President Mwai Kibaki [©SIC]
By Juma John Stephen
Nairobi, 7th May 2012 [Gurtong]
“I urge users of these new media across our continent to exercise their freedom responsibly and use these platforms to promote development, peace and cohesion,” President Kibaki said during the conference held in Nairobi, Kenya.
“These rapid growth of technology use is promising to transform societies is various ways perhaps unthinkable only a few years ago,” he continued.
The President said the new media has enabled the emergence of new communication systems and information sharing platforms. Kibaki said his government will continue to support the media.
“I was pleased to learn for example that Kenya is ranked second on the African continent in the use of the social networking site twitter. Moreover, the number of facebook users in our country is now approaching to millions,” the President continued.
“Our young people should view new media as moulding, empowering tools and not as avenues to corrupt their morals,” he said.
The Chief Executive Officer for Kenya ICT Board, Mr. Paul Kukubo said it is impossible to track social media posts and content due to the huge numbers using the new media. He called on the public to organize themselves around the new media rather than neglecting it.
“Whatever level of organization, you need to maintain an informed future view of new media. It is no longer an excuse to use the new media like; twitter, facebook, YouTube, you should understand it and organize yourself around it,” Mr. Kukubo said.
The convention focused on media regulations, elections coverage in Africa and professionalism in the industry. The conference attracted media practitioners from across Africa and Germany.