Skip to main content

Covering the Internet Governance Forum

The father of the Internet , Vint Cerf, and Nasser Kettani
- Microsoft's regional Chief of Technology for Africa,
Middle East and Europe (AMEA) in Nairobi for the IGF
At times I get tired of blogging, given that I spend most of the week covering events and trying to write something about the same events. The past week was no exception, with the Internet Governance Forum (IGF)coming to Nairobi. The Internet Governance Forum is a gathering of the world's Internet Policy makers, guys who decide to what limits the Internet can be used and offer guidance about the same. The IGF in Nairobi was the sixth annual event of it's kind, and the biggest ever, attracting over 2,000 participants, about 800 of them foreign. The participants ranged from small fish to big fish, like the father of the Internet, Dr. Vint Cerf, and a few other key players in Gloabl ICT firms like Facebook and Microsoft.

The Ministry of Information and the Kenya IGF needs several pats on their back for pulling the IGF off. See , they brought key Internet players in the country, and managed to impress them that the country was way ahead when it came to the Internet, or at least Nairobi was.

The guests were even impressed by the tricks that Nairobi pulled out of their sleeves - like matters of the stomach. See, the previous IGF was hosted in Lithuania, who were kind enough to ask the guests to pay for their own meals, including drinking water. In Nairobi, despite us suffering from the largest drought in 60 years, we are still kind enough to serve you meals, and drinks, and tea. After all, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Information, Dr. Bitange Ndemo, was quick to remind participants that the mobile phone had made such an impact here that we no longer relied on donor countries to raise Aid for the drought, but that we were able to mobilise the money from ourselves, well past the target.


Even the father of Internet, Vint Cerf, was impressed that this was the first IGF ever where remote particpants and those in the sessions could view live transcribing of the on-goings. It was no mean fact, the Telecommunication Service Providers Association of Kenya (TESPOK) technical team , through the leadership of their Chief Technical Officer, Michuki Mwangi,  had trasncribers in New York listening in and transcribing almost instantly. Of course there were a few set backs, most of them courtesy of Kenya Power. I always find it strange that Kenya Power manage to have multiple blackouts hit when a high powered ICT delegation is visiting, I can't remember any large ICT gathering that hasn't seen its fair of blackouts.

My Challenges covering the IGF

I also had challenges of my own covering the IGF. First and worse of all, I was quite unlucky to bump into some guy from home, who is a friend of my cousin and a relative of the husband of another cousin.  The guy insisted that we stick together and that we converse in kikamba - my native language, and one that I can barely speak fluently due to cross cultural upbringing. It took the whole of day one to shake the guy off, he must have been equipped with smell sensors, given that he had no trouble spotting me in a crowd of a thousand, despite his challenge in height. See, I have no problem hanging out with him, but I need various stories and perspectives by the end of the day, which he was deficient in.

Challenge number two was lullabies, in the form of speech laden powerpoint slides. See after a lavish lunch, I have no idea why several speakers decided to speak into the microphone with low voices. This meant that despite sitting at the edge of your seat, and craning your neck, all you accomplish is resembling a tortoise's head off it shelf and little of what the speaker is saying.

There are those who decided that reading lengthy speeches read off powerpoint slides in a monotone was the way to go. To summarise the situation, emergency services had to be kept on stand by as I was in danger of almost falling off my seat several times while dozing off. The lavish lunches were a mitigating factor.

Another challenge was the public relations firms, who advised their clients to host other ICT events parallel to the IGF. I felt it was an insult, that we are discussing the world's most disruptive communication medium, yet we can't postpone related business for the week, at least to give uninterrupted focus to the IGF.

And of course the other challenge was that it now takes at least 2 hours to travel across the city, thanks to the failure of the City council to come up with a traffic control system, other than the cops. Trust me people, Nairobi is small, but our problem is that we clog the arteries that supply the city, with mismanagement and buildings.

As for the IGF, we discussed a lot, but there were no outcomes. The IGF does not pass recommendations, and here is why. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

WhatsApp Solution: Sorry we were unable to restore any of your message history backup

*This method only works if you are trying to transfer WhatsApp from one phone to another, and have not deleted WhatsApp data or formatted the old phone. If you already uninstalled WhatsApp and deleted data or logged into a different number, it won't work. If you get the “Sorry we were unable to restore any of your message history backup” when trying to restore your WhatsApp messages, trying to restore again from the same backup will probably fail. The issue seems to be caused by an issue with your backup file such as if you repeatedly tried to backup with internet connecting and disconnecting. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Humanity Hasn't Learned From the Covid Pandemic

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic began ravaging the world, succeeding the 1918 flu pandemic.  Many found it unbelievable that despite all the scientific progress that the world has made since 1918, from composite jets to modern healthcare to going to the moon, the world was still susceptible to a pandemic.  Ironically, some of these advancements largely played a role in the spread of the pandemic. Thousands of global flights every hour and air conditioning fanned its spread like a dry wind would in a forest fire.  There was even further disbelief in mid-2020 when it became apparent that many countries were even struggling to keep a pandemic in check. Developed countries, supposed to have the best healthcare, suffered the worst outbreaks amidst disagreements on measures such as quarantines and wearing of masks.  In yet another twist, technology advancement finally came to our rescue with the speedy development of vaccines, including the safe pioneering of never-tried-b...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nairobi's Top 4 Texas Brisket Places Reviewed and Ranked

Brisket on a bed of roast vegetables with barbecue sauce at Texas Brisket, Kikuyu  This review has been updated after a number of you suggested I try the brisket at County2County.  What's the best place to have Brisket in Nairobi? What's even brisket?  Brisket is one of the toughest cuts in a cow, from around the belly. It is so tough that it has to be smoked for about 16 hours to tenderise. But that there, is the catch.  12 to 16 hours later, it is the most flavourful and softest cut you will ever have. So full of flavour and so soft you can pick it apart with your fingers.  However, due to the long cooking time involved, only a few places offer brisket in Nairobi.  The best so far is Texas Brisket which is located within Kikuyu Railway station.  They do the meat for a proper 16 hours, and will usually have a fatty or non-fatty portion. The fatty portions are more tasty. A 500 gram serving goes for KSh. 900 and a 1 KG order comes with a serving of fre...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to Drive from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda to Namibia (or South Africa)

  What You Need COMESA Yellow Sticker (Tanzania and Zambia third party insurance. Botswana may require local bond. Namibia doesn’t require insurance) Logbook Processing with KRA Copies of your logbook for temporary import permits in other countries Passport Yellow fever vaccination proof. COVID vaccination proof may be required Warning triangles and 1 litre fire extinguisher Border Crossing Checklist Key: Required items are indicated in brackets next to each country's title  YS – COMESA Yellow Sticker, P – Passport TIPi – Temporary Import Permit entry TIPo – Temporary Import Permit exit LB – Log book LBc – Log book copy Recommended Extras  1 extra full size spare, 2 if your tyres are more than 75% worn Tow strap Tyre Pressure gauge and pressure pump. Enough rest every day. It’s a perseverance marathon, not an exhaustion sprint What you need to know  Seasons - Tanzania largely has same seasons as Kenya besides the cold July-August season....
Post a Comment
Read more

Visiting Watamu

Getting to Watamu: Flight to Malindi Airport. Jambojet flies here and so do other airlines from Wilson. You'll then need a Cab to Watamu (KSh. 1,700 to KSh. 2,000 - many apps are inaccurate) or matatu just outside the airport (KSh. 100) SGR to Mombasa, then shuttle to Watamu. There are about 2 regular shuttles and they charge KSh. 1,500 to KSh. 2,000 one way  Bus to Watamu. Tahmeed and other buses operate regular schedules to Total Watamu  Drive: It's faster branching through Mariakani to Kaloleni then to Kilifi. The route through Tsavo is not any faster and has park fees. Takes 9 hours  Things to do  Beach Sunbathing : Watamu has some of the world's best beaches, with white sand. The left side from Watamu Village has a bay with shallow water during low tide,  you can wade and swim in the ocean even if you don't know how to swim! Ocean is warm in July - August but very windy. Watamu beaches have lots of seaweed but this shouldn't deter yo...
Post a Comment
Read more