Kenya’s Information and Communication Ministry has told HumanIPO that the much-delayed ICT master plan, the launch of which was cancelled late last year, may finally be unveiled next week.
The master plan projects that by 2017 Kenya’s ICT industry should be contributing an estimated US$2 billion (some 25 percent of Kenya’s GDP) and have created around 500 ICT companies and over 50,000 jobs.
Speaking to HumanIPO, the ministry’s permanent secretary Dr Bitange Ndemo said the document is ready and the concerned departments within the ministry are already planning for its launch in early February.
“It’s ready actually, next week we launch it,” he said.
The national ICT blueprint had been the subject of speculation after its launch was hurriedly suspended hours before the stipulated November 29, 2012, with no future date set for release.
While postponing the launch, Kenya ICT board CEO Paul Kukubo told HumanIPO that the document needed moreediting as well as inclusion of strategic and foundational pillars.
Kukubo also suggested January was a busy month of the year when business has already picked up after the Christmas holidays, and hence an opportune time to launch the plan.
“We had pushed ourselves to a very tight deadline and we perhaps had not allowed our teams the time and space for adequate preparation. We rarely postpone our events and we assure that we shall have a fantastic event in the end,” he said.
The blueprint has been developed by the Ministry of Information and Communication and is intended to drive citizen adoption of the Vision 2030 priorities through ICT policies and initiatives.
It is not clear how the delay is likely to affect the preset timelines in the document, or whether the editing carried out has seen changes in the delivery dates of various projects.
