Counties to be connected to fibre optic, Matiangi
Workers dig trenches to lay the fibre optic cables along Kimathi Street in Nairobi. PHOTO | FILE
All the 47 counties will soon be connected to the fibre optic cable to enhance service delivery to Kenyans.
Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) cabinet secretary Fred Matiangi said the national Government is in the process of connecting all the county headquarters and sub-counties to the optic cable.
This as part of digitization of public services, he explained
He said since the onset of devolution, most essential services had been brought closer to people at the grassroots level.
"Our focus has now moved to building capacities of county Governments in a bid to enable them to deliver on their mandates and improve livelihoods of Kenyans,” Dr Matiangi said at Kanyawanga High School in Rongo Constituency, Migori County during a prize-giving day on Saturday.
“ We are going to promote ICT programmes in all the counties and train workers to be ICT –compliant. The new technology will enhance efficiency, professionalism and accuracy at work,” the minister stated.
Dr Matiangi said the immediate priority of the Government was to create jobs in the country to reduce unemployment levels and poverty.
“We have 200,000 coming out of our universities every year and if we do not act faster, we are going to be faced with a bigger crisis of joblessness by the youth,” he warned.
The minister announced that funds are going to be allocated to strengthen ICT labs in secondary schools and colleges to equip learners with relevant skills.
“The Kenya Institute of Curriculum is already digitizing education contents for schools and I ask MPs to allocate part of the Constituency Development Funds (CDF) to empower ICT programmes in schools within their constituencies,” said Dr Matiangi.
During the function, the Cabinet Secretary handed over a donation of Sh200,000 from President Kenyatta to the school’s ICT department to purchase computers.
The minister also picked four poor Kanyawanga students that he will educate from Form One to Four with support from his friends in the Government.
He praised the school for attaining exemplary performance in Nyanza during the last year's Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams.
