The ICT Industry globally is today marking the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2016, a day that marks the establishment of ITU on 17 May 1865.

The outcome of the review process is expected to be a comprehensive policy document that is aligned with the new constitutional dispensation and Vision 2030 economic blueprint of transforming Kenya into a leading information and knowledge economic hub in the region.

“The achievement of an information society and knowledge economy is one of the main priorities of the Government towards the attainment of the development goals and objectives for wealth and employment creation as espoused in Kenya’s Vision 2030. The review of the ICT Policy of March 2006 is inspired by first, the need to align it with the New Constitutional dispensation in Kenya and Vision 2030 that seeks to transform our country into a leading information and knowledge hub of the region. Specifically, the driving force behind this review is to take on board the lessons learnt from the Vision 2030 Medium Term Frameworks and the three underlyingpillars namely the Economic, Social and Political,” said Cabinet Secretary Ministry of ICT, Joe Mucheru.

The review of the ICT policy 2006 has been necessitated by changes in ICT that have taken place since 2006. The current ICT policy was developed in 2006 when the ICT’s were at infant stages of development in Kenya. Since then a lot of new developments have taken placein the field of ICT especially convergence of ICT technologies hence the need for the review of the ICT Policy 2006 to keep it ablest with the current ICT technology.

The 2016 ICT Policies were guided by ten principals that include constitutional principals and values, technology amd convergence, universal service, open access, competition, innovations, standards, Internationalization, National Cohesion and Integration, privacy and security, Recognition ofthe UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Interested members of the public and organizations are invited to submit any comments they may have on the Draft National ICT Policy, 2016 to: e-mail address: ictpolicy2016@information.go.ke

KICTAnet on the other hand will ran a two week moderated discussion on the draft. The discussions are set to kick-off this Wednesday 22nd June 2016. The 2016 ICT Policy, 50 page document is available here.

The deadline for submission of comments is close of business on Wednesday, 6th July 2016. Thereafter, a stakeholder meeting will be held to discuss the submitted comments which should be substantive with specific proposals for amendments to the draft policy.

The ICT sector being quite dynamic, Mr. Mucheru added that the Government will regularly review ICT policies to resonate with the rapid technological advances, changing public needs and evolving global trends.