Kenya to have national ICT policy in a month’s time
Kenya is expected to have a new Information and Communication Technology national policy in a month’s time that will guide the sector for the next ten years.
According to the ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru, the review process is in the final stage of stakeholders’ consultation, before it is handed over to the ministry for compiling and finally to the Cabinet.
The move to revise the 2006 National ICT Sector Policy Guidelines has been necessitated by rapidly growing technology and will guide the sector for the next 10 years.
“The stakeholders are going to give us the final comment, and at the ministry we will go through it and compile it and it will be tabled at Cabinet. And then we will have a new policy. So we are expecting that to happen within the next, let’s say 14 to 30 days,” said Mr. Mucheru.
Mucheru says a lot of areas in the sector have seen changes in terms of introduction and use of new technology hence need to regulate and manage them to avoid things like competition conflicts.
Apart from regulations, Mucheru says the policy will create an enabling environment that will allow a lot of ICT companies to list at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
“A lot of companies in this sector have come of age and it is time they joined the NSE as it will not only encourage growth but also help us understand the value of the sector. You can see how companies like Safaricom have performed. To date the share is still on demand. So I would encourage us all to take this route,” he said.
Launched in March this year, the process of reviewing the policy was through three sectoral groups, with the first one looking at the infrastructural issues, the other on devices, applications and content while the third sectoral group has been looking at how the policy will address the new and emerging issues.
A draft document on the policy guidelines was developed in 2015 but upon extensive consultation, it was felt that it required further input aimed at providing a more inclusive document incorporating additional new and emerging issues within the ICT sector.
