Kenya has taken a bold step in its digital transformation journey with the official establishment of the Kenya National Open-Source Programme Office OSPO, announced at the Global Digital Public Infrastructure DPI Summit in Cape Town. The initiative was developed under the Open-Source Ecosystem Enablement OSEE Project, in collaboration with the International Telecommunication Union ITU and supported by the Government of Germany through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development BMZ.
The creation of the OSPO marks Kenya as one of the first countries globally-and the first in Africa-to set up a national open-source office in partnership with the ITU. The office will serve as a central hub to coordinate, promote, and sustain open-source adoption across government, academia, innovation ecosystems, the private sector, and developer communities.
The announcement was made by Eng. John Kipchumba Tanui, Principal Secretary of the State Department for ICT and Digital Economy, who described the move as a 'significant milestone" for Kenya's digital future. The event was attended by Dr. Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau, who congratulated Kenya for its leadership in open digital infrastructure, and Ms. Katherina Manz, Acting Head of Digital at BMZ, reaffirming Germany's support for Kenya's digital transformation agenda.
