IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Only 34% of Africans think that votes are "always" counted fairly, according to the Afrobarometer reportreleased in September 2016. However, electronic voting in Namibia in 2014 has had a positive effect on fairness perception among voters in that country.

Several African countries have been battling with the idea of having full electronic voting. Countries like Kenya, Ghana and Senegal have introduced the use of electronic systems in voter registration, voter identification and electronic relay of vote tallies, but not fully implemented digital voting.

Li Dafeng, Regional President for Huawei East and South Africa, said ICT is playing a critical role in sustainable development in the global economy.

“Today, people and organizations are more efficient and productive due to access to speed network, smart phones usage, numerous applications, and cloud computing systems, making our society more intelligent and energy-saving,” he said during the Broaderway Forum for Kenya held on the sidelines of the Cyber Security East Africa Conference.

The Kenya National ICT Masterplan 2017 document will guide the country’s ICT direction in the next three years. The Masterplan was first launched in February 2013 and is a five-year plan. It covers the vision 2030 pillars as well as focusing on other functional areas.

ICT Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi said three key ICT projects have been identified—Citizen Service Portal, Government Shared Services and National Digital Registry Services.

ICT Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i said in Nairobi the shortage has forced some county governments to depend on private sector in order to deploy ICT systems.

“We are therefore fast tracking efforts to increase the number of highly skilled personnel in ICT sector,” Matiang’i said after signing a Memorandum of Understanding between Huawei Technologies and ICT Authority of Kenya.

The Kenyan government will partner with industry and academic institutions to strengthen data collection, storage and deployment in order to accelerate socioeconomic progress, officials have said.

Victor Kyalo, CEO of Kenya ICT Authority, a government body which fosters development of ICT, said that effective data collection and analysis under-pins sound policy discourse to address social challenges like poverty, inequality, disease and crime.

With only four months until elections, officials must work quickly. They face additional pressure in Coast Province, where a secessionist group has threatened to disrupt the voter registration effort.

Kenya is the most prepared country for artificial intelligence in Africa, According to the 2019 Government AI Readiness Index published by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and Oxford Insights.

Out of the 194 countries ranked in the world, 12 African countries are in the top100.

Kenya's Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Authority and China's tech company Huawei have completed training public servants in order to enhance their technology knowledge, officials said on Thursday.

Fiona Pan, deputy CEO for Public Affairs of Huawei Kenya said that the online training for civil servants was designed to provide the personnel with the latest knowledge on (ICT) trends, e-government, smart city, Internet of Things and cyber security.

There is no doubt that Kenya has the potential to be one of Africa’s great success stories. It’s among the fastest growing economies in East Africa and successfully rebased its economy last year, a strategy that saw its nominal gross domestic product rise 25% to $55 billion, making it a middle-income status country. It is now the largest economy in East Africa, with growth anticipated to rise to 6.1 % in 2017. The trillion dollar question is, where to next for Kenya and its people? How do they translate this hard-won economic advantage and growth into sustained ongoing prosperity and take their place on the competitive world economic stage?

The Kenyan government has seen great revenue collection through electronic systems it has launched in the past and now hopes to implement more digital projects to fill gaps left by corruption and inefficient government spending.

This was made public during Thursday’s annual budget speech by cabinet secretary Henry Rotich, where the government outlined its spending policies for the 2015/2016 fiscal year.

The Chief Officer in charge of Information Communications Technology and E-government at the Uasin Gishu County government Edwin Kemboi has said that the public sector is still facing a shortage of Information Communication Technology skilled experts.

According to Mr Kemboi, youth have failed in taking up the ICT and opportunities in the sector therefore creating a gap that requires ICT skills in a bid to streamline the public sector.

Software for the IPRS as well for the identity and verification systems has been developed by Ukrainian identification technology, EDAPS, which specializes in the implementation of large-scale government and corporate projects including identification and biometrics.

This is a goal outlined by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK), which launched its third five-year strategic plan on Friday.

In terms of broadband consumption, the country plans to boost usage in this category from the current 2.4% to 10%.

Communication Commission of Kenya (CCK) Director General Francis Wangusi said Tuesday that currently only 3 percent of the population has access to broadband, reported Xinhua.

"This has hindered many development objectives and so the government has set a target of 20 percent broadband access by the year 2017," Wangusi said during a workshop on the role of women in Information Communication Technology (ICT).

The Government intends to spend Sh8 billion to register Kenyans aged 12 years and above for the next six months to create Kenya’s first ever national digital registry.

The new move, which will see a national biometric registration drive kick off in the next two months, is expected to last six months. The database will capture details such as birth records and asset holdings.

The government is seeking to explore more viable collaborations that tie up digital possibilities

In Summary

• President William Ruto had announced that his government will construct 200,000 houses annually under the affordable housing programme.
• Real estate industry's contribution to Kenya's economic growth stood at 6.7% as of December 2021, making it an important player in the country’s GDP.

Increased access to mobile network signals and exciting products offered by telcom operators continue to drive consumers to own more than one SIM card to take advantage of the diverse services pushing Kenya's mobile penetration to 112 percent, a report released Monday by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows.

The Sector Statistics Report covering July-September 2019 shows mobile subscriptions are on the upward trajectory, standing at 53.2 million.

CrimsonLogic, a leading provider of eGovernment solutions and services headquartered in Singapore -- under a government contract between Kenya and Singapore, successfully rolled out the Kenya Electronic Single Window System, officially known as Kenya TradeNet. The system is CrimsonLogic's 18th live Trade Facilitation implementation so far, and its first major project in Kenya.

Kenya Revenue Authority takes positive steps towards promoting citizen-centric efficiencies with SAP

There is no doubt that Kenya has the potential to be one of Africa’s great success stories.

It’s among the fastest growing economies in East Africa and successfully rebased its economy last year, a strategy that saw its nominal gross domestic product rise 25% to $55 billion, making it a middle-income status country. It is now the largest economy in East Africa, with growth anticipated to rise to 6.1 % in 2017. The trillion dollar question is, where to next for Kenya and its people? How do they translate this hard-won economic advantage and growth into sustained ongoing prosperity and take their place on the competitive world economic stage?