Kenya must bridge the digital gap so as to develop (E.A. Standard -12th May)
By Paul Kukubo
Compared to other African countries, the Information Communication technology (ICT) industry in Kenya is on the right track as various developments indicate. Kenyans ought to take stock of gains made even as propositions are made for tapping into the unlimited possibilities that ICT provide for poverty reduction and wealth creation.
For instance, the liberalization of Internet access by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has been a boon for the industry in many ways.
One is that costs have been falling such that one can now get twice the same bandwidth for the same cost as a few years back. This is largely because great speed in Internet access is a direct result of liberalization.
While great strides have been made in Nairobi, the issue that needs to be addressed is how the Internet and other ICTs can reach the other urban centres and rural Kenya. It has time and again been pointed out that there is a digital divide between the developed and the developing world.
Similarly, there is a digital divide between Nairobi and Nyeri, and between Nyeri and villages in this district.
Clearly, strategies need to be evolved to ensure that no part of the country lags behind in terms of accessibility to ICT facilities.
Telecommunication companies such as Safaricom and Celtel that have achieved respectful measures of penetration in rural areas should consider bridging this digital gap by using mobile phone handsets for Internet connections.
It is indeed a human right issue that the hinterland of Kenya is not marginalized, and ICTs provide an easy path for opening up villages for trade and commerce.
Rather than government policy superficially touching on enhancement of ICT access, policy should be very specific. For instance, policy documents should state that all schools should have computers and after a certain period of time follow this up with Internet connectivity.
There are compelling reasons as to why far-flung provincial areas should be digitally enabled. The outstanding point is that digital access means being in the twenty first century economy, an economy defined by ICT.
For instance, how can a gifted child in a rural school be expected to compete in the job market with a counterpart who has always had access to the computer?
One wonders what stand in the way of supply of computers to schools given that computers are not only available, but are relatively cheap.
We need to take a bold step and say every pupil from Standard Two onwards needs to have a computer, and then follow this up with logistics for the distribution of the computers.
The excuse often used is that some rural areas do not have electric power. The question then is: Why haven’t we supplied computers to schools that have electricity? Indeed most of the schools in rural areas where there is no electricity could use solar power.
Though governments are generally slow in catching up with technology compared to the private sector, some government sections must be commended for applying ICTs to their functions.
An example is the GJLOS that is applying various ICT options in the administration of justice, and that should serve as a model for delivery of e-governance programmes.
Another success story is the Export Promotion Council, a state corporation, leveraging ICT to the business of promoting export business.
As a growth industry the ICT sector has not ceased producing jobs for many young Kenyans, even as the Government grapples with means and ways of meeting the five-hundred-jobs-a-year campaign pledge. From cyber cafes to mobile phone kiosks, ICTs are employing Kenyans due to low entry requirements and limited barriers.
An example of how ICTs can transform the lives of Kenyans is evident in the Nairobates project in which children from the slums of Nairobi are inducted in various ICT areas. When the slum children emerge from the South B- based training centre, they are competent in as diverse areas as web design, writing programmes, operating systems, to mention but three.
From the training centre they are employed in salaried jobs or create jobs for themselves, in what amounts to a quantum leap from the hardcore poverty of the slums.
The success of the Nairobates project is an indication that replication of this idea across the country would soon equip many young Kenyans with skills that the local and international job markets require.
The big telecommunication companies, being the backbone of the ICT industry, would help the country a great deal if they factored development of ICT labs in their social responsibility budgets, in various parts of the country. Microsoft has successfully done this and a leaf could be borrowed for the Kenyan situation.
The ICT labs could work on technologies that suit the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which, seemingly commercially unviable in the beginnings, often end as roaring successes in the medium and long run.
The writer is the CEO and founder of 3 Mice Interactive Media Ltd
http://www.eastandard.net/archives/cl/hm_news/news.php?articleid=20188&date=12/5/2005
By Paul Kukubo
Compared to other African countries, the Information Communication technology (ICT) industry in Kenya is on the right track as various developments indicate. Kenyans ought to take stock of gains made even as propositions are made for tapping into the unlimited possibilities that ICT provide for poverty reduction and wealth creation.
For instance, the liberalization of Internet access by the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) has been a boon for the industry in many ways.
One is that costs have been falling such that one can now get twice the same bandwidth for the same cost as a few years back. This is largely because great speed in Internet access is a direct result of liberalization.
While great strides have been made in Nairobi, the issue that needs to be addressed is how the Internet and other ICTs can reach the other urban centres and rural Kenya. It has time and again been pointed out that there is a digital divide between the developed and the developing world.
Similarly, there is a digital divide between Nairobi and Nyeri, and between Nyeri and villages in this district.
Clearly, strategies need to be evolved to ensure that no part of the country lags behind in terms of accessibility to ICT facilities.
Telecommunication companies such as Safaricom and Celtel that have achieved respectful measures of penetration in rural areas should consider bridging this digital gap by using mobile phone handsets for Internet connections.
It is indeed a human right issue that the hinterland of Kenya is not marginalized, and ICTs provide an easy path for opening up villages for trade and commerce.
Rather than government policy superficially touching on enhancement of ICT access, policy should be very specific. For instance, policy documents should state that all schools should have computers and after a certain period of time follow this up with Internet connectivity.
There are compelling reasons as to why far-flung provincial areas should be digitally enabled. The outstanding point is that digital access means being in the twenty first century economy, an economy defined by ICT.
For instance, how can a gifted child in a rural school be expected to compete in the job market with a counterpart who has always had access to the computer?
One wonders what stand in the way of supply of computers to schools given that computers are not only available, but are relatively cheap.
We need to take a bold step and say every pupil from Standard Two onwards needs to have a computer, and then follow this up with logistics for the distribution of the computers.
The excuse often used is that some rural areas do not have electric power. The question then is: Why haven’t we supplied computers to schools that have electricity? Indeed most of the schools in rural areas where there is no electricity could use solar power.
Though governments are generally slow in catching up with technology compared to the private sector, some government sections must be commended for applying ICTs to their functions.
An example is the GJLOS that is applying various ICT options in the administration of justice, and that should serve as a model for delivery of e-governance programmes.
Another success story is the Export Promotion Council, a state corporation, leveraging ICT to the business of promoting export business.
As a growth industry the ICT sector has not ceased producing jobs for many young Kenyans, even as the Government grapples with means and ways of meeting the five-hundred-jobs-a-year campaign pledge. From cyber cafes to mobile phone kiosks, ICTs are employing Kenyans due to low entry requirements and limited barriers.
An example of how ICTs can transform the lives of Kenyans is evident in the Nairobates project in which children from the slums of Nairobi are inducted in various ICT areas. When the slum children emerge from the South B- based training centre, they are competent in as diverse areas as web design, writing programmes, operating systems, to mention but three.
From the training centre they are employed in salaried jobs or create jobs for themselves, in what amounts to a quantum leap from the hardcore poverty of the slums.
The success of the Nairobates project is an indication that replication of this idea across the country would soon equip many young Kenyans with skills that the local and international job markets require.
The big telecommunication companies, being the backbone of the ICT industry, would help the country a great deal if they factored development of ICT labs in their social responsibility budgets, in various parts of the country. Microsoft has successfully done this and a leaf could be borrowed for the Kenyan situation.
The ICT labs could work on technologies that suit the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which, seemingly commercially unviable in the beginnings, often end as roaring successes in the medium and long run.
The writer is the CEO and founder of 3 Mice Interactive Media Ltd
http://www.eastandard.net/archives/cl/hm_news/news.php?articleid=20188&date=12/5/2005