The government has entered an agreement with mobile service provider, Safaricom to suspend deduction of mobile loan debts popularly known as Fuliza for 48 hours to enable the youth under the Kazi Mtaani programme to receive their pay.
The Principal Secretary (PS) for the State Department of ICT and Innovations, Jerome Ochieng says the government, on realization that quite a number of the 283,000 youths under the Kazi Mtaani programme were indebted to Safaricom, indulged the company, which agreed to give a 48-hour waiver from the time payment is made to the participants.
“Before you cry of non-payment, please ensure that you do not have a Fuliza debt as the company will automatically deduct the money after the 48-hour waiver period elapses,” he said.
The PS at the same time said that the government plans to have all the 369 level four to level six hospitals interconnected by the end of the year 2022.
This is a Ministry of ICT, Innovations and Youth affairs digitisation initiative to health facilities across the country that will ensure effective and efficient service delivery.
As part of the programme, Mr. Ochieng said, the ministry has already installed Local Area Network (LAN) in 50 public hospitals across the country.
He was speaking in Siaya town Tuesday, when he paid a courtesy call on area County Commissioner, Michael ole Tialal before touring ICT installations in the county.
The PS said it was the government’s objective to mainstream ICT at the grassroots hence investment in infrastructure development to enable the public access government services online.
“Our strategy is to make Kenya a leader in digital economy,” he said adding that the government is committed to development of digital skills.
Ochieng challenged the youth to take advantage of the ICT infrastructure to improve themselves, adding that the government had opened more opportunities through various digital platforms.
Siaya Governor, Cornel Rasanga hailed the close cooperation with the national government on youth and ICT matters.
Rasanga advised the youth to take advantage of the digitisation to access government procurement opportunities.
By Philip Onyango
