Shem Ochuodho: Meet Former MP Who Introduced the Internet to Kenya
Shem Ochuodho wears many hats.
He is a scholar, corporate guru and politician having served as the Member of Parliament for Rangwe Constituency, and currently serves as the Global chairman of Kenya Diaspora Alliance.
However, Ochuodho is known to be the pioneer of the internet in Kenya having played a key role in introducing the internet into the country.
Here is his story as told by WoK.
There was no Internet service available to the public in the country until around 1992, when Ochuodho launched it through an NGO called the African Regional Centre for Computing (ARCC).
According to Ochuodho, the internet was introduced to Kenya on October 24, 1995 at about 3 AM.
“All e-mails to and from Kenya came through a store-and-forward server in one of my bedrooms that would poll an internet service provider (ISP), GreenNet, in London, initially every Wednesday at midnight, which subsequently increased to once daily and, ultimately, hourly,” he said.
As a result, most urban corporations were replacing their typewriters with desktop computers that could do word processing and spreadsheet functions.
Ochuodho revealed that the United States National Science Foundation provided equipment and sent an Internet engineer named Randy Bush to assist with signal installation, which significantly accelerated the process of bringing internet access to Kenya.
Ochuodho and his team also developed a website which they used to connect Kenya to the world by dispatching daily news summaries to Kenyans in the diaspora.
The team also offered internet training for adults and children.
Over the years, Ochuodho has won numerous local and global awards following his role in information technology.
In 2007, he was honoured with the Kenya Community Abroad (KCA) Award for Excellence for his exemplary efforts in the Information, Communication and Technology industry (ICT).
Ochuodho has worked for the Rwandan and South Sudan governments as ICT consultant.
He was the founding convener and secretary of the National Alliance(NA), which gave birth to the National Alliance for Change (NAC), which in turn gave rise to the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC).
