April 17^th 2018                       By Cheruiyot Korir

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of ICT, Mr. Jerome Ochieng has said that the government will depend on ICT to achieve the country’s 24 hour economy as envisioned in the country’s Vision 2030.

Mr. Ochieng said, ICT will facilitate delivery of public services by enabling citizens access government services on-line at their convenience.

Speaking at the Kenya School of Government, during the induction of 400 interns under the Presidential Digital Talent Program (PDTP), Mr. Ochieng said the government hopes to use PDTP program to innovate and expand government on-line services.

The Principal Secretary said, last year, the government utilized the skills of PDTP interns to fast track marking of the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) and implementation of the Digital Literacy Devices Program in over 20, 000 public Primary school across the country. He added that the interns were also involved in digitization on records at the Ministry of lands to ease record management and retrieval.

Mr. Ochieng said the PDTP program equips ICT and engineering university graduates with a one-year job experience, hands on-ICT skills and mentorship to prepare them for the job market.

Through digital transformation, Mr Ochieng observed, the country will experience cost reduction, reduced corruption loop holes and increased efficiency and effectiveness. He said the digitization aims at turning government into a smart system where all payment will be cashless.

“The Government of Kenya is keen on the sustainability of implementing its digital strategy to facilitate online application and payment of key services through investing in the presidential digital talent program,” said the PS.

PS Jerome Ochieng urged the interns to help the government innovative ways improve on service delivery. He called on them to develop innovations to help the government achieve affordable housing, increase manufacturing, boost food security, and avail universal health care.