Delegates attending the recent Kenya Internet Governance Forum differed in opinion on the role of the internet in Kenya, and how this resourced influenced the outcome of elections.

While James Wamathai of the Bloggers Association of Kenya affirmed that political posts and blogs actually affect the outcome of elections because "social media has become the conduit through which political messages are passed", the Head of Public Policy Facebook (Africa), Ebele Okobi, did not agree.

Wamathai says political parties take advantage of millions of Kenyans online to share their messages and "pay mercenaries to spread propaganda".

Okobi, who picked elections as one of the most popular topics on Facebook globally, said it is too early to conclude that the political discourse on social media is indicative of the general view of all Kenyans. "The number of access is a small percentage and heavily weighted to people in urban areas and educated," she said. "It's difficult to extrapolate from that sample to be representative of all Kenya. This may change as more people go online."

Wamathai believes Kenya's current administration leveraged the internet to gain power and is now displaying a wrong approach to the resource. "The government wants to control the platforms despite being one of the 70 signatories to a treaty that guarantees users' rights online."

Okobi said one of Facebook's messages to governments has been that the platform is not going away and rather than trying to shut it down, they should use the platform to engage their public.

Abdalla Omari CEO of The Kenya Network Information Centre (KENIC), said "Internet is all about exchanging information. Human beings are animals of perception. The more information you give someone, the more you are able to influence decision-making with that person. The internet is strong because the youth, who are over 70% of the population, are great users of the internet."