Why Kenya's digital future should be built in all our 47 counties
Opinion
By
Wisley Rotich
| May 02, 2026
Kenya has made impressive strides in digital connectivity. Fibre cables span the country, smartphones are widespread, and thousands of young people have completed digital skills programmes.
Yet as stakeholders gathered at the Connected Africa Summit 2026, a harder question demands attention: are these gains translating into real economic opportunity? The answer is no.
The digital divide has shifted. It is no longer about infrastructure; it is about who can turn access into income. Young people complete training and earn certificates, only to find no bridge to employment or entrepreneurship. A certificate is not a livelihood. The gap we must close is between digital skills and digital opportunity, and closing it requires pathways: internships, mentorships, links to online markets, agritech platforms, and creative economies where skills meet demand.
This transformation will not happen from the top down. Kenya’s digital economy has too long been treated as a centrally designed agenda delivered to the periphery. But counties are not the last stop on a delivery chain. They are the frontline of implementation. It is here that we understand the realities of our young people: the barriers they face, the local markets available, and the opportunities that can be unlocked.
In Elgeyo Marakwet, we have seen what works when inclusion is grounded in local context. Through the UK Government’s Digital Access Programme, the Inclusive Digital Futures initiative implemented by African Centre for Women in ICT (ACWICT), over 450 young people have been trained in digital agriculture, online work, and creative content production, all linked to economic opportunities.
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Young people are earning income online. Farmers are accessing better markets. These are early but powerful signals of what county-led digital transformation can achieve. Yet these successes expose a deeper challenge: inclusion cannot be an afterthought. Women, persons with disabilities, and rural youth do not experience policy, they experience implementation.
If programmes are not deliberately designed to reach them, with accessible venues, assistive technologies, and flexible learning, they will remain on the margins regardless of national targets. Inclusion is not a footnote. It is the true measure of whether digital transformation has succeeded.
No county can do this alone. Public-private partnership is therefore not optional, it is essential. County governments must build active relationships with local businesses, ICT firms, donors, and development partners.
Co-designed internships, mentorship programmes, and community digital hubs in every ward are practical steps counties must take now. The private sector has a stake in a skilled local workforce; counties have the reach and the mandate. Together, we can close the gap between.
The national framework must evolve. Counties must be recognised as co-drivers of the digital economy, not passive recipients of centrally designed programmes. That means investing in county digital infrastructure, aligning national targets with local implementation capacity, and establishing shared accountability for outcomes.
Building the digital economy solely from the centre risks creating islands of progress surrounded by widening exclusion. The time to act is now. The future is digital. The question is not whether Kenya will lead, it is whether every Kenyan will be included in that future.
-The writer is Elgeyo Marakwet Governor and Chairperson, ICT Committee, Council of Governors