Top 5 Relevant and Prominent Hashtags that Ruled Kenyan Twitter in 2017

Kenyans are known to communicate by the use of hashtags. Kenyans on Twitter or KOT as they call themselves almost brought Twitter down in 2017 with a wide range of hashtags.

2017 was an electioneering year and 60 percent of the hashtags that dominated the year were about politics.

A report released by the Bloggers Association of Kenya has outlined a number of hashtags that ruled the internet during the year.

#KenyaDecides and #ElectionsKE. These two hashtags were dedicated and emoji assigned by Twitter on the election. Kenyans widely used these hashtags to talk about the election and how they wanted it done.

#DigitalGenderGap. This hashtag highlighted the low adherence to digital rights for women as regards online safety, access and affordability. The hashtag also showed how women are often discriminated as far as digital rights are concerned.

#KeepItOn. This was a campaign against internet shutdowns during the election period. There were indications that the Kenyan government was planning to shut down the internet during the elections to keep Kenyans in the dark about what was going on. Kenyans took to the social media platforms to protest against the move.

#FreeSSUdan4. This hashtag culminated in the successful release of the Kenyan nationals and their reunion with the families in December 2017.

Kenyan doctors went on strike and downed their tools for 100 days in protest of the government’s failure to implement a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) signed in 2013.

Medics mounted a social media campaign under the hashtag #LipaKamaTender, as a way to apply pressure on the government to honor the CBA14. The hashtag (pay like a tender) drew attention to the corruption allegations within the Ministry of Health such as the ‘missing’ 5 billion shillings, and the tenders irregularly awarded to the President’s relatives, amounting to 200 million shillings. These reports of graft, juxtaposed against the poor working conditions of the medical facilities, the low pay and the long hours highlighted by the online campaign, led to the public calling for the government to honor the agreement.