I took a day off my usual work (everybody’s been doing that this week so don’t look at me like that hehe) to attend the C4DLab ICT and Innovation Forum which took place at the University of Nairobi’s Chiromo Campus. This event was sponsored by Google Kenya and beautifully planned and executed by +WaridiEvents. And I am proud to be associated with both!

The +C4DLab  is an Innovation Hub of the University of Nairobi and it was hosting a public review of ‘Umoja Kenya’: National Digital Registry Service whose aim is to provide the country with a single source of truth on People, Land, Establishments and Assets. #DigitizingKenya

Some of the Keynote speakers included Dr. Bitange Ndemo the Honorary Chair of the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) and also a Senior Lecturer - University of Nairobi. Ms. Mwende Gatabaki, Director General, Kenya Citizens and Foreign Nationals Management Service. Mr. Charles M. Ringera, CEO and Board Sec HELB. Habil Olaka, CEO, Kenya Bankers Association. Mr. Michael Murungi, Google. The moderator was Prof. Timothy M. Waema, Professor of Information System – University of Nairobi. Also on the guest list were invited governors, chairmen of parliamentary committees, representatives from the private sector, academia and civil society.

Some of the things that came up during the forum included the challenges Umoja Kenya was facing which included vested interests or powerful corruption nets, politics, resistance to change, limited knowledge, road carnage and insecurity. However Ms. Mwende Gatabaki, who is very passionate about the ‘Umoja Kenya’ project said that the platform will be fully operational by December 2015 and some of the benefits it will provide to the citizens will include: efficient service delivery, ease of doing business, revenue collection, voter authentication, credit provision, border security management, digital IDs or Passports and also make the
‘Nyumba Kumi’ initiative a reality.

“The digitization of a nation requires action to achieve maximum security and accountability which will propel economic growth.”

Of course after the event there were refreshments :)

Delicious Treats. Drinks. Networking

And pictures of self! #FunTimes 

#Groundies?

There was a lot of coverage from various media houses, so expect more audio visual and print details about the event.

Thank you for reading!

#HappyDays