Commentary
Technology, supported and encouraged by our government, can indeed save lives. The need for the international community to further develop partnerships with African countries to resolve issues has been evident for years. What has uniquely become clear from the Covid-19 crisis is the important role Africa can and should play in providing solutions to global challenges. The global threat that the Covid-19 pandemic poses has surprisingly led to many positive developments on the diplomatic front. Countries that have been less successful in addressing the pandemic have taken example and received assistance from those who have succeeded in stemming the virus. This has been the result of a common interest in eradicating the pandemic. At a recent pan-African panel, President Uhuru Kenyatta rightly observed that; “Africa is not the problem but through partnership we can be a solution.” A lot can be learned by the international community from the way in which Kenya is managing our war on Covid-19. Despite the amount of cases and considering our size, we are doing pretty well. An important tool that our government has been utilising, and which our international partners would do well to learn from, is digital innovation. One of the primary mechanisms through which the virus has spread domestically has, according to experts, been physical monetary transactions. US studies have estimated that a country’s lowest denomination bill can exchange hands up to 110 times a year. Further studies examining the most widely used notes and coins found that 94 per cent harbour bacteria. Such finding led the WHO to identify cash as a significant enabler of the spread of the virus. Our country’s widespread adoption of digital finance platforms has therefore understandably played an important role in containing the virus while enabling our economy to continue functioning. One of the first requests Uhuru put forth to leading economists when efforts to curb the spread of the virus commenced was, “to explore ways of deepening mobile-money usage to reduce risk of spreading the virus through physical handling of cash”. At the encouragement of the Kenyan Central Bank, mobile payment platforms, such as Safaricom’s M-Pesa began waiving transaction fees for small-scale transfers. Seeking to facilitate the continued functioning of small business as well, the company later doubled daily transaction limits. Companies in other African countries, such as Ghana, Rwanda and Uganda, at their respective government’s encouragement, implemented similar measures. Not only has […]

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