The Parliamentary Committee on Finance is calling for speedy funding from the National Treasury to complete and operationalize the stalled Data Recovery Center (DRC) in Naivasha, which is key to securing government digital data.
The centre initiated over a decade ago, with the aim of ensuring recovery of government data has stalled due to lack of funding by the National Treasury leading to court cases with the contracted firm, Misort Africa that has further delayed its completion.
The data recovery centre which was initially estimated to cost sh1.2 billion is 68 percent complete, with Treasury having spent a total of sh. 839 million on the project as of September this year.
According to the committee chair Kimani Kuria, the protracted court battle between the treasury and the contractor saw the high court award the firm sh. 3.68 billion which was to attract an annual interest of 12 percent on outstanding sum until all payments are done.
Kuria regretted that the 2022 court ruling has seen the exchequer lose sh. 600 million every year on accrued interest noting that the treasury currently owes the firm a total sum of sh. 5.174b which could balloon further if payments are not made on time.
Speaking in Naivasha when he led the committee on fact finding mission of the facility, Kimani said the data recovery centre which requires sh. 3.68b to complete is a critical infrastructure to guarantee safety of government digitized data.
The committee chair further said that equipment worth over sh.100 million has been stolen and vandalized after the treasury transferred the centre to the Ministry of Information, while calling on security to be enhanced to prevent further losses.
“We are calling on the National Treasury to fast tract full payments to ensure completion and operationalization of the data recovery centre and ensure safety of data”, said Kuria.
According to the latest data from the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy the government has so far digitized fully over 12,000 services, while another 2,872 services have partially been onboarded on the digital platform, all aimed at ensuring easy and quick access to government services.
At the same time, the Ministry has so far installed 1,035 public WiFi hotspots across the 47 counties in its ambitious plan to install 25,000 WiFi hotspots by the end of 2027.
This move which has been termed as a key accelerator to a digital transformation agenda, also aims to enable youths learn and tap opportunities in the digital space.
As more Kenyans get interconnected to the digital world, cyber-attacks targeting unsuspecting individuals and institutions have risen sharply over the last decade making demands for government to enhance its cyber security systems.
According to data from the Communication Authority of Kenya (CA), the country’s experienced over 800 million cyber-attacks as of October this year bringing to attention the immense threat of cybercrime and the need to have an operational data recovery centre.
It is from these concerns that the committee members termed as crucial the completion of the data recovery centre, which will enhance recovery of critical digitized government data, which has either been lost, destroyed or stolen.
The centre, started in 2014 is expected to be completed by the end of 2026 to enhance the safety of digitized data and information for millions of Kenyans.
By Erastus Gichohi
