The Landscape
The African tech scene is a burgeoning one full of delight and exuberance as everyone is excited about new devices and interfaces. In the nearest future, technology will transform the lives of Africans everywhere for better or for worse. With new startup hubs across the continent especially in countries like Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya, it is no news that Africa is seeing a new light in technological advances. More so, new tech innovations in Africa have really strong effects on politics. The political scene in Africa like its technological counterpart is very active. So one might think that they have a lot in common with regards to pursuing the greater good for citizen and country, but the reverse is the case. Technological advances especially for individuals and small businesses seem to be happening independently from political assertions.
The reason for this is not very far-fetched as African politicians have devoted almost no time or funds to the betterment of technology on the continent. Even where they have, there has not been a commitment to drive growth for the long-term, instead what we have seen is just one time bursts of support followed by neglect or nonchalance. There is evidence from other parts of the world how new technologies have been designed and employed specifically by governments to alleviate much of the challenges that citizens face in their everyday lives.
The Opportunity
African startups see such opportunities all the time to work with government affiliates to solve some of their pressing problems to improve on productivity and transparency, but the nature of corruption which runs deep in government departments have often presented great challenges for these startups. The startups propose projects, and have to wait for ages to get any budget approval from the government. If they finally do and get started on the project, continuous funds become bleak and eventually fade out, leaving unfinished projects that will never be continued.
A Case Study
When it comes to tech in Africa, the good, the bad and the ugly must be explored. Take the case of Kenya for example, according to the MIT technology review:
“Technology has changed radically in Kenya over the past decade, as it has everywhere else. Almost nine out of 10 people have a mobile phone, and a quarter of the homes have an Internet connection—among the highest rates in the developing world. In a population of about 48 million, there are at least seven million Kenyan Facebook accounts and another 10 million on WhatsApp. Twitter lags behind at only a million accounts, but it is supplanting television and print as the premier space for political critique. mPesa, the mobile money transfer platform, was less than six months old at the time of the 2007 election. Today, transactions on mPesa equal almost a third of the country’s GDP, and Kenya has the highest number of mobile money transactions in the world.”
These technological changes are positive at first glance, however, on a closer look we might discover that some lapses still exist in other more serious areas. For instance, in the 1990s there was only one major radio station in Kenya, but by 2017, there were over 200 of them. Out of these, about 44 radio stations are ethnic. This rapid growth in analogue technology combined with the power and reach of social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have improved the overall speed of information spreading, which is really important for any nation and its citizens, but have also resulted in an increased level of hate speech and violence especially during times of political elections.
The Verdict
Advances in technology does possess great advantages for political growth, but they must be harnessed without bias or trepidation. New tech, new politics. Indeed, new tech in Africa needs new politics because much is still left to be desired. For now, there continues to be high hopes that things will change, and if they do, Africans may be able to combine technology and politics without any excesses from political tyrants or bureaucratic die-hards. Lastly, if technological advances must be used for political reasons then politics must advance too to accommodate new ideas from the ever growing African public.
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