The government is committed to connecting 25,000 local markets to WiFi countrywide that will be accessed freely, ICT CS Eliud Owalo has said.
Owalo said this will promote e-commerce alongside solving the unemployment problems among the youths across the country.
He said ICT will help the youth do business and seek employment globally since white-collar jobs are currently scarce.
He said all the 1, 450 wards in the country will be provided with digital hubs.
Each ward will have at least a hub, courtesy of President William Ruto’s administration.
“During the campaign period, President William Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua among other leaders traversed the country listening to the problems citizens face. Kenyans complained about the high costs of data bundles and asked the government for free WiFi,” Owalo said.
The CS said the government has the ability to secure one million jobs for the Kenyan youth digitally.
Owalo spoke when he presided over the launch of free public WIFI hotspots at Masii open-air market in Mwala, Machakos County on Thursday.
He was accompanied by his Foreign Affairs counterpart Alfred Mutua and hosted by both Machakos County Commissioner Josephine Ouko and Mwala MP Vincent Musyoka.
Owalo said the project of connecting markets to WiFi was among the Kenya Kwanza government’s manifesto.
“It’s one of the strategies of supporting youths and women thereby realizing the ‘bottom up’ dream. We want to use the internet to help the common mwananchi,” Owalo said.
“It will help these women in the market market and sell their products online through the Internet as they receive payments through mobile online such as Mpesa,” Owalo said.
He said with modern technology, it isn’t a must for traders to physically meet their potential clients face to face to do business.
Owalo said other than the markets, the government will also connect bus stages across the country to enable the youth to access free WiFi.
“We don’t want the youths to roam around due to unemployment,” he said.
He said the government will partner with MPs to train youths on ICT across the country through the digital hubs that will be established in the wards.
“We will also partner with county governments in establishing ICT infrastructure as the national government helps the youth get digital jobs,” Owalo said.
Owalo said as a government, they will ensure that all services will be delivered through the Internet stating that only 350 government services were available online when Kenya Kwanza government took over.
He said 7, 543 services had so far been onboarded by Ruto’s administration and are available on the E-citizen platform.
The CS said onboarding of government systems online will eliminate bureaucracy and cartels from government offices.
“We don’t want brokers in government offices. Corruption in government offices will be a thing of the past,” Owalo said.
Owalo said Kenyans will be able to access all government services on the phone in their comfort.
He said the government had partnered with some private companies to ensure that the public secure smartphones at affordable prices of Sh5,000.
This he said will enable them to get access to the onboarded government services.
The CS urged Kenyans to support Ruto’s administration stating that it had good plans of supporting citizens.
“If we succeed on this free WIFI hotspot program, our youth will get jobs working in various countries including those in the diaspora like the US while at home right in the villages like here in Masii,” Owalo said.
The CS later launched the same at Wote Market in Makueni County on Thursday.
Earlier Thursday morning, he presided over a groundbreaking of the Green Data Centre in Olkaria in Nakuru County.
