Yesterday, the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Planning, Mr Henry Rotich read the proposed budget for the 2019-2020 financial year. It covers all the sectors of the economy and that includes the ICT sector.
The government detailed 6 areas where they will spend billions in the ICT sector:
1.1 billion for installation of an Internet Based 4000 Network.
3.2 billion for the Digital Literacy Programme. This program was initiated b the government in 2013 and targeted at public primary schools for them to use digital technologies in learning.
2.9 billion for Government Shared Services. These are for the maintenance of such systems like the Government Data Centre, Government Common Core Network, Centrally Hosted Email, Network Operation Centre, Shirikiana Shared Services Platform, Microsoft Cloud Shared Services and the Integrated Financial Management Information Systems (IFMIS).
2.8 billion for National Optic Fibre Backbone Phase II expansion. This is an initiative to ensure connectivity in all of the 47 counties in Kenya. It involves the government of Kenya, the Chinese Government, Ministry of ICT, Huawei and Telkom Kenya. Phase 2 involves building 1,600km of fiber linking 47 county headquarters and an additional 500 km for military use.
7.2 billion for the on going construction of Konza Technopolis Complex. This project was commenced last year as a Kshs 39 billion infrastructure project that involves the design, development and construction of phase 1 roads, parks, subservices, water treatment plants, sewage treatment plants, automatic waste collection system and public buildings like a fire department and police station.
5.1 billion to support the Konza Data Centre and Smart City Facilities project. Konza’s smart city involves collecting data from the connected urban services from the various smart devices and sensors embedded in the urban environment. The data centre will be constructed by Huawei.
The government also proposed exempting VAT for locally manufactured motherboards as well as charging a registration fee for young people that want to sign up for the Ajira Digital Programme.
