IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

Six years ago, the World Bank teamed up with the Kenyan government to launch an ambitious digital villages project, commonly known as "Pasha."

The project was met with a lot of optimism mainly because the government had just unveiled the Kenya ICT board, comprised of private sector executives earning Word Bank-level salaries, and expectations were high. The idea was to set up a digital center in each of the 210 constituencies in the country. The centers would provide digital services, mainly government services, allowing people to reduce the distance they needed to travel in search of government services.

The Kenya ICT Board Centre of Excellence Project, announced in July, seeks to develop an international standard curriculum that will set the standard for BPO workers in Kenya and bridge the skills gap prevalent in the Kenyan outsourcing industry.

Previously eGovernment was under the Office of the President, which was expected to drive IT adoption across government by the virtue of being under the office.

HumanIPO reported last year South Korea, which is considered a global leader in e-government, had signed a similar deal with Kenya’s neighbour Uganda.

Kenya, recognized as a developing-economy, e-government leader, has committed $900 million for electronic services in the last six months alone, but officials say more education is needed to foster acceptance of the new e-tools for public services.

Kenya has signed 40 million U.S. dollar agreement with the United States for the extension of technical assistance to Nairobi in developing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) strategies on universal access and broadband.

According to an agreement signed between the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the American government shall assist CCK in developing strategies to stimulate universal access to ICT services in underserved and un-served areas of the country.

Kenyans expect to pay less ($53) for their next mobile handset compared with Tanzanians ($58) while Ugandans expect to pay the least amount of money ($45) for their next mobile device purchase.

“In Kenya, mobile phone upgrades happen quicker and although the price point is lower, the phones purchased seem to have better capabilities and features due to the country’s comparatively higher smartphone penetration,” said Melissa Baker, TNS East Africa chief executive.

One of the key promises of the Kenya Kwanza administration was to transform provision of services by leveraging technology. Well, the promise is on course with ongoing implementation of the Kenya National Digital Master Plan 2022-2032, which underpins the country’s digital plans.

The ambitious plan centres around five pillars comprising digital infrastructure, digital services and data management, digital skills, digital entrepreneurship, and effective alignment to policy, legal, and regulatory frameworks. The ultimate aim of the project is to enable the government to deploy technology to improve public services by digitising government records and, more fundamentally, foster an innovation and entrepreneurship culture.

The innovative system will prevent Kenyans from falling prey to fake medicines which have begun flooding markets in East Africa.

Even though similar systems have been tried in Ghana and more recently in Nigeria, this is believed to be the first time the use of such an approach - known as the mPedigree platform has been endorsed at cabinet level in any country in the world.

The report says Kenya is leading the quest to realise the benefits to citizens and small businesses of delivering public services using cellular technologies.

Over the past few years, the benefits of e-government services have become more and clearer to governments in Africa. Electronic services are a great source of economic, social and political development which encourages engagement and improves service access.

The ICT Master Plan sets the agenda for the Kenyan ICT sector and its contribution towards an ICT-led economic growth in line with Vision 2030. The Plan also details the roles of both private and public sectors to avoid wasteful overlap and competition.

President Mwai Kibaki launched the open data portal on 15 July 2011 in order to make the government’s information available to the public.

According to Information Permanent Secretary Dr. Bitange Ndemo, this will allow more Kenyans access to public data, ensure transparency and accountability for the government.

Kenya is now ranked second behind South Africa in terms of the size of population that has access to the Internet, this is according to a new study by an American researcher.

Four out of every ten Kenyan adults use the Internet at least daily, behind South Africa, where 42 per cent of the adult population has access to the web, according to findings by Pew Research Centre.

None of 15 government content categories analysed has data in machine-readable formats, stalling push for automation

Lack of access to free, up-to-date and machine-readable government data stands in the way of Kenya tapping into opportunities brought by artificial intelligence, a Nation Newsplex analysis reveals.

The country tops Africa and ranks 52 globally out of 194 countries on the government’s readiness to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) in public services but only manages positions seven in the continent and 78 out of 94 globally in availability of government data, according to two key reports.

This is the second time that Kenya received funding from the World Bank, and will use the newly-acquired funds to finance the Kenya Transparency and Communications Infrastructure Project. The first loan in 2007 was used to expand the country’s infrastructure and to develop rural ICT centres.

Kenya’s telecom operators, Safaricom, Telkom Kenya, Zain Kenya and Essar telecoms, have been tasked with implementing the digital villages plan. In accordance with the Kenya Communication Amendment Act 2009, the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) will impose a levy of 1% of the operators’ total revenue for the project rollout, this according to Business Daily.

Next March's general election will be the first since a disputed poll in 2007 that triggered a politically-fuelled ethnic slaughter in which more than 1,200 people were killed.

“The new funding will increase financing under the Kenya Transparency and Communications Infrastructure Project (KTCIP) to $169.5 million,” said the World Bank March 29, 2012.

Kenya will also expand technology-based platforms for transparency and accountability to increase opportunities for economic transformation and growth, according to the Bank.

Amid calls for regional harmonisation of cyber-crime laws, the government of Kenya is proceeding with the passage of a bill to address the growing problem of cyber-crime.

The Kenya government is set to pass the Computer and Cybercrime Bill into law after its approval by cabinet as east African countries push for regional harmonisation of cyber-crime laws.