Residents of Suba South constituency are a delighted lot after the government set up free WiFi in Magunga Township of Homa Bay County.
Information, Communication and the Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary (CS) Eluid Owalo said the free WiFi will enable residents transact their businesses online.
He urged the fisherfolk who are the predominant in the area to maximise the use of the free internet to market their produce noting that the project was part of the Kenya Kwanza bottom-up transformation agenda.
The CS who was accompanied by Speaker of National Assembly Moses Wetang’ula, Suba South MP Caroli Omondi and Former Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero made the remarks on Sunday in Magunga Township during the launch of the project.
Owalo told the fishing community to utilise the Wifi effectively to enhance their income.
“This WiFi can be used for marketing fish produced in Lake Victoria not only in local markets but also in foreign countries,”he said.
He said when President William Ruto was campaigning in the county, residents complained of the high cost of data bundles.
“Today, we are here to give you free WiFi to enable you participate properly in economic growth,” Owalo said.
He said the government is also committed to digitizing services to Kenyans through WiFi. Owalo said this will enable citizens to acquire the services from their comfort zones.
He said they had digitized more than 5000 government services and they expect to digitize a total of 10,000 by the end of the year.
“We want to make government services available to every citizen online to save them the cost incurred travelling to government offices,” Owalo said.
Wetang’ula told residents to embrace information technology to ease the cost of doing business.
Omondi said the WiFi will enable residents to acquire many job opportunities. This will be achieved through accessing job opportunities advertised online.
“Our youths will also be able to do online jobs for a living. Families will also be able to communicate effectively with their relatives who are abroad,” Omondi said.
He described the project to be noble for residents of Suba South.
“This is the first time we are getting WiFi in this constituency. Let us continue supporting the government for more projects to be implemented in our constituency,” Omondi said.
Dr Kidero stressed that they will continue to work with the government despite leaders who insult them.
“There are leaders who insult us because we are working with the government. I tell them that we will continue doing so for the benefit of our people,” Dr Kidero said.
By Davis Langat
