President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government has taken stock of its performance in plans to digitize its operations.
The
Director of Digital Communication in the Office of the President Dennis
Itumbi on Wednesday released the list titled “Digital Reflections of
2014.”
He listed government websites, launch of free
Wi-Fi in Nakuru town and the creation of an anti-corruption portal as
the digital failures by the Jubilee government.
Mr
Itumbi admitted that government websites are poorly constructed and
“comparable to the cover page of ‘Hello Children’ that great and famous
book that was the guidebook as we learnt English in Lower Primary.”
He
criticised the entire government digital infrastructure accusing
departments of failing to upgrade their websites and lacking content
that is helpful to users.
“We have developed very poor
websites. Kenya has great talent on website construction, but that
unfortunately is not reflected on public websites.
“Why
should a Ministry of Health website tell us about Mission and Vision of
the ministry instead of what to do in case Polio strikes. The hospitals
with dialysis machines,” he posted on his blog Wednesday.
A screenshot of the Ministry of Health website. PHOTO | GRAPHICS
Mr
Itumbi said the ministry of Energy website does not have information on
oil discovery, wind energy sites that perhaps, could guide investors.
“Our
websites appear like large policy papers as opposed to functional
interactive offices with ability to perform multiple jobs,” he said.
Mr Itumbi, however, did not state initiatives his office has taken to help ministries upgrade the websites.
He also said the anti-corruption portal was not operating as it should be.
He
said the digital team has been focusing on technology to perfect the
portal and failed to give due attention to investigations and reporting.
“The
President (Uhuru Kenyatta) takes the Anti-Corruption Portal very
seriously, it is actually integrated into a screen in his office and as
soon as a report gets in on the online back end it also lands as a word
or excel document in his office,” he said.
He said the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission will be involved to help investigate cases posted on the portal.
FREE WI-FI
FREE WI-FI
On launch of free Wi-Fi in Nakuru, Mr Itumbi said the project had problems which are being fixed.
He
said the digital department of the Presidential Strategic
Communications Unit together with the Nakuru County Government, Liquid
Telekom and InfoNet has been running tests in the last two months to
ensure residents get uninterrupted internet connection.
He said the free Wi-Fi project will be re-launched early 2015.
On successes, Mr Itumbi said the Government was able to interact with Kenyans on social media.
Under
the #GOKInteracts hashtag, Deputy President William Ruto and some
Cabinet Secretaries were able to answer questions by Kenyans posted on
social media.
“A lot more can be done in the digital field and we have barely scratched the surface,” he said.
Another
success listed by Mr Itumbi is the establishment of ‘Sauti Yetu’, an
Android application used to report complaints by Kenyans, especially
those in rural areas.
He named ‘Ubunifu’, an initiative
that led to a meeting of African innovators at a Youth Innovation Camp
held in Nairobi, as another digital success by the Government.
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