Let us all sing Elgeyo Marakwet’s praises (and also hold it to its commitments...)

I have been part of more aborted “open” revolutions (open data, open government, etc.) than I care to count. There has been considerable fanfare around a number of national initiatives in the past year or so, some sponsored by the Office of the Deputy President. As far as I can tell, these have all come to naught.

Part of the problem is typical of such initiatives: They attempt to engineer government interest in openness via prestige, rather than building on domestic interests and efforts. When people are driven mainly by the show of openness rather than its actual value, the resulting “broadcast openness” is shallow and unsustainable.