Kenyan ministries of ICT and Treasury partner to spur digital economy

The ICT Cabinet Secretary, Joe Mucheru together with National Treasury and Planning Acting Cabinet Secretary Ambassador Ukur Yatani constituted a technical working group drawn from the two Ministries and the World Bank to work together to ensure that on-going ICT projects aimed at creating a Digital Economy are undertaken in a coordinated manner and without duplication.

The working group will be chaired by ICT Principal Secretary Mr Jerome Ochieng, who will come up with a clear Road map on how the projects,geared towards driving the Country, will embrace digital economy.

“We need to have a clear road-map because with ICT the danger is you get obsolete if you don’t have clear time-frames for execution,” Yatani said.

He noted that the importance of digital economy cannot be under estimated noting that adoption of the same will help not only government and parastatal and the private sector avoid wastages.

The Treasury Secretary also emphasized on the need to prioritize the integration of ICTs in development plans because of the immense economic transformation potential they hold.

“Kenya plays a central role in the digital economy of Africa having launched a blueprint for the rest of Africa, fashioning a special intervention targeted at empowering young people with practical ICT skills,” said ICT Cabinet Secretary, Joe Mucheru.

He added that so far 24 African nations have officially joined the African Digital economy alliance which represents 660 million people.

The CS said that the government will continue leveraging on the emerging digital market to enable country attain the vision 2030 and the Big 4 agenda.

The meeting, held at the Treasury Building, was to appraise the acting Treasury CS Amb. Ukur Yatani on an ambitious program that will see Governments digitize their day to day activities. It was was also attended by Deputy Chief of Staff, Policy and Strategy, executive office of the President Ruth Kagia and Word Bank operations officer Rosemary Ngesa Otieno

World Bank Senior Digital Specialist Casey Torgusson lauded Kenya for prioritizing and embracing technology which will improve service delivery and help in expanding markets.