Building Responsible Intelligence: AI, Modelling & Digital Trust for Africa’s Future
Chief Guest Keynote Address
Inaugural Launch of the Daystar Centre for AI, Modelling & Digital Trust
(DCAMD)
Daystar University | 28 January 2026
Hon. Mary N. Kerema, OGW
Secretary, ICT, E-Government & Digital Economy
Opening: Naming the Real Question
Vice Chancellor, Prof. Laban Ayiro;Acting VC&DVC , Prof.Samuel Muriithi,DVC Finance Prof. Muturi Wachira, The dean School of Science,Engineering &Health, CEO Cyberpro John Mutunga, Advisor British High Commission Mr.Charles Juma, Members of the University Council and Senate; Distinguished partners from government and industry; all Faculties, students, graduands; Ladies and gentlemen:
Allow me to begin with a statement that may feel unsettling at an AI launch:
Africa does not lack innovation. Africa lacks trusted intelligence.
Not because Africans mistrust technology, but because too often technology has arrived without accountability, context, or moral grounding. Before we ask how powerful our systems can become, we must ask a more important question: who do these systems answer to when they are wrong?
Why This Centre Matters Now
The launch of the Daystar Centre for AI, Modelling & Digital Trust comes at a decisive moment. Globally, data generation is exploding, and by the end of this decade, millions of new jobs will be shaped by AI and automation. Yet Africa risks becoming a passive consumer of systems designed elsewhere—systems trained on data, values, and assumptions that do not reflect our realities.
DCAMD responds directly to this gap. It is not another coding hub or skills accelerator. It is an academic response to a structural problem: the separation of technical capability from ethical responsibility and policy relevance.
Responsible AI Is About Power, Not Buzzwords
Responsible AI has become a fashionable phrase. But responsibility without institutional power is symbolic. Responsibility without research depth is fragile. Responsibility without trust collapses under pressure.That is why I call it Amplified intelligence.
Digital Trust as Moral and National Infrastructure
Digital trust is often treated as a technical add-on. In reality, it is moral infrastructure. Trust exists when citizens believe their data will not be exploited, when institutions can explain decisions made by algorithms, and when innovation strengthens democracy rather than undermines it.
From a government perspective, digital trust is now as critical as roads or electricity. Without it, digital government fails, compliance erodes, and innovation loses legitimacy.
Universities as Trust Anchors, Not Skill Factories
When we speak of universities as trust anchors, we must be precise about what that means in practice. Trust is not produced through short courses alone; it is built through institutions that combine deep research, ethical governance, and public accountability.
DCAMD embodies this shift. What distinguishes DCAMD is its deliberate focus on modelling, data infrastructure, digital trust, and cybersecurity as one ecosystem. This one ecosystem powers policy, industry, and community impact.
This reflects a mature understanding that AI is not just software—it is governance encoded in systems.
DCAMD positions Daystar University as the analytical and ethical engine of its research ecosystem—supporting policy modelling, development of AI applications in all sectors , to digital trust and cybersecurity research, to modelling citizen-science projects grounded in local realities and secure digital governance.
With dedicated research and ethics oversight, data-governance structures, and partnerships that deliberately bring government and industry into the academic process, DCAMD ensures that innovation is explainable, auditable, and accountable.
This is not peripheral work. It is foundational to Africa’s digital sovereignty.This Centre moves Daystar university from being a skills factory to being a steward of trust.
This is how universities earn legitimacy in the age of AI—not by moving fastest, but by holding society’s confidence when systems fail.
WHAT GOVERNMENT IS DOING
The Government of Kenya, through the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy, is advancing a whole-ofgovernment approach to AI adoption—anchored in policy, infrastructure, skills, and trust. This includes the development of national AI governance frameworks including the recently launched AI strategy; strengthening data protection and cybersecurity institutions; expanding secure digital public infrastructure; and embedding AI use across priority sectors such as health, education, agriculture, financial services, climate resilience, and public service delivery.
At the same time, we are investing in talent development, research partnerships, and innovation ecosystems—working closely with universities, industry, and development partners to ensure that AI solutions deployed in Kenya are locally relevant, ethically grounded, and economically inclusive. Our goal is clear: to ensure that AI accelerates national development while safeguarding rights, trust, and social cohesion.
Universities must now choose their role. They can remain skill factories feeding global platforms, or they can become trust anchors shaping the intelligence societies will live under. Partner Recognition & Call for Continued Collaboration
I wish to sincerely recognize our partners who have walked with Daystar University to make this Centre a reality. I commend Cyberpro, working in partnership with the British High Commission, for their foundational role in building the DCAMD hub and supporting skills-to-infrastructure integration. I further acknowledge IBM,AfriBot, Huawei Academy, Apple, TechMindset, and all industry leaders, alumni, and mentors represented here today for contributing expertise, platforms, and pathways that connect research to real-world impact. As this Centre begins its journey, I encourage all our partners to remain engaged—not only as supporters, but as long-term collaborators in research, innovation, and trust-building—so that DCAMD may continue to grow as a shared asset for Kenya and the wider African digital ecosystem
A Faith-Anchored Reflection (Daystar-Specific)
As a Christian university, Daystar reminds us that wisdom must precede power. Scripture teaches that knowledge without wisdom can destroy, but wisdom anchored in truth builds life. In this sense, responsible intelligence is not only a technical discipline—it is a moral vocation.
DCAMD reflects Daystar’s conviction that innovation must be guided by conscience, that data must serve human dignity, and that technology must ultimately answer to truth. This spiritual foundation gives the Centre a rare legitimacy in an age of digital excess.
A Direct Charge to the Graduands
To the graduands here today: congratulations for this achievement; you are entering the workforce at a moment of unprecedented technological leverage. But leverage without values becomes harmful.
You will be asked to move fast, deploy systems you did not design, and optimise outcomes without questioning consequences. Remember this: the most dangerous intelligence is intelligence that cannot explain itself. Be custodians of trust, not just builders of code.Let this technology Amplify your Intelligence.
Final Reflection: The Question History Will Ask
As I close , I want to live you with a final reflection that ;Every generation inherits a tool powerful enough to shape the future. For some, it was fire. For others, the printing press. For our generation, it is artificial intelligence.But history does not judge civilizations by the power of the tools they created.It judges them by the wisdom with which those tools were governed.
Africa’s future will not be determined by how much AI we deploy, but by who governs it, who benefits from it, who is protected when it fails and who is accountable when it is wrong?
If Africa gets this right—if we choose trust over speed, wisdom over hype, and governance over chaos—then this continent will not merely participate in the AI age.Africa will define it.
That is the higher calling of the Daystar Centre for AI, Modelling & Digital Trust.
And that is the responsibility before all of us—government, academia, industry, and society.
Today, Daystar University has chosen to build on the rock, laying a foundation that will endure—anchoring innovation in ethics, governance, and trust.”. By launching the Centre for AI, Modelling and Digital Trust, you are declaring that Africa’s digital future must be intelligent, ethical, and trusted—or it will not be sustainable.Congratulations for this milestone achieved.
It is therefore my singular honour to officially declare the Daystar Centre for AI, Modelling & Digital Trust duly launched. May it produce not only innovation, but wisdom.
As I have said today, and I hope this will be remembered: “In the age of artificial intelligence, the most valuable institutions will not be those that produce the most code, but those that earn the deepest trust.”May history say that when intelligence arrived in Africa, it found wisdom waiting.A tool is only as wise as the hands that guide it; the future belongs to those who shape power with
responsibility.”let’s humanize technology g
Thank you very much. May God bless you, God bless Daystar University and God bless Kenya and Africa.
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