"Our belief in ICT is of the magnitude that has never been seen anywhere in the world, an idea whose time has come, and when it has come, not even a mighty army can stand on it's way," said Ruto. The government is spending KSh. 53 billion in providing laptops to class 1 students, a move that has been met with strong opposition by some Kenyans while seeing others supporting the move.
The deputy president said the government was banking on ICT contributing to a two to three percent increase in total contribution to production in the country (gross domestic product). The government is set to have class 1 and class 2 curriculum content digitised by November this year, joining content from class 3 to class 8 which has already being digitised. "We intend to make huge savings on the cost of exercise books," he said on the benefit of the project.
The government expects to increase revenue by upto 35 percent through digitisation of government agencies. The government was deploying ICT towards making the port of Mombasa more efficient, a move that would see clearance at the port being cut down from weeks to hours. Required software and hardware for the same had already being purchased.
He said that the harmonisation of policy and regulatory framework resulting in a single market of 120 million people would be an attractive market. He further added that the region should stop relying on donor support to attract investments and shift to attracting investors. The DP urged East African regulators to work on strengthening of the Universal Service Fund in the same way that the support of mobile money had led to it becoming a success.
Other issues that the deputy president asked the the ICT sector in the region to focus on include policies and investment in electronic waste management and digital migration. Kenya is already working on regulations towards management of ewaste.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Dennis Mbuvi
Quelle/Source: AllAfrica, 30.06.2013
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