President William Ruto Pledges On Digital Superhighway & Creative Economy

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President William Ruto Pledges On Digital Superhighway & Creative Economy

Kenya has invested heavily in ICT infrastructure and services over the last two decades. This infrastructure includes six submarine fiber-optic cables offering broadband connectivity, 9000km of terrestrial fiber-optic cable connecting virtually all county headquarters, and geographical and population mobile broadband coverage of 56 per cent of the 96 per cent respectively.

Mobile telephone penetration and innovation has enabled Kenya to increase from a quarter to over 80 per cent of the population in less than two decades, making Kenya one of the world’s leading users of mobile payments. The Covid 19 crisis demonstrated just how critical digital penetration is in terms of business continuity, as it enabled many essential services to proceed with minimum interruption during the lockdowns.

Still, important economic benefits expected have yet to materialise. Notably, there was high hope that the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry would become a leading export and job creating sector. Kenya was ranked together with The Philippines, which exports $30 billion and employs an estimated 1.3 million people. The industry has yet to take off. The Konza Technopolis has been in the works for two decades and seems no closer to becoming a reality than it was a decade ago.

The digital superhighway will also play a critical role in enabling us to make tremendous achievement in the other four pillars of Health, Agriculture, MSME and Financing as well in enhancing revenue collection via automation of VAT systems. It will ameliorate challenges related to information asymmetry in market access and risk management.

It also comes in handy in minimising barriers to entry for new financial providers that are critical in downscaling access to the Hustler Fund via Government risk mitigation mechanism through provision of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system for all participants. Areas such as public procurement where digital transformation could have delivered huge gains are yet to be realised.

Kenya Kwanza commitment

• Universal broadband availability throughout the country within five years. We shall increase and fast-track broadband connectivity across the country by construction of 100,000km of national fibre optic connectivity network;

• Enhance government service delivery through digitisation and automation of all government critical processes and make available 80 per cent of government services online;

• Establish Africa Regional Hub and promote development of software for export;

• The implementation of the Digital Master Plan will adhere to environmental agreements in which Kenya is a signatory;

• Reduce the cost of calls and data to allow wananchi, and especially the youth, to use online platforms for entertainment, information and business;

• Establish a Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology Policy that will ensure a whole of government approach to technological development and use and build necessary capacities across government;

• The administration will strengthen Konza Technopolis to bring together industry, academic institutions and other innovators to co-invest in emerging technologies to create high-quality jobs that leverage on artificial intelligence, robotics and other technologies and thus enhance our regional and global competitiveness.

 

SOURCE: Citizen Digital

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