#CIOYearAhead: Government adopts the use of ICTs in stimulating social economic growth

The Government of Kenya has taken the deliberate step to adopt the use of ICTs in stimulating social economic growth as espoused in Vision 2030 strategic blueprint.

According to Francis W. Mwaura, Head of Standards and Processes at ICT Authority, the government of Kenya intends to modernize and upgrade its internal Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems by digitizing the working and functioning of the government as foundation for and to accelerate digitized service delivery.

“There is currently no centralized repository of Persons data hence the need to logically consolidate all persons databases into a National Persons Master Database that will be the Single Source of Truth for identity information,” said Mr. Mwaura.

He explained that today, various registration agencies often deal with the same data sets in delivery of services to the public.

However, they are not linked to one another, leading to unnecessary duplication of efforts in registration and storage of information as a result, there are delays in verification and authentication of information, and thus poor service delivery.

This undermines the security of the country and impacts negatively to socio-economic development.

Mwaura, was fast too acknowledge that, Integrated Population Registration System was a good attempt to address these challenges but has a fundamental shortcoming in that the database from Nairobi only has citizens who have attained the age of 18.

“There is need to establish a comprehensive National Master Database anchored on the birth register for citizens, and primary registration of foreigners and which becomes the single source of truth data source for all persons,” he concluded.