The Kenyan government is to review the National ICT Master Plan launched early this year to harmonise it with the promises contained in the Jubilee manifesto, the ICT ministry has said.
ICT cabinet secretary Fred Matiangi told the Connected Kenya conference in Mombasa the priority will be service delivery to Kenyans as well as job creation.
Few changes are expected in the main focus areas, although job creation will take centre stage, with the Jubilee government having promised to create one million jobs annually.
Matiangi has said the focus will be on how business process outsourcing can be exploited to create more jobs and contribute more to the country’s GDP, with the government having already harmonised all departments focusing on ICT so as to fall under the ministry’s watch and reduce duplication.
Service delivery was in fact a priority in the three-pronged approach plan under the National ICT Master Plan, along with the need to strengthen the ICT industry and encourage the creation of ICT jobs.
Education is also expected to be at the centre of the revised plan, with the government having already announced schools will be connected with the fibre network.
“We will have special focus on the counties and we will be calling a meeting between governors and their ICT secretaries to ensure that county priorities fall in tandem with those of the national government,” said Matiangi.
“We will be advising counties on some of the policy sacrifices that should encourage technology penetration and let the counties see our efforts as more of an assistance than imposing the policies down the throat.”
Changes could also be witnessed in various timelines set in the document, with the master plan itself having experienced a delay in the launch from December 2012 to February 2013.
Health will also be a priority area, with the government targeting universal healthcare for various groups, such as expectant mothers.
“My dream in the next four years is that anyone referred from Coast General Hospital to Kenyatta National Hospital will not need to carry their records, but there will be a government database with such data,” he added.
The new master plan is then expected to be centred around the Jubilee pillars of transparency, job creation, security, national branding and public sector delivery. It will be taken back to stakeholders for discussion.
