ICT holds the key to Kenya's future

Nationmedia.com - 3/2/2006 President Mwai Kibaki

The development of any country today is dependent on accessibility to knowledge, information, and communications. Therefore, investment in ICT infrastructure and appropriate human skills are critical in establishing a digital society.

In pursuing this objective, we realise that digital technology is only a means to an end. The ultimate goal of embracing ICT is to open up opportunities that will facilitate rapid economic development and a secure future for our country.

ICT is shaping the future of the world by eliminating geographic boundaries, converging time zones, and bringing cultures and societies closer. This has had the impact of changing the conditions of industrial development; the structure of the demand for skills; and the relationship between expanding production and employment.

Countries that have embraced ICT have witnessed tremendous economic transformation within a short period of time. It is for these reasons that my Government recently approved the National Information and Communications Policy, 2006.

New Communications Bill

The Government will also be tabling a new Communications Bill in the next session of Parliament. The National Information and Communications Policy creates a framework for a liberalised ICT industry and also provides a roadmap for the development of ICT in the country over the next five years.

To accelerate this process, the Government is to set up a universal access fund under the Communications Commission of Kenya for the establishment of village ICT centres. The aim of creating these centres is to ensure that wananchi (the public) in the rural areas are able to access ICT free of charge.

The ICT sector in Kenya has witnessed robust activity arising from the reforms that the Government has so far undertaken. For instance, E-Commerce has grown tremendously. However, I would like to see enhanced local and international trade through online payments. A Kenyan should be able to shop from any part of the world using the Internet.

I urge the private sector to invest in the facilitation of E-Commerce. On our part, the Government is preparing legislation aimed at facilitating E-Commerce, for presentation to Parliament soon. With these initiatives, I hope that the various players in the ICT sector will begin to view E-Commerce as yet another key investment area in this country. Moreover, my Government is currently implementing E-Government policy which offers wide opportunities for the application of ICT to improve service delivery.

One area that stands to benefit from the implementation of this policy is settlement of pensions claims. For example, the Pensions Department should work with the private sector to establish a call centre, which pensioners can get information on their payments. Such an arrangement would significantly reduce the time pensioners take to receive information on their money.

Another area that has benefited from the Government's reforms is mobile telephony, which has grown from 15,000 lines in the year 2000 to the current 5.5 million. In order to encourage more investments in the sector, the Government has fully liberalised the sector through opening up of the international gateways to other players and licensing of new operators to compete with Telkom Kenya.

Further, the Government has approved restructuring of Telkom Kenya. The company is to sell 9 per cent of its shareholding in Safaricom to finance the restructuring programme. In this regard, I have directed that the process be expedited for Kenyans to buy at least 34 per cent of the company's shares through the Nairobi Stock Exchange. We are also looking for a strategic partner to take up to 26 per cent of the company's shares.

In regard to infrastructure, the Government has created the necessary policy environment for investments in the sector. Already, we have witnessed a substantial growth in the development of fibre-optic networks by Telkom Kenya and the private sector.

It is not sufficient to invest in ICT infrastructure alone. We must accord equal attention to the development of appropriate ICT skills that will enable many of the unemployed university and high school graduates to find employment in this dynamic sector.

I encourage the private sector to work closely with the public sector in order to ensure that Kenya becomes one of the major ICT outsourcing destinations in the world in order to open up more employment opportunities for our youth.

This is an abridged version of a speech delivered during the ICT conference at Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, on Tuesday.