In 2015, the government through the ICT Authority of Kenya announced it was creating ICT Road Maps for counties in Kenya to ensure the supply for e-government services is in tandem with broadband requirements. The ICT road map project kicked off in March 2015 and collected data on the status of each county as well as gathered information on planned projects in each county. In addition, the project was to draft an ICT development plan for each county for a period of six months. Once completed, each county will begin executing their road maps over a period of 5 years from 2015-2020.
The Authority has now concluded the project and has today handed each of the counties in Kenya with its individual road maps at SafariPark Hotel. The project was funded by the World Bank and would help counties streamline and rationalize their ICT activities, as part of the National ICT MasterPlan 2017. The roadmaps offer five key areas of implementation including infrastructure, public service delivery, human capital development and policy framework.
in infrastructure, key recommendations in the road maps include establishing of the necessary infrastructure to foster connectivity. This will be achieved by lobbying counties to increase their budgets for ICT from the current 1% to 5% while at the same time pursuing private public partnerships. The road maps also recommended the use of the Universal Access Fund to ensure under served areas continue to roll-out broadband services. One of the key issues identified with regards to access to ICT revolves around public service delivery systems. To tackle this issue, the road maps recommended the working of counties with the national government to standardize processes allowing for the creation of standards in service delivery. With regards to human capital, the road maps propose capacity building in ICT skills for county staff while at the same time institutionalizing ICT training at County levels. The road map in policy and legal environment offers for the lobbying of executive and county assembly to allow for the development of ICT policies.
