| dc.description.abstract | This Information and Communication Technology Master Plan is derived
from multiple stakeholder consultations; review of documents
from both private and public institutions; review of Master Plans from
other countries; and comparison and benchmarking various development
indices with other developed and developing countries.
The purpose of this Master Plan is to review and update the Connected
Kenya Master Plan launched in February 2013 with a view to extend
stakeholders participation and take into account changes in the Jubilee
digital Government.
This includes alignment with key documents such as: the constitution,
particularly the realities of devolved Government; Jubilee Manifesto;
and the new laws enacted in between November 2012 to January 2013
such as Science, Technology and Innovation Act 2013, TIVET Act 2013
and Universities Act 2012. This is in recognition of the fact that ICT
has a critical role in driving the economic, social and political development
of Kenya as espoused in Vision 2030; and it is a roadmap to a
knowledge economy and society that will lead to real socio-economic
growth. It is therefore imperative to address key challenges that may
hinder the ICT sector from playing its rightful role in national development.
The Kenya Vision 2030 is the national long-term development blueprint
that aims to transform the country into a modern, globally competitive,
middle income country offering a high quality of life for all
citizens by the year 2030.
It is guided by a Vision of “a globally competitive and prosperous nation
with a high quality of life by 2030”with an overall theme of “transforming
Kenya: pathway to devolution, socio-economic development,
equity and national unity”. The ICT theme, which is one of the foundations
for national transformation in the first medium term plan (MTP)
(2008-2012) is “strengthening the foundation for a knowledge-based
economy” Taking into consideration Vision 2030 and its MTPs, the vision of this
Master Plan is “Kenya as an ICT hub and a globally competitive digital
economy” with the following six guiding principles: partnership;
equity and non-discrimination; technology neutrality; environmental
protection and conservation; good governance; and incentivizing.
This Master Plan has three foundations and three pillars. The foundations
are the critical things that need to happen in order to lay a basis
of Kenya transitioning to a Knowledge Society and positioning the
country as a regional ICT hub while the pillars are meant to facilitate
the achievement of socio-economic growth and Vision 2030 targets.
The first foundation of this Master plan is ICT human capital and workforce
development which aims at developing quality ICT human resources
as a pre-requisite to the development of a viable ICT sector.
Key to this being ensuring that ICT development, implementation and
exploitation are an integral and sustainable component of development.
The second foundation is Integrated ICT infrastructure, which
seeks to provide the integrated infrastructure backbone required to
enable cost effective delivery of ICT products and services to Kenyans;
and the third foundation is Integrated information infrastructure which
aims at improving the quality of e-Government services and enable
the country to transition to a knowledge-based society. This is through
ensuring maximum access to information held by public authorities
by all Kenyans and that public information is readily available through
consolidated portals in an affordable and secure way.
The first pillar of this Master Plan is E-Government services, which
aims at ensuring provision of e-Government information and services
as key to improving productivity, efficiency, effectiveness and governance
in all key sectors. The second pillar is ICT as a Driver of Industry,
which aims at transforming key Vision 2030 2nd MTP economic
sectors to significantly enhance productivity, global competitiveness
and growth; and the third pillar is Developing ICT Businesses that can
produce and or provide exportable quality products and services that
are comparable to the best in the world. | en_US |
