Kenya has outlined an ambitious blueprint for Africa’s sovereign and inclusive digital transformation, calling for urgent reforms in infrastructure, governance, and financing to bridge the continent’s digital divide.
Speaking in New York during a high-level UN panel convened by the President of the General Assembly, Ambassador Philip Thigo, Kenya’s Special Envoy on Technology, presented a bold vision to reshape Africa’s digital economy-rooted in self-reliance, innovation, and equitable growth.
He outlined a comprehensive vision for Africa’s digital future, beginning with the imperative to safeguard and democratize critical infrastructure. He called for national data centres, sovereign cloud platforms and affordable GPU access to ensure that African innovators can both control and leverage data for home-grown AI solutions.
Recognizing the vulnerability of undersea cables and centralized networks, he urged investment in resilient, decentralized digital-public infrastructure—redundant last-mile links and community networks—to maintain service during disruptions.
Ambassador Thigo also highlighted the urgent need to modernize public institutions. He noted that many civil servants remain trained in legacy systems, hindering trust in e-services among younger users.
To address this skills and trust deficit, he proposed embedding AI governance, data ethics and user co-design into civil-service curricula, alongside regulatory sandboxes that allow entrepreneurs to pilot locally relevant solutions within a secure policy framework and enable their access to government procurement as Government remains the largest provider contracts in the continent.
Affordability and inclusion were central to his strategy for bridging the digital divide. Beyond zero-rating essential services and reducing device tariffs, he stressed tailored support for MSMEs—offering inclusive infrastructure, specialized financing, mentorship programmes and streamlined e-government services to accelerate their digital adoption . These measures, he argued, would unlock entrepreneurship and ensure that small businesses remain competitive in the digital economy.
Reforming the global financial architecture remained a cornerstone of his address. Echoing President William Ruto, he recommended earmarking future SDRs for digital-public infrastructure, pursuing debt-for-digital and climate swaps, and implementing progressive digital taxation—with all revenues ring-fenced for education, research and infrastructure investments.
Domestically, he called for innovative mobilization of private-sector capital—issuing diaspora technology bonds, reallocating pension-fund assets into infrastructure and scaling public–private co-investment models—while overhauling public procurement to favor local innovators.
Speaking on behalf of Kenya, Ambassador Ekitela Lokaale, Permanent Representative to the UN, praised Kenya’s STI leadership: the launch of the Kenya National Innovation Agency (KENIA), procurement reforms that prioritize home-grown solutions, and a three-fold increase in public R&D funding. As co-facilitator of WSIS+20, he urged member states to deepen dialogue on financial-architecture reform and translate the panel’s outcomes into concrete recommendations for adoption in December.
During the discussions, member states and civil-society leaders affirmed that “Africa’s problems demand African solutions” underpinned by mutual respect for sovereignty by member state and development partners. Delegates shared successful e-health and smart-agriculture initiatives, while NGOs pressed for inclusive governance that elevates women’s and youth voices.
Participants affirmed that Africa’s pathways—anchored in resilient infrastructure, democratized data, a modernized public sector, inclusive support for MSMEs, equitable partnerships and sustainable financing—will drive shared prosperity and deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2063. This decisive consensus charts a clear, sovereign and inclusive digital future for the continent.
