May 23^rd 2019                                   

By Cheruiyot Korir

The Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication and Technology (ICT), Mr. Joe Mucheru has said, the government has started plans to strengthen the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) by revamping the infrastructure and identifying and building technical skills of the human resources to enhance the corporation’s efficiency.

Mr. Mucheru said as part of measures to revitalize KBC, a new Chief Executive has been hired to oversee restructuring of the Corporation and put back the national broadcaster to profitability.

Addressing the Parliamentary house Committee on ICT during a retreat to review the Supplementary II budget estimates at a Naivasha hotel today,  Mr. Mucheru said, a Cabinet memo focusing on strategic measures to support and strengthen the broadcaster was also being prepared.

Mr. Mucheru said, KBC, with a market share of 10 %, is a strategic national resources that is critical in promoting national cohesion and integration. He said, with the expanding Smart Africa Alliance, a revamped KBC, has the potential to broadcast across Africa, and reach a population of over one billion audience.

The Cabinet Secretary was responding to concerns by the House Committee over the gradual decline in the performance of KBC. The Committee called on the government to intervene and support to sustain the operations of the Corporation.

The Committee Chaired by Mr. William Kisang, said, there was need to shift advertising of government tenders online to reach a wider audience and cut down on costs.

The Committee pointed out, that readership of newspapers have drastically declined over the years and observed that placing government advertisements in the local daily newspapers will limit the reach of the advertised tenders.

Mr. Mucheru said the Government Advertising Agency (GAA) is evolving and that there were plans to put all content on-line