3064
THE KENYA GAZETTE
2. Preamble
GAZETTE NOTICE No. 5472
THE KENYA
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
ACT
(No. 2 of 1998)
THE NATIONAL INFORMATION COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY
(ICT) POLICY GUIDELINES, 2020
IT IS notified for the information of the general public the Cabinet
Secretary
for Information,
Communications,
Technology,
Innovation
and Youth Affairs pursuant to section 5C of the Kenya Information
and Communications Act, 1998, issues the National Information
Communications and Technology Policy Guidelines, set out in the
Schedule hereto.
1. Foreword
One of the main priorities of the Government towards the
attainment of Kenya Vision 2030 development goals and objectives
for wealth and job creation is the achievement of an industrialised
information society and knowledge economy. The objective is to
facilitate the creation of dignified jobs that provide financial security
and independence to allow greater innovation and future thinking. By
providing local and international connectivity across the country and
region, and developing in-country solutions, the Government will
enable creation of online and digital jobs, markets, and quality skills
allowing Kenyans to embrace the shared economy. In this way,
citizens will transition from traditional ways of working to innovative,
digitally enabled forms of work.
This review of the Information and Communications Technology
(ICT) Policy of March 2006 is inspired by, first, the need to align the
Policy with the new constitutional dispensation in Kenya, and Vision
2030. This review specifically aims to incorporate the lessons learned
from the Vision 2030
Medium Term Frameworks and takes into account the three
underlying pillars of Vision 2030, (Economic, Social and Political)
and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
The overarching focus will be to provide access to ICTs, especially
broadband, to all Kenyans and seamless connectivity to the East
African Community member states with proactive collaboration at
regional and international levels, leveraging our leading position in
Fintech and our capital markets.
Secondly, the review is meant to provide a proactive framework
that is in tandem with current technological realities and dynamics,
and one that will guide the orderly development of the ICT sector so as
to ensure maximum developmental impact for the benefit of all
Kenyans.
In reviewing this policy, the Government has taken into account
the tremendous impact of globalisation and the rapid changes in
technology. These changes have invariably affected the traditional
approach to the management of public affairs and service delivery, and
increasingly inform the need for an adaptive policy and regulatory
response.
This revised Policy provides a clear and compelling vision to drive
social, economic, cultural and political transformation through the
effective
use of Information
7th August, 2020
and
Communications
Technology
(ICT)
in the years ahead. The Policy provides many of the key strategies
essential for achieving Kenya’s national development targets. Going
forward, the Government will concentrate on speeding up the
development of new generation mobile, high-speed, secure and
ubiquitous ICT infrastructure, developing a modern technologyenabled industrial system, implementing the national big data strategy
and enhancing national cyber-security.
By harnessing the power of ICTs, private and state-owned
enterprises are expected to improve their sourcing, sales and logistics
systems; streamline operations, track market trends and boost their
marketing, research and innovation capabilities. Enterprise operations
will become more efficient, translating into productivity gains and the
creation of new markets for innovative products and services. The
strategies and action plans developed as a result of this policy will
continue to bring about the rapid transformation of Kenya.
In conclusion, it is my conviction that this Policy will continue to
set the pace and give the right direction to further the development of
our economy in general and the ICT sector in particular for the benefit
of all stakeholders.
JOE MUCHERU,
Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communications and Technology.
The National ICT policy was last reviewed in 2006. Since then, the
sector has experienced rapid technological advancement, changes to
the legal and administrative framework and many emerging issues.
The latter include increased IT enabled services, increased demand on
bandwidth and for Quality of Service (QoS), challenges of cybersecurity, integration projects and harmonization of ICT policies
regionally and internationally.
This policy is a product of an all-inclusive, participatory and
consultative process. It is guided by the following principles; Putting
ICT at the centre of the national economic agenda, Improving access
to ICT especially broadband, efficient public service delivery and
maintaining an open government, Putting the private sector first and
Leveraging on ICT to promote Sustainable Development Goals.
The main policy objectives are to (1) Create the infrastructure
conditions for use of always-on, high speed, wireless, internet across
the country. Provide enabling infrastructure and frameworks that
support the growth of data centres, pervasive instrumentation (Internet
of Things), machine learning and local manufacturing whilst fostering
a secure,
innovation
ecosystem;
(2) Grow
the contribution
of ICT
to
the economy to 10% by 2030, by using ICT as a foundation to the
creation of a more robust economy, providing secure income and
livelihoods to the citizenry; (3) Leverage regional and international
cooperation and engagements to ensure that Kenya is able to harness
global opportunities; (4) Position the country to take advantage of
emerging trends such as the shared and gig economy by enhancing our
education institutions and the skills of our people, and fostering an
innovation and start-up ecosystem that is able to lead on a global scale;
and (5) Gain global recognition for innovation, efficiency and quality
in public service delivery. Services will be delivered in a manner that
ensures we have a prosperous, free, open and stable society.
These objectives will be actualised through four thematic focus
areas: Mobile first; which will ensure that every Kenyan can access
inexpensive Internet and reasonable access to locally produced
devices;
Market; designed to increase the overall size of the digital and
traditional economy to 10% of GDP by 2030; Skills and Innovation;
which outlines a careful plan designed to jump-start a self supporting
ecosystem that will produce world-class research, technology products
and industries; Public Service Delivery; requires that all government
services are available online, that every Kenyan has online access and
that government services are delivered quickly and fully at the time
and place that they are needed.
The government will also continue to play its role in promoting
broadcasting and telecommunication services through: provision of
infrastructure to enable expansion of digital TV coverage in unserved
and underserved areas; encouraging development of high quality,
easily
accessible,
relevant
local
content;
development
of a National
Language Policy to encourage use of local languages in developing
content; ensuring that the radio frequency spectrum is managed in
equitable and transparent manner with specific and clear conditions;
encouraging sharing of infrastructure and enforcement of quality of
services regulations to ensure availability of reliable services by
service providers and realization of an effective postal and courier
ecosystem to drive the development of e-commerce and the digital
economy.
The implementation of the policy will necessitate institutional
reforms in some Semi-Autonomous Government Agencies that will
result in a more vibrant sector
Finally, to implement this policy effectively, the current legal,
institutional and regulatory framework will be reviewed and aligned to
the strategic policy focus. A robust monitoring and evaluation system
will be put in place to track its implementation and the reviews will be
shared annually.
JEROME OCHIENG,
Principal Secretary for ICT and Innovation
and for Broadcasting and Telecommunications.
3. Vision and Mission
3.1 Vision
Kenya as a globally competitive knowledge based economy
3.2 Mission
To facilitate universal access to ICT infrastructure and services all
over the country