Honouring the man who linked Kenya to world

By AUGUSTINE ODUOR

Shem Ochuodho is a man of many talents. He is a politician, having served as Rangwe MP, and a corporate boss, having had a stint as the managing director for Kenya Pipeline Corporation, before taking other positions elsewhere in the region.

But Ochuodho has other distinctions that few ever recognise: pioneering African IT specialists who helped link the continent with the rest of the world.

Last week, the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation Conference held in South Sudan town of Juba feted Ochuodho and four others as early promoters of Internet in Kenya.

Excellence: Ochuodho displaying the certificate he received in Juba, South Sudan recently as the country’s first Internet Domain Administrator. [PHOTOS: JONAH ONYANGO]

Speaking after receiving the Exemplary Achievement Award in Juba, he narrated the events that led to the reception of the first Internet signals in Kenya.

He had just returned from the United Kingdom, where he had completed his doctoral degree Telecommunication Software Engineering.

He then joined the University of Nairobi’s Institute of Computer Science. He said in his small room at the university, he used the "store and forward" email system that involved calling a server in London to collect and to send Internet messages. "I would call server in London every Wednesday night to get connection to pick and drop mails. This lasted about half an hour or so, depending on the traffic on the server," he said.

PICK AND DROP

He was soon on the move, setting up a non-governmental organisation with his friends. Ochuodho says their client base increased, as did the number of phone calls to the server to pick and drop mails.

"We could now call the server twice in a day. We then offered services to academia, institutions, NGOs, the Government and even individuals," he recalls.

"The US National Science Foundation gave us an equipment which allowed us to use the Internet in the country for the first time. They sent us one of the world’s leading Internet engineers, Randy Bush, to install the machine. It took us two days to configure and install the machine and get the first Internet signal," he said.

The next 48 hours were quite trying, as they tried to connect the machine and wait for the signal. That moment finally came on October 20, 1994.

"The new machine enabled Kenya to receive and send the first ever Internet signals," he recalled, a hint of excitement discernible in his voice.

While presenting the awards, Ekwow Spio-Garbrah said: "After careful consideration... we sought to see who first served as Domain Administrator for their respective countries."

SIMILAR CAPACITY

Ochuodho took the crown for Kenya while other IT gurus from Nigeria, Tanzania, Namibia and Southern Sudan were also honoured.

Presently, Ochuodho serves as the Senior IT Advisor to General Madut, the Government of Southern Sudan Minister for Telecommunications and Postal Service in Juba.

He had served in a similar capacity in Rwanda and as Chief Executive Officer of the Rwanda IT Authority.