Over the past few days, high-level ZTE officials have been in the country meeting and hosting key government officials drawn from various sectors including energy, ICT and education among others.
On Wednesday, ZTE - a major provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions globally - held an ICT workshop titled "Smart Government Workshop" to discuss how technology can help in creating efficiently-run governments.
During the workshop - which was attended by both ZTE and Chinese embassy officials - the company showcased to the participants who were mainly drawn from government, its capability to provide smart government solutions.
Among the key speakers at the half-day meeting were Mr Liu Sen, CEO, ZTE Kenya; Mr Han Chunlin, the economic and commercial counselor at the Chinese embassy in Kenya and Mr Hu Xin, chief technology officer (CTO) of ZTE's Southern Africa region in charge of sales.
Mr Hu Xin stated that since it opened the Kenya office in 1998, ZTE has been involved in the country either in partnership with the government or private industry players.
"We have cooperated with Kenya government on various projects in the past, the most notable one being in the construction of the National Optic Fibre Backbone Infrastructure (NOFBI) in 2007 and the recent internal and communication system implemented for government. These partnerships are all geared towards enabling Kenya to realize its Vision 2030 via use of ICTs," said Mr Xin.
He noted that the main concern for Kenya now is connectivity, mainly last mile access, stating that it is important to ensure that each county, town and household has the necessary infrastructure to access government services.
"We work with governments so that we can deploy smart solutions more cost effectively, and save as much resources as possible. This is aimed to ensure that the government utilizes the excess funds and resources to provide other essential services in other areas," he said.
Speaking on behalf of the Cabinet Secretary for ICT, Mr Brown Otuya, the administrative secretary at the ministry said that the government's target is to ensure that every part of the country is connected.
"Our vision is to ensure that all parts of the country have connectivity then ensure that all services are provided be it in education, agriculture or health," said Otuya.
The need to enhance efforts in the provision of public services through the use of ICTs is crucial as Kenya is comparatively lagging behind in terms of e-Government services regionally, with the UN's eGovernment Survey conducted in 2012 placing the country at position three in the East Africa region.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Michael Ouma
Quelle/Source: AllAfrica, 03.04.2014
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