The Kenyan government has embarked on a vast digital project to let the population benefit from information technologies. To quickly achieve its objectives, it needs as many partners as possible.  

Kenyan ICT Minister Eliud Owalo recently called private investors to join the government to modernize digital infrastructures. 

While chairing a sector consultative meeting with the country's ICT community on Monday, March 27 in Mombasa, Eliud Owalo said the government has enough pilot projects that need funding to become operational.

The government official explained that the meeting was organized to facilitate discussions between the government and stakeholders on strategies to implement to boost ICT adoption and identify opportunities in the sector. 

He indicated that several digital projects were underway in the country in partnership with the private sector. Such projects include the local manufacturing of smartphones and the construction of a smart university to train tech graduates. 

To achieve all the initiatives planned in the "digital highway project", the state will have to rely on partnerships with the private sector and other development partners, he said. 

Under the recently-launched digital highway project, more than 100,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable will be laid across Kenya; 25,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots will be created and digital villages and studios set up in each of the country's 1,450 districts, as well as the digitization of 5,000 government services by mid-2023.

Samira Njoya