Kenyan President William Samoei Ruto is among several leaders who have called for all countries to embrace technological advancement for economic development.
“All change produces its winners and losers. Just as in the petroleum age, the silicon-powered era has caused a mass extinction of professions and ways of life, replacing them with new ones,” he said.
He further said that the possibilities unleashed by the new industrial revolution are also redefining opportunities and terrains across sectors, causing unprecedented debate, controversy, suppression attempts, and adapting innovations to the status quo.
Ruto was speaking at the ongoing World Governments Summit in Doha where he emphasized the fact that while new technologies may pose some dangers if -unregulated, this must not stand in the way of solutions to humanity’s pressing needs.
In this regard, the Kenyan president referenced MPESA, Kenya’s money transfer service, as an innovation the country is most proud of, having defined it in the digital technology space.
“The public eagerly embraced the liberating efficiency of the mobile phone-based cash transfer. Many businesses, quickly saw the importance of conducting cashless transfers and persuaded banks to enable them to conduct their banking over the phone. After rigorous debate, Kenya opted to face the future with courage and MPESA became the legendary driver of trade and commerce that it has become, transacting 1.2 billion U.S. Dollars, every day, serving over five million enterprises, 61 million customers across eight countries and counting,”
This, Ruto said, was part of Kenya’s constant endeavor to meet public demand by providing solutions to problems, and efficiently delivering services solutions to problems.
Also speaking at the summit, Managing Director, of Finance Corporation H.E. Makhtar Diop made a case for building basic infrastructure in tandem with AI adaptation in different sectors including health.
“Going digital is a good way of addressing issues in Africa. Once things such as basic infrastructure are addressed, then Africa can leap-frog technology and move forward.
That is why, he said, we have been investing close to 1 billion U.S. dollars a year in infrastructure, AI, and fiber optics in data centers, which is important because as we know if we don’t have those data centers in place in those countries, you cannot develop an ecosystem which will help those companies.
He also alluded to the success of MPESA in Kenya saying to succeed, regulators need to be much more flexible.
“ The second one that I think we ought to think about is agriculture and all the products that will create an ecosystem that is strong for increasing agriculture production in some parts of the world. Requires more insurance, it requires solving the issue of land, but once you get it, there is a possibility of some parts of the world to play a totally different role from the ones they are currently playing in the world market,” Diop added.
The ongoing summit is meant to serve as an opportunity to strengthen collaboration between governments, civil society, and the private sector by solving global issues through international cooperation. This year’s theme is ‘Shaping future governments’.
