Following the appointment of Joe Mucheru as ICT CS, captains of industry, scholars and even enthusiasts converged at the Nairobi Serena Hotel with the intent of presenting their ICT wishlist for the first 100 days to the CS. Key among the issues raised included the reviewing of the National ICT Sector Policy, which was already in the plans.
The ICT ministry is now looking to review the ICT policy to keep up with the fast changing technology sector. The review will follow a multi-sectoral approach with nascent areas of ICT in Kenya such as mobile money, cyber security and virtual networks. A draft document on the same was already developed in 2015, with the guidelines for the review launched today.
The National ICT Policy 2016 will provide the policy framework for development of the ICT sector for the next five years with the sectoral working group championing it also including infrastructure issues, applications and content creation.
The review also includes issues such as the legal and regulatory instruments in a bid to create optimal strategies on enhancing competition. Use of services offered via the internet will also be incorporated thus tackling emerging issues such as the use of big data and over-the-top services as well as gaming. Stakeholders in the ICT sector are therefore urged to engage and contribute to the policy document.