Hon. William Kabogo Gitau

25/09/2026

On the sidelines of "Governing at the Speed of AI" at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, I had a tête-à-tête with H.E. Juan Manuel Santos Calderón, former President of Colombia and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
We talked about international cooperation on the governance of artificial intelligence and why countries that use these technologies need to be part of preparedness arrangements from the start.

25/09/2026

Last evening I joined partners at "Governing at the Speed of AI". The high-level evening on international coordination for AI crisis preparedness was held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on the margins of .

Artificial intelligence is now part of how we deliver health, agriculture, education, financial services and public administration. Every country should be able to recognise an AI-related incident, understand it and protect its people, whether or not it builds these systems itself. Preparedness has to be in place before a crisis. That means agreed responsibilities, early warning, incident reporting and a coordinated response across borders.

Kenya proposed a practical international AI crisis-preparedness exercise that brings together governments, AI developers, national AI and cybersecurity institutions, international organisations, researchers and civil society. We invited partners to take this work forward at the Internet Governance Forum, which Kenya hosts in Nairobi from 14 to 18 December 2026.

25/09/2026

Yesterday in New York I signed the Charter of the Digital Cooperation Organization on behalf of the Republic of Kenya, at our Permanent Mission to the United Nations, in the presence of the Prime Cabinet Secretary, H.E. Dr. Hon Musalia W Mudavadi , and the Attorney-General, Hon. Dorcas Oduor, SC.

Kenya's accession was approved by the Council of the Organization on 29 July 2026. Ratification will follow in accordance with our constitutional process.

We join this Organization to advance cross-border data flows, digital trade and investment in digital infrastructure, and to press for coherence between the international instruments that already exist.

25/09/2026

23/09/2026

Digital resilience was the subject this morning in New York, at a closed-door ministerial dialogue convened by the Digital Cooperation Organization and Oracle on the margins of .

My message on Kenya's behalf was simple. As more of our services move online, keeping them running when systems fail becomes a core responsibility of Government.

Kenya proposed two things: that governments and technology partners agree recovery responsibilities before a crisis and write them into contracts, and that we test those arrangements together through joint exercises.

Our digital transformation must be matched by the capacity to sustain it.

22/09/2026

Honoured to accompany H.E. President William Samoei Ruto to the Opening of the General Debate of the 81st UN General Assembly in New York this morning. Under the theme "Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations that Delivers for All," Kenya is here to advance Africa's priorities on digital transformation, connectivity and the responsible use of AI.

22/09/2026

22/09/2026

Yesterday in New York, H.E. President William Samoei Ruto and H.E. Alexander Stubb, President of the Republic of Finland, co-chaired the leaders' roundtable "AI Middle Powers: Shared Sovereignty in the AI Era", on the margins of the 81st Session of the UN General Assembly. They were joined by H.E. Julius Maada Bio, President of the Republic of Sierra Leone. The roundtable carries forward the conversation begun during H.E. the President's State Visit to Finland in June.

Middle and lower-income countries do not hold the whole AI value chain, from energy and chips to data, models, skills and rules. Each depends on others for some part of it. For Kenya, the gaps are computing power at scale and the building of advanced models.

Kenya brings firm renewable power, eight submarine cable landings, the Konza National Data Centre, a young technical workforce, African language data, and institutions that work, including a data protection law we enforce and digital public services used by millions of Kenyans every month.

Kenya proposed that middle and lower-income countries cooperate where they do not compete: agreeing common terms in their dealings with the suppliers of AI models and computing power, testing and assuring AI systems together, and building data in their own languages, owned by their own institutions.

22/09/2026

I had the honour of holding brief for the H.E. President William Samoei Ruto at the High-Level Convening of the Global Reset Dialogues (Accra Reset), on the margins of the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly.

I held brief for H.E. the President alongside H.E. John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana and convenor of the Accra Reset, and Hon. Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, until H.E. the President joined the meeting.

The Accra Reset brings together leaders from Africa, the Caribbean and the wider Global South to set out practical reforms to the way development is financed and delivered. Kenya's contribution centres on the digital economy, including the Digital Skills Mobility corridor, which Kenya has been invited to champion, and on skills, connectivity and investment as the basis for jobs for our young people.

I thank President Mahama and Prime Minister Mottley for the warm welcome, and for their continued partnership with Kenya.