Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru has paid a glowing tribute to the late and former President Mwai Kibaki citing his huge contribution in laying a solid foundation for the country’s ICT sector.
Mucheru said the former President intervened personally to have Kenya lay its under-sea fibre optic cable that fast-tracked the country’s ICT growth.
The CS made the remarks Tuesday as he led his ministry staff in signing the former President’s condolence book at the Government Media Centre, Telposta Towers.
He described the late President as humble, clear and passionate about the country’s development.
“Thank you for the outstanding leadership, mentorship and guidance. Thank you for amongst many achievements, the clear patronage of golfing in Kenya, the TEAMS undersea Fibre Optic cable as well as the Kenya Smart City project popularly known as the Silicon Savannah and the great stewardship of our beloved Kenya,” said the CS in his condolence message.
“For a long time Kenya did not have a fibre optic cable connecting the East African Coast, until when President Kibaki took it upon himself and allowed the then Information Cabinet Minister Mutahi Kagwe and Permanent Secretary Prof. Bitange Ndemo to go ahead and champion for formation of the East African Marine System (TEAMS), when the Easy cable took too long. In conjunction with the private sector, the country built the 5,000-km undersea fibre optic cable,” said Mucheru.
Kenya’s ICT sector, he said, is now reaping big rewards from the foundation laid under the Kibaki’s Presidency. This has allowed us to really grow and move in great strides as a nation.
“As you know Microsoft just opened their African development sector in Nairobi and hired 431 of our young people. Google is also setting up a production centre hiring more than a hundred people.
Amazon has also opened a node and wants to officially open an office, while ICANN is also here. A lot of this is based on the groundwork that the late President was able to establish for us and we were able to build on it with President Uhuru Kenyatta,” said the CS.
By Muchiri Karanja
