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Kenya’s ICT PS urges government to be like data miners
Mr. Sammy Itemere, Principal Secretary, Ministry of ICT, Kenya, has urged the government to imitate data entrepreneurs, who are mining…
Mr. Sammy Itemere, Principal Secretary, Ministry of ICT, Kenya, has urged the government to imitate data entrepreneurs, who are mining public sector data, in a bid to allow for public service modernization.
This was announced by Mr. Itemere while giving his keynote speech during the Opening Ceremony of the Annual ICT Week on 17th May, 2017 at the Laico Regency Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya, hosted by the Communications Authority of Kenya. The ICT Week is being held under the theme: ‘Big Data for Big Impact,’.
During his speech, Mr. Itemere said, “data entrepreneurs are mining public sector data to create applications and services to make our lives more convenient,”
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“Government needs to follow suit and harness the enormous quantities of data at its disposal to pave way for public service modernization,” he added.
According to Mr. Itemere, the Government should be exploring mechanisms to turn the huge unstructured data in its possession into actionable information for development purposes.
“the insights brought about by advanced analysis can strongly complement evidence-based decision-making that can be leveraged at the national and county levels to drive success towards attaining the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals over and above our very own Vision 2030,” he continued.
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“The 21st century has been christened the ‘age of data’. Data is increasingly acknowledged as the raw material of a new industrial revolution, and one of the key drivers of the information society,” he added.
Per Itemere, the rapid advances in technology and the development of analytical tools and techniques afford society opportunities for not only gathering and sharing data in huge quantities, but also to process and analyze it at previously unimaginable speed.
“As a result, governments can draw conclusions and create policies and services that are in sync with the needs and circumstances of citizens. This way we can help those we serve to live better, more securely, more healthily and more prosperous lives.” Itemere noted.