Kenya’s ICT cabinet secretary opens the 2018 East Africa CIO 100 Symposium

CIO East Africa which every year looks forward to honoring the CIO 100 winners was today honoured to host Joseph Mucheru, Kenya’s ICT cabinet secretary who formally opened the 8th CIO100 Symposium & Awards in Naivasha, Kenya.

During this regional moment of recognizing and celebrating IT excellence, various industry players openly deliberated on how to improve the industry’s momentum towards digitization.

According to the cabinet secretary, when the leadership of CIO East Africa Harry Hare who is the  Chairman and Publisher along with Laura Chite paid him a courtesy call they engaged in a lively conversation where he lauded the industry symposium initiative and further challenged them to ride the data wave more effectively and use the CIO brand to offer unparalleled insights to governments, enterprises and technologists on how players within the sector can optimize the diverse opportunities presented by the fourth industrial revolution (4IR).

Having witnessed the evolution technology from the days that internet services were declared illegal by the defunct Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, until the government’s acceptance of internet as an integral tool for development, and the establishment of the Communications Commission of Kenya (now CA), Mucheru noted that the government has sustained the momentum of investing in ICT.

“I must say this was a battle I enjoyed because its benefits are still flowing – and perhaps it is the reason I was appointed to Government,” said Mucheru.

At this year’s magnanimous event that attracted 350 CIOs and senior IT business executives from across East Africa to address the challenges the industry faces and equally  celebrate the industry’s triumphs.  This year’s CIO100 Symposium and Awards marks the eighth year of the momentous fête that shall celebrate the awardees recognized at the 10th Anniversary of CIO East Africa.

While officiating the official opening of 8th Anniversary of the East Africa’s CIO 100 Symposium open with a call to industry stakeholders in you here today to the CIO100 Symposium and awards, an eventful engagement that each year purposes to present and forge ideal opportunity to forge new partnerships and draw inspiration from each other.

As technologists, entrepreneurs and innovators, you must strive to use your skills and expertise to drive transformation in both the public and private sectors and grow the economy of our country. Digital transformation offers ICT professionals an opportunity to re-imagine and develop holistic ICT solutions that will impact the wider community.

“The rapid digitization witnessed across the country is an affirmation of the commitment from the top most leadership and the opportunities that lie in wait to sustain the citizen’s appetite and uptake of digital services,” said Mucheru.

At the moment said the cabinet secrertary; the Government is now engaging local ICT professionals to offer innovative solutions for application in both public and private sectors.

He pointed out that having recently launched the Whitebox, which in essence will be the Government’s reception for collecting and reviewing innovative ideas that can enhance public service delivery, the ministry will continue to invest heavily on ICT infrastructure and inject more resources, with the expectation that both private and the public sector players will innovate and build value on this infrastructure.

In Kenya, broadband connectivity has been implemented up to sub-county level, to reach the rural communities, a move that exposes them to the information-rich society. “By partnering with Project Loon, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., Kenya aims at being the first country to commercialize a network of balloons traveling on the edge of space to connect underserved communities in the country. Our target through this partnership is to achieve 100% 4G connectivity in the country and offer Internet access is a basic human right,”said Mucheru.

In an effort to address the parents outcry of escalating teenage pregnancy, which educationists assert is precipitated illicit exposure  to online pornographic sites, Mucheru directed Communications Authority to establish mechanisms to filter access to the illicit online portals to curb teenage pregnancy.