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

RE: Appointment as Ambassador of the Republic of Kenya to The United States of America

Image: South African marriage courtesy The Telegraph ( http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/6237922/South-African-man-marries-4-women-at-same-ceremony.html  ) Dennis Kioko, Address Pending. President to-be-elect, Republic of Kenya, Address Pending, Again. Dear Sirs/Madams, RE: Appointment as Ambassador of the Republic of Kenya to The United States of America  I would like to draw your attention to news reported across various sections of the press (way behind your daily portraits on the front page) that several Missions to the country are equivalently vacant with the duty of appointed high commissioners having expired. This includes Kenya's High Commission to the United States of America. Among your first duties, having assumed duty as Kenya's president, duly elected or otherwise, will be to appoint commissioners to these missions. It is in this regard that I highly invoke you to consider me as a likely appointment to the
Post a Comment
Read more

A to Z of Girl Pick-up Lines

Girl,  You are like a breath of fresh air , like an outstanding piece of Art in an art gallery  There are many things you and me can be, but it puts a smile of satisfaction on my face and a smile of envy on my buddies faces that you both beautiful and bootyfull  E ither your creator must have taken the greatest care creating you or your cheated your way around heaven, 'coz you clearly the prettiest girl on earth  D on't ask why my breathing quickens every time I see you; setting my eyes on you makes me feel like I am drowning in your beauty, I have to catch my breath   Exciting, Exotic, Elegant, Electrifying ; so many definitions in english , but when it comes to the human race, girl, you are the one and only definition of all the above  W hen I say you are fly , it may be due to the sensation of flying off the ground that I get when I am around you. Some girls are beautiful, a few are decent, even fewer got class; I didn't know I could find all this qualities in one gir
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 free fries. Their brisket has
Post a Comment
Read more

Beers in Kenya: A sober opinion

Note: This is a dated post and has since been mostly passed by events. SAB Miller beers including Castle and Peroni are no longer widely available in Kenya after their exist. Sirville Brewery was bought out by Brew Bistro before being permanently shut in a tax dispute. Kenya is a land of milk, honey, beaches and taxes. I have penned, or is typed, a newer post here .  Peroni - One of the best beers in Kenya. Did a taste of canned and bottled Italian, and bottled Tanzanian I like the tangy flavour and body in Tanzanian Peroni. The can is close. Heineken drinkers will like the Italian one.  I have had a short beer swigging stint in my life. It has however been long enough for me to share my opinion of Kenyan beer. Interestingly, over the course of sharing such opinions with other drunkards connoisseurs,  I have found that we all have different views as to what beer is the best, which one makes you too drunk, or which one gives one free, extra hangover for every hangover you get
Post a Comment
Read more

A Kenyan in Addis Ababa (Part 2) - The "University Girls"

Addis Ababa's Light Rail system runs through the middle of a street. The electrified light rail is still under construction, though mostly done This post continues from Part 1.  The residents of Addis are friendly too. On my first day, I did meet a guard at a hotel, who later offered to show me around. Among the places he suggested, was this place where some “University girls” were holding some "dancing ceremony". He added, that Ethiopians being Orthodox Christians, were about to go on a sex, alcohol and meat fast, hence the importance of this “ceremony.” I had some suspicion that I was being sold to sex, but my guide insisted that this was not a sex sale. Just dancing University girls. We did end up in some nondescript compound, and into a house. There was sort of a sitting area, with a radio system, low benches and tables, and grass sprinkled around the floor. Grass sprinkled around the floor is an Ethiopian tradition that indicates you are welcome to a plac
Post a Comment
Read more