The government is on course to implement its elaborate plan to connect 25,000 markets to the internet across the country, in a bid to turn Kenya into a digital economy.
Information, Communications and The Digital Economy CS Eliud Owalo speaking during the launch of two public Wi-Fi at Mackinnon market, famously known as Marikiti in Mvita constituency and New Magongo handicraft market in Changamwe constituency said the government is keen to enhance e-commerce.
“This free Wi-Fi hotspot is one of those programmes that the Kenya Kwanza government under the leadership of President William Ruto has embarked on to turn Kenya into a Digital Economy,” said Owalo.
“We have got intentions of establishing and operationalizing a total of 25,000 free wifi hotspots all over the country. For a start, we are targeting the markets where our mothers and sisters are engaged in itinerary trade, we are also targeting bus termini, where our youths have been loitering with no gainful economic activity,” he added.
The CS said the government wants traders to be involved in e-commerce, leveraging on the various technological platforms.
“In the world of today, the commodity buyer no longer needs to meet the seller. You can take a photo of your product, place it on digital platforms and then the buyer sees wherever he/she is, including but not limited to overseas, and also pay for it electronically.
That is the direction we want to go as a Kenya Kwanza government, we want to introduce e-commerce within the Kenya economy,” said Owalo.
He said the government has embarked aggressively to onboard all government services in the e-citizen platform.
“The purpose of this is to make government efficient and effective in service delivery to the common mwananchi. Moving forward, it will no longer be logical for the public to physically visit government offices to get crucial services,” said the CS, adding that citizens will be accessing government services from their comfort zones.
Through the e-citizen platform, he said, bureaucracy witnessed in government will be eliminated and public servants will no longer put roadblocks in the way of citizens, when looking for services.
“We want to completely eliminate corruption in government using technology, you will not need to know anybody to get government services, you will use your phone and then you connect to the government,” elucidated Owalo, adding that all payments will be made directly to the government coffers.
Noting that one of the pertinent issues raised by the citizens during the campaigns was the exorbitant cost of data, the CS said, “As the government we have come in to intervene in the market by making sure that we are not only reducing the cost of data, but we are also providing Wi-Fi for free in markets and in bus termini to support our mothers and to support our youth so that they can get involved in gainful economic employment activities going forward.”
At the same time, Owalo reiterated the government’s commitment to run a paperless government, create jobs leveraging on technology, eliminate corruption and widen the revenue base for the government to have money to provide services.
“That is the direction that we are going, and we want to assure Kenyans that in the not-too-distant future, we should turn the country into a digital economy,” he stated.
The Mombasa County Executive for Trade Mohamed Osman said they will augment the national government by extending the free WI-FI in the remaining 15 markets.
On his part, the ICT Authority CEO Stanley Kamanguya said they have launched a sensitization drive to effectively utilize the WI-FI hotspot.
By Sadik Hassan
