A peek into Kenyans' online activities during pandemic

This week saw the release of a report by Dalberg that assesses the impact of private sector and government investments in technology on the lives of Kenyans.

It found that the country is considered a leader in digital transformation across the African continent, and while ranked as a lower-middle income country, Kenya shows some characteristics of a middle-income economy.

Research for the report was done over one year, collecting people’s perspectives in all 47 counties about their use and satisfaction with digital tools and services. It then ranked Kenyans in terms of how they use digital services, differentiating basic users of mobile money, WhatsApp, calls and texts from others who use advanced services like online commerce, content creation, digital health and digital education.

Mobile money was found to be near-universal and used by 95 per cent of low income and 93 per cent  of rural Kenyans, but only a 1/5 make advanced uses such as paying for goods and services.

Business and e-commerce payments are largely a feature of urban and wealthier populations.

It shakes up several notions about the impact of digital interventions during the Covid-19 era, and shows there is a digital divide in the country. While there was an accelerated rollout of digital tools by governments and companies, the uptake by Kenyans was not uniform.

E-commerce activity went up by 16 per cent among those whose incomes increased during Covid-19, but it went down by 21 per cent among those whose incomes reduced, with the substantial decreases recorded in rural Kenyans.

Lack of trust

The survey shows that the uptake of e-commerce is hampered by a lack of trust, with participants worried about deliveries and payment. About 60 per cent of respondents are aware of digital safety laws, their right to privacy, data protection and cybercrime laws, yet only 1/3 use grievance mechanisms by service providers.

A tiny fraction turns to legal support, the police, or other means to resolve e-commerce disputes, and the annual report of the Competition Authority of Kenya shows a litany of complaints with e-commerce vendors.

To serve Kenyans during the Covid-19 pandemic period, the government announced accelerated digitisation initiatives including the Ministry of Education enhancing its digital curriculum delivery, the Ministry of Health rolling out contact tracing, the Judiciary enabling online filing of cases, NTSA with cashless transport, and the police launching online crime reporting.

But the survey found that only 15 per cent of households with school-going children participated in digital education during the Covid-19 lockdown. Of these, 33 per cent of respondents were enrolled in private schools and 8 per cent public schools. 64 per cent did not continue learning during the pandemic period when in-person schooling was closed.

It also collects feedback on the Huduma Namba exercise done in 2019, and while 84 per cent of respondents are registered for the card, only 45 per cent believe it will provide more access to digital services, make their data more secure or improve interoperability of government systems. Those with higher education levels expect to see more benefits from Huduma Namba but they are also concerned about its data security.

Still, the study predicts that it has likely underestimated the real extent of e-commerce in the country, while it recorded 13 per cent of Kenyans as online shoppers, the figure is much larger on informal platforms. It recognises that there are thousands of businesses using WhatsApp, Instagram and M-Pesa and other informal platforms for payments, marketing and logistics.

The report by Dalberg, along with its data sets, can be downloaded here.