President Uhuru Kenyatta has named University of Nairobi don Dr Fred Okiengo Matiang’i as the nominee cabinet secretary for the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT).
Okiengo has served under various posts including deputy director and senior program officer in the Kenya Parliamentary Strengthening Project, liason officer between LSP and USAID/Kenya and lecturer at the English Department, University of Nairobi.
Okiengo has also been a columnist for the Daily Nation, a local newspaper, and a consultant at the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
The new cabinet secretary nominee’s qualifications include a bachelor’s degree in education from Kenyatta University, a masters degree in English from the University of Nairobi and a doctorate in comparative literature from the University of Nairobi.
If the cabinet secretary is approved by parliament, experts say he has his work cut out with the outgoing Kenya ICT board chief executive officer (CEO) Paul Kukubo telling HumanIPO the secretary must focus on making the government efficient through IT.
“Because when a government is efficient, it can deliver services to citizens. IT is a very good driver of efficiency,” Kukubo said.
He adds the secretary should ensure the ministry does not backtrack on developments in open government.
The president also nominated Henry Rotich as treasury secretary and James Macharia as health secretary.
The names now proceed for vetting in parliament.
