At last, IT is gaining ground

Story by ANDREW LIMO, Publication Date: 04/02/2004

"Last week's investment conference may have stolen the thunder from the national information technology communication conference that run concurrently at the Safari Park hotel. But whether business is going to thrive or not will be judged by the extent to which it embraces technology. It is significant that investment conference focused on question: what should we do to provide a conducive business environment? Part of this question was being answered at the ICT conference, which made it clear that we must have structures that make it cheaper to do business here. One of these is technology.

Never before has the Government, long faulted for not doing much to spur the growth of the sector, demonstrated seriousness in harnessing the tremendous opportunities that come with affordable and widespread use of the Internet, information systems, telephony, digital libraries and so on. To give credit where due, it was actually the players in the information technology industry who invited the Government for the brainstorming on the way forward. But this time round the Government side had a better story to tell. In January the Government launched the e-government strategy document. It is a brilliant piece with time frames, benchmarks and standards. Last year, it was the VP Moody Awori who led the Kenyan delegation to the UN World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva. And the draft policy paper is undergoing the legislation process.

Well, a modest effort for the public sector that in the past trod on technology with utter caution. When it found its way into government offices, the fax machine was treated a "confidential machine", a preserve for the senior most officials. Maybe nobody knew what it could and could not do. Dr Juma Oketch, the former director of IT at Treasury, who now heads the Rwanda's IT Authority was at the convention. He recalled the frustrations he underwent with one of Kenya's IT pioneers, Dr Shem Ochuodo, now Kenya Pipeline managing director, as they kept long nightly vigils for the magic of Internet to trickle in on a 9.6 kbps dial-up connection to servers in Boston, US.

With nearly all Government ministries now interconnected on at least 64kbps leased lines through Treasury, the Government must be commended for taking a step towards accelerating IT use. But a lot remains to be done. Information technology is yet to "touch everybody's" life as businessman Manu Chandaria put it. Imagine if we had a national information infrastructure through websites and databases? Long queues for services like the on-going matatu registration at Times Tower would not be there. The long queues when people go to Kenya Revenue Authority to make tax returns would be history. Students seeking to find out about their admissions to the universities would simply visit the website and look for their names. Voting would be possible wherever there is a connection. A whole transformation which undercuts bureaucracy would actually take place in every sector of our society.

The Government is talking of achieving a newly industrial country status by 2020. But Mr Mike Eldon, the chairman of the umbrella body of the private sector partners, expressed concern how we were going to get there when the vision "made no mention of ICT?" Nearly all private sector participants at the week-long symposium had one strong line for the Government: liberalise the sector fully and embrace the private sector partnership especially in the Sector Working Groups and policy formulation. Among the visitors were more than representatives of more than 10 countries. They included Rwanda's Minister for Energy and Communication, Mr Sam Bussi, who said that most government transactions in his country were "paperless affairs." President Kagame would even invite the Cabinet to a meeting on e-mail.

Computer hardware and software are zero-rated. And of course they have a policy and laws on ICT in place. That's Rwanda, with an ugly genocide past! Back at home the setting up of an e-government directorate should now consolidate and operationalise the strategies made so far by the government. For a long time ICT was given the treatment our educational institutions gave to sports and other outdoor "extra-curricular" activities. But time has come when ICT has to be be imbedded in every facet of our development. Computers stacked away in some office do not mean much unless they are made to work and answer an immediate human need. And we have plenty of needs.

There is need to take ICT to the rural areas and make farmers and schools tap into the technology. The vast growth in use of mobile phones has demonstrated that people have a need for communication. However, the current high pricing is keeping away even those who have the requisite skills to use ICT. Access in rural areas is still low compared to urban areas. So far the cheaper SMS and the "Simu ya mwananchi" calling points are the only forms of ICT the poor can afford. The e-strategy document is a good document with clear benchmarks and time frames. It stipulates that by June 2007, an online voter registration system should be in place. Hopely, these indicate that the road to joining the global community has begun in earnest."