Mucheru: How ministry can use IT to deal with corruption

Corruption is  the biggest obstacle to  nation building endeavours, and technologies such as block chain and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are emerging as effective tools to deal with the scourge, ICT CS Joe Mucheru has said.

The CS also said that there is reason to believe that through the application of emerging technologies including block chain, corruption will be defeated.

“Blockchain and AI provide an unprecedented level of integrity, security and reliability to the information it manages, reducing the risks associated with having a single point of failure," noted the CS.

The World Economic Forum noted that use of Artificial Intelligence eliminates the need for intermediaries, cuts red tape and reduces the risk of arbitrary discretion.

“It is for this reason that in accordance with the mandate of my Ministry, I created the Distributed Ledger and Artificial Intelligence Taskforce It is for this reason that in accordance with the mandate of my Ministry, I created the Distributed Ledger and Artificial Intelligence Taskforce.’’

Mucheru also said all sectors featured in the Big Four Agenda will be positively impacted by these technologies. However, taking full advantage of these technologies will not be possible without digitization and supporting technologies, such as Big Data, the Internet of Things (IoT) and advances in broadband.

The release of the report also indicated that the fight against Corruption can be won with the introduction of Blockchain and AI that have been heralded as game changers in fighting corruption since Several governments across the world have embraced the use of technology for improved governance.

The report also indicated that other countries that are using Blockchain and AI to fight corruption include: Ghana, Georgia and Ukraine are looking to reform land registry by building immutable title systems on blockchain to prevent fraud and enable the banking industry to have confidence on land assets.

Mucheru also insisted that the government will take full advantage of these cutting-edge technologies and new opportunities for improving public service delivery.

“I am committed to ensure complete implementation of this report and will provide the necessary impetus for all stakeholders to propel the ICT sector into the global digital ecosystem that will play a vital role in the economic transformation of Kenya.” CS Mucheru

Adoption of these emerging technologies will transform the Kenyan economy by creating opportunities to solve current problems like unemployment, corruption, insecurity and poverty in the country.