Information, Communications and Technology Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru gives comments during an ICT forum dubbed ‘Connected 2016 Session 2 at Leisure Lodge Resort in Kwale County. With him are Permanent Secretaries Ministry Youth and ICT, Rwanda Rosemary Mbabazi, Kenya’s ICT & Innovation Eng Victor Kyalo and Broadcasting and Telecommunications Mr Sammy Itemere. Photo Norah Bochere

ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru has assured stakeholders that the State will support all companies to grow without discrimination. He said this will be done regardless of their status.

Speaking at an ICT conference dubbed ‘Connected 2016’ at Leisure Lodge Resort, Diani in Kwale County on Tuesday, Mr Mucheru told firms to work ‘extra’ hard if they are to win contracts. “Just work extra hard. If you have done your homework properly and you feel you are being treated unfairly, there are many avenues you can go to or appeal,” he said.

He called for the need to create value for businesses, adding that investors can’t find places to invest billions of shillings in local industries at once. “If you want to buy shares worth 10 million at Safaricom, you can’t find someone selling them at once, so you have to wait and buy in bits,” he said.

He said companies ought to demonstrate experience first, arguing that the notion that lowest bids  should be winners is wrong. He stated that before firms look at what one has quoted, they will first look at your capacity and technical know-how to handle the work.

Firms that won awards at the event included Simple Trace Systems, Nairobi Bitz, County Pro, Soko Pepe and County Solutions among others won in different categories.

Speaking at the “Connected 2016 Event”, I Choose Life Africa CEO Michael Mutungi said the Government loses about Sh3 billion on 2.3 ghost pupils under free primary education out of the total of 14 million pupils. He said BioSIM application with its biometric system is able to track the real number of pupils and students using a smartphone.

It also records information of all children in school and other institutions using their Iris software. It shows what they do saves the country and ministry millions of shillings. “The Government loses a lot of revenue because of the use of manual system. With connect the government will be able to save lots of money and help better accounts for the education sector,” he observed.