e-Government and ICT in Kenya

Presentation by the Hon. Mutahi Kagwe, MP, Minister for Information and Communications, Kenya The World Bank approved recently a financing package of US$164.5 million for Kenya, Burundi and Madagascar as the first tranche of a US$424 million Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (RCIP) for high-speed connectivity in East and Southern Africa. There is a notion the Africa region is being held back by the prohibitive costs of international connectivity. Businesses are unable to compete in the global economy; university students suffer because they cannot access the Internet; and Government agencies cannot communicate effectively with each other and their citizens because they are not connected. East and Southern Africa is the only region in the world that is not connected to the global broadband infrastructure and accounts for less than one percent of the world’s international bandwidth capacity. As a result of this "missing link", the region relies on satellite connectivity, with costs amongst the highest in the world.

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Contributor: Eliachim Ishimwe
Published Date: April 30, 2008