Africa is the next frontier, raise your hand up if you are tired of hearing that iconic line that just seems to be a line and not a reality. It is almost synonymous with the catchphrase Nigerian youths are tired of hearing “you are the leaders of tomorrow”. Are you not tired of seeing over $50 Billion worth of resources leave the country every year and nobody is doing anything about it.
Even with easier access to technology or programmers for lack of better word. There seems to be no encourage coming from the public sector, moreover it seems to be threaten under the Kenyan Government, it has gotten to the point by just mentioning you got something to do with social media in Kenyan, you might be sending an unwanted invitation to the alleged monitoring task force.
If the Kenyan Government learn to embrace technology, then just then we might stop deceiving ourselves about Italy and France being the coffee and chocolate nations of the world and give the credit and most importantly the money to the people of Kenyan.
A technology revolution in Kenya’s schools, E-readers and tablets are being used in East Africa to bridge the global education divide. Was the headline on a 2013 article on aljazeera.com, noble and life changing was the impact some children who benefitted from the program felt but the Kenyan Government was nowhere to be found when the project needed more funding.
Problems with the sector, most ICT projects are initially donor funded. Some donations are made without prior consultation or carrying out a needs analysis by the recipient organization Operational/running costs are met by the government. Funding (capital and human resource requirements) ends with the project phase. The budgets for ICT are inadequate. A lack of ICT policies and master plans to guide investment. To the extent that, with a number donors funding ICT, there have been multiple investments for the same product due to lack of coordination. A focus on ICT applications that support traditional administrative and functional transactions rather than on effective information processing and distribution within and without government departments. Unstable ICT resources.
Two years ago Kenya’s National Transport Safety Authority introduced a cashless, or ‘cash-lite’ payment system for public transport, this initiative appears to have failed for a number of reasons (did someone say taxation). With that said one could still argue that Kenyan government is trying but they need to try harder and read the meaning of privacy and freedom again.