Kenya ICT Masterplan 2014

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.