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After three years of successful operation in Kenya, Microsoft's premier engineering hub, the African Development Centre (ADC), is relocating to its own offices in Nairobi, demonstrating the company's commitment to the continent.

The ADC will now be based at Dunhill Towers along Waiyaki Way in its new ultra-modern state-of-the-art facility, the first of its kind serving the East African region.

The facility will house the engineering, design, research, and innovation teams, as well as the Microsoft Garage, an incubation hub launched as part of the ongoing efforts to scale tech innovation in the continent. 

The facility was officially launched by president Uhuru Kenyatta, who was accompanied by Joe Mucheru, the Cabinet Secretary for ICT, Innovation and Youth Affair among other key guests.

Since its inception in Nairobi in 2019, the ADC has grown to over 450 full-time employees working in areas such as software engineering, machine learning, data science, market research, infrastructure, and much more.

Speaking at the offices' opening, the ICT Cabinet Secretary praised the development, noting that it strengthens the country's position as a leading regional digital innovation hub, putting Kenya on the path to achieving large-scale industrial technology status, as other countries such as China, India, and Israel.

"Our Vision 2030 recognizes the role of science, technology, and innovation in a modern economy, in which new knowledge plays a central role in wealth creation, social welfare and international competitiveness through effective exploitation of knowledge, innovation system and flourishing entrepreneurship, among others. As a Ministry, our strategy is to build capacity in tech innovation and utilization of knowledge to transform the economy of this country and therefore we welcome the work that the ADC and Microsoft are doing towards contributing to this agenda," Mucheru said. 

On his part, the ADC Managing Director, Jack Ngare said: "One of our proud achievements in developing this facility was during the construction phase when we hired over 100 builders, artisans, architects, artists, craftsmen, women groups, and other skilled and unskilled workers, all during the height of the COVID pandemic. In addition, most of the construction materials were locally sourced thus ploughing back into the economy. We anticipate more employment will be created in the future, both in the day-today running of the facility and to staff the various community engagements that will take place." 

The facility was built in a similar style to Microsoft's global offices to optimize space utilization, air conditioning, and lighting adjustments as part of Microsoft's global ambition to be net carbon negative by 2030. There will also be self-heating windows, a mini solar plant to power the facility, and a water treatment facility to recycle and purify the water, which are not yet available in other Microsoft offices but are available at the new ADC facility.

"The facility will continue our efforts towards training, equipping and hiring engineering talent in Kenya and Africa as whole to contribute to the development of Microsoft products that are in use by over 1 billion devices and empowering millions of users and organizations across the world to do more," Ngare added. The Nairobi-based centre was launched days after the ADC Nigeria which serves the West African region.

Speaking about The Garage, Lydia Karanja, its lead for Kenya said: "The Garage in Kenya will help Microsoft employees, customers and developers tap into their creative prowess to come up with cutting edge technologies that will solve the problems we have in the world today. I can't wait to see the next big thing coming out of Africa."

 

"The Garage is meant to spread the values of openness and collaboration throughout the Microsoft ADC, where people come to The Garage to work with interdisciplinary teams on passion projects that sometimes make their way into Microsoft products - this should ultimately allow Microsoft ADC to become a more prominent shaper of Africa's tech culture," Karanja explained.

Projects born out of Garages around the world include an app that uses artificial intelligence to narrate what a smartphone camera is seeing to visually impaired users. Another project used AI to build a platform hospitals and doctors can use to communicate with patients, including automated symptom checkers and health plan information. The Garage has locations in Boston, Vancouver, Israel, India, and China.Capital News

Kira Municipality MP Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda questioned the President’s decision to return the Bill after 30 days within which he is supposed to return it had elapsed. PHOTO / FILE

  • They have also ring-fenced the deputy speaker slot for Bugiri Municipality MP Asumani Basalirwa in case the position falls vacant when the current office bearer, Ms Anita Among, is approved by the Central Executive Committee of the ruling party to run for speakership.

Opposition political parties in Parliament have indicated that they have fronted Kira Municipality MP Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda for the impending Speaker race to replace fallen Jacob Oulanyah. 

They have also ring-fenced the deputy speaker slot for Bugiri Municipality MP Asumani Basalirwa in case the position falls vacant when the current office bearer, Ms Anita Among, is approved by the Central Executive Committee of the ruling party to run for speakership.

Sources that attended the meeting yesterday told Daily Monitor that Mr Yusuf Nsibambi, who run for the Deputy Speaker last year, opted out of the race, giving lee-way to Mr Basalirwa who had earlier expressed his intentions to stand for the position.

This decision was temporarily arrived at during a meeting of the shadow cabinet chaired by the Manjiya County MP John Baptist Nambeshe who doubles as the Opposition chief whip in Parliament.

Mr Nambeshe told Daily Monitor yesterday that the decisions by the Shadow Cabinet were pending Opposition caucus approval, which will be sitting tomorrow to rubber-stamp their candidate.

“We don’t have enough time to prepare for this abrupt election but we sat and made decisions. There are people who ran in this race but when we approached them, one of them refused to stand. But we shall have a caucus meeting on Thursday to finish up this matter,” Mr Nambeshe said in an interview.

Lawmakers will on Friday elect a new Speaker of the 11th Parliament following the death of incumbent Oulanyah, according to the Constitution.

Most of the Opposition political parties Daily Monitor talked to indicated that they would be waiting for the decision from the caucus, which according to them, will give the final direction which the entire minority group in Parliament will follow. 

Mr Basalirwa said: “I have presented myself for the position and provided my documents to the top leadership of the Opposition. I am waiting for their decision in caucus after the Thursday meeting. I know I am a qualified candidate and I know my members will support me.”

On whether or not, the National Unity Platform (NUP), the largest Opposition party in Parliament will present a candidate, Mr David Lewis Rubonoya, the party secretary general, said: “We have not come up with any names from within because we are an inclusive party. We know that some parties presented members in the same positions during the last election whom we would like to support. But if any changes are to be made, we will inform the public.”

Mr Patrick Oboi Amuriat, the FDC president, earlier yesterday told Daily Monitor that they were not intending to present any candidates since they already have Mr Ssemujju and Mr Nsibambi who were in the previous race.

“If they agree to run, our policy is that the candidates who have been in the race will hold the party flag until the end of the term of office. This means we already have candidates if they agree to stand,” he said. By Derrick Wandera, Daily Monitor

Arrival of Britain's Prince William, his wife Kate coincides with 60th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence/Photo Courtesy

ANKARA

Jamaican activists protested against a visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and demanded reparations for slavery amid growing scrutiny of the British Empire's colonial legacy.

Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate arrived in Jamaica on Tuesday as part of a week-long Caribbean tour. The royal couple’s trip coincides with the 60th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence and the 70th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. It also comes at a time of growing scrutiny of colonial-era British conduct in the Caribbean and elsewhere.

“We see no reason to celebrate 70 years of the ascension of your grandmother to the British throne because her leadership, and that of her predecessors, have perpetuated the greatest human rights tragedy in the history of humankind,” read a letter published Sunday ahead of the couple’s visit and signed by 100 Jamaican leaders.

In the letter, Jamaicans said they would be celebrating 60 years of freedom from the UK – but stressed that an apology was “necessary to begin a process of healing, forgiveness, reconciliation and compensation.”

“During her 70 years on the throne, your grandmother has done nothing to redress and atone for the suffering of our ancestors that took place during her reign and/or during the entire period of British trafficking of Africans, enslavement, indentureship and colonialization,” the letter added.

On Tuesday, a demonstration was staged outside the British High Commission in Kingston, singing traditional songs and holding banners with the phrase “seh yuh sorry” – a local patois phrase urging Britain to apologize.​​​​​​​ By Gozde Bayar, Anadolu Agency

 

Safaricom has rolled out a campaign to position tech solutions for enterprise and public sector customers.

The company seeks to leverage its connectivity and experience to venture into the technology space by expanding its tech solutions in the areas of digital business through cloud computing, cyber security and internet of things (IoT) underpinned by IT consulting services.

Besides reinforcing Safaricom’s new business strategy to become a technology company, the telco is banking on these recent efforts to enable it to play a bigger role in digitizing and transforming businesses in various sectors including education, health and manufacturing.

“As Kenya’s digital economy continues to expand across various sectors, we are well prepared to provide matching tech solutions that will meet the digital trends and opportunities for large, small and medium sized enterprises, who seek to digitize their businesses in areas such as fleet management, storage of information, disaster recovery and remote tracking of various assets. This aligns with our long-term strategy to offer technology-based solutions that ensure everyone has the capacity to participate and thrive in the digital economy as we seek to become a purpose-led technology company,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO, Safaricom.

“Technology has changed and continues to change the way businesses are run. To be a digital business, owners must take advantage of the efficiencies created by technology. For example, cloud computing offers many options for a business from running efficient processes to disaster recovery options”, said Kris Senanu, Chief Enterprise Business Officer, Safaricom.

According to research done last year by the Communications Authority (CA) and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), in Kenya 35.6 per cent of public sector institutions use cloud computing services in comparison to only 22.9 per cent of private businesses.

Cyber-security threats remain a major factor in the success of a digital economy with sector statistics report by the Communication Authority of Kenya indicating detection of over 70 million cyber threats during the first quarter of the 2021-2022 financial year. This has become a critical area for a business that is considering digitalization of its processes.

Recently, Safaricom announced the successful pilot of its telematics solution for vehicle tracking – a part of the internet of things (IoT) solutions under development. By installing smart sensors in two East African Classic Rally vehicles that continuously relayed data to a connected digital platform, the telco proved the resilience, elasticity and ubiquity of its telematics smart tracking system.  Source: AfricaTech

www.safaricom.co.ke

 

Rwanda is hosting a delegation of the South Sudan People’s Defence Force (SSPDF) led by Maj Gen Malaak Ayuen Ajok who are in the country for an exchange visit in the field of gender empowerment. 

The weeklong visit was organized in collaboration with UN Women- South Sudan with a view to exchange experiences on gender responsiveness and empowerment in post-conflict situations.

“The purpose of our visit to Rwanda is to learn from each other and share experiences. We have seen how women are deeply involved in the development of the country and want to take that experience back home,” said Brig Gen David Lokonga Moses, a member of the delegation.

Lt Col Stella Uwineza an officer with Rwanda Defence Force (RDF), maintained that the journey is still long, but a lot has been achieved. 

“The gender management policy of the RDF gives guidance on how women should be treated in the RDF from the recruitment stage to training through to deployment.”

She added; “women are comfortable and treated with respect in the RDF.”

‘Vital step’

The Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, Jeannette Bayisenge received the SSPDF delegation on Tuesday and briefed them on National Gender Policy and its implementation. 

Bayisenge pointed out that such (visits) an exchange visit is vital to the respective countries as they both exchange experiences and learn from each other on matters related to gender responsiveness and women empowerment.

During their stay in Rwanda, the SSPDF delegation will also have an opportunity to visit the Rwanda Military Academy in Gako and the Rwanda Peace Academy in Musanze.

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Defence, the SSPDF officers paid homage to the victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi at the Kigali Genocide Memorial and the Campaign against Genocide Museum at Parliament building before being briefed on RDFs transformation journey at the RDF headquarters in Kimihurura. - Edwin Ashimwe, The New Times

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