Opinion: Kenya buys Sh600M social media monitoring tool as people starve

News that the Kenya Government through the Communications Authority (CA) has invested $5.8 million (Sh600 million) in a social media monitoring system for the upcoming General Elections came as a shock to many citizens who have for the past month witnessed a paralysed health sector as well as acute food shortages in several Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) counties.

It is a shock not just the amount but the philosophy that is behind prioritisation of such purchases and the timing. But let us for once go along and interrogate the necessity of this ‘investment’ as termed by the Director General of the Communication Authority.