KENYA ICT POLICY 2019 HIGHLIGHTS

National Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) Policy 2019

Introduction

•The National ICT policy was published on the 30th of December, 2019 and it captures the ICT ambitions of Kenyan citizens and corporations. It also creates a framework for their timely realisation. The policy will be progressively implemented and supported by all arms of government.

Highlights

•The vision of the policy is to make Kenya a globally competitive knowledge based economy. The mission of the policy is to facilitate universal access to ICT infrastructure and services all over the country.
The policy focuses on 4 key areas:

•1.Mobile First
•2.Market
•3.Skills and Innovation
•4.Public ServiceDelivery

Guiding Principles of the ICT Policy

Economic Agenda

•Put ICT at the centre of the national economic agenda, recognising the role of the ICT sector as a critical pillar in national development and the attainment of the goal of becoming and remaining a global leader in the knowledge-based economy.

Ubiquitous Access

•Fulfil the goal of giving every Kenyan access to reliable, affordable, high-speed broadband connectivity

Constitutional Principles

•Improve government accountability, efficiency, service delivery and maintain an open government. Develop and protect citizen rights and duties as enshrined in the constitution of our republic.

Private Sector

•Give the interests of the private sector top priority in order to foster entrepreneurship, innovation, investment and growth.

Sustainable Development

•Leverage ICT to promote sustainable development, accelerate human development, bridge the digital divide and develop a knowledge society.

Technology Trends

•Gigabit and Petabit Wireless
•Ubiquitous Communications
•Pervasive Instrumentation
•Big Data
•Deep Learning
•Blockchain and Digital Currency
•The Sharing Economy
•The Gig Economy
•Adaptive Security Architecture
•Mass Personalisation and Personalised Manufacturing

1. Mobile First

•This area is has three focus points which are ICT Infrastructure and Access, Universal Access and Accessibility.
•The policy states that the government will provide network; storage and processing infrastructure frameworks and guidelines that will see Kenya successfully compete on a global scale. This will include:
1.Investments in the infrastructure needed for work such as data centres,hardware, software, telecommunications, networks and broadcasting

2.Creating an enabling environment for the local assembly and manufacturing of devices

3.Strengthening of our payments and logistics infrastructure

4.Growth and adoption of local e-commerce platforms with global reach

5.Provisionof trusted security and certification infrastructure for all electronic communication and transactions

6.Accessiblenewsandmediaplatformsboth offline and online

7.Affordablemarketing and advertising platforms with quality audience data

8.Providing an all inclusive ICT environment by encouraging gender equality and accessibility to persons with disabilities

9.Coordination and cooperation with international systems and platforms for global reach

2. Market

•This ICT policy has been formulated to spur economic growth, recognising ICTs as an enabler. The contributions of the ICT policy to The Market are in three domains,namely: Money, Rules and Things.

3. Skills and Innovation

•The policy states that the Government will support and enable the development of a robust technology entrepreneurship ecosystem in the country. This will be through an ICT Co-Fund that will unlock requisite capital, avail easy access to critical technical assistance and actively promote the adoption and utilisation of local innovations. Public long-term funds will be incentivized to set aside 5% of their investments for the local ICT ecosystem.

4. Public Service Delivery

•The ICT policy requires all arms of government to build, deploy, operate and manage locally built back-end and front end systems to deliver services.The policy also requires that Kenyan data remains in Kenya,and that it is stored safely and in a manner that protects the privacy of citizens to the utmost. Government services will be delivered in a manner that ensures we have a prosperous,free, open and stable society. This policy aims to promote the collaboration of the National and County governments to ensure that all services,both physical and digital reach every citizen at a guaranteed high level of quality.

Monitoring and Evaluation

A review of this policy will be conducted every three(3) years and a mid-term review after five years.