According to the Information Permanent Secretary, Dr Bitange Ndemo, the deal will enable the government take the burden of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) from the private sector.
This is not the first time the government and the World Bank are partnering to help the BPO sector.
Last year, a number of BPOs benefited from satellite bandwidth subsidy to make them competitive in the global industry.
However, it is our hope that the creation of centres of excellence which the World Bank is supposed to bank roll to the tune of Sh$2 million will not turn into another circus that has befell another project, the Digital Villages Project now dubbed Pasha.
For starters, in 2007, the World Bank pledged to fund the Kenya Transparency and Communication Infrastructure Project (KTCIP) at a tune of Sh7.8 billion, a joint initiative by the Government of Kenya that was to, among other things, support the creation of digital villages in rural and urban areas and accelerate provision of e-government services as well as facilitate connectivity for the country’s emerging business process outsourcing industry.
The project was to be managed by the Kenya ICT Board.
This project sought to harness the vast untapped potential of the rural sector by making ICTs more accessible and affordable to the wider population through the development and utilization of ICT facilities in the rural areas.
The Ministry of Information & Communications then placed several advertisements in the local media for training, connectivity, and other opportunities under KTCIP.
Each of these advertisements highlighted how individuals and organisations could participate in the project.
Then came the time of implementing the pledges and Ministry of Information started giving all manner of reasons why the project was not kicking off, including red tape at the World Bank which was slowing the release of the Funds.
Three years down the line only a few people have been trained and less than ten Pasha centres put up, something that has led the government to partner with other telecommunication operators to achieve its intended Vision, taking the ICT to the rural area, its just our hope that this latest partnership wont take that long to realise as technology evolves very fast.
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Quelle/Source: Business Daily Africa, 17.05.2010
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