President Uhuru Kenyatta (R) and ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru (PHOTO: PSCU)
President Uhuru Kenyatta has presented 45,000 Kenyan made gadgets to Botswana, South Sudan, Mauritius, Sierra Leone and Namibia to help them undertake their census.
Speaking at State House, Nairobi during the handing over of the donated gadgets, Uhuru said Kenya is ready to share its expertise in ICTs with other African countries in the spirit of African solidarity and fraternity.
“Under the auspices of the South-South cooperation, which is the technical cooperation among developing countries in the global south, my Administration is ready to support other African countries to enable them to undertake their census.
“Through this initiative, we have decided to donate 45,000 census gadgets to five countries notably Botswana, South Sudan, Mauritius, Sierra Leone and Namibia,” he said.
Kenya successfully undertook its first-ever digital national population and housing census in 2019 powered by locally assembled ICT equipment and software, including tablets, servers and accessories.
Buoyed by the success of the 2019 census, the Head of State said the country is now in a position to share the technology with sister African nations.
“The use of digital processes enabled the results to be released in record time. From that experience, we have been able to roll out digital services across many government services, increasing speed and efficiency of service delivery,” the President said.
He termed the donation of the census gadgets to the five African countries “a rare fusion of pan-Africanism and the information age” and noted that other African countries among them Uganda, Tanzania, Botswana, Namibia, and Liberia had made study tours in Kenya to learn from the country's census success.
“…we join hands with our brothers and sisters and we say to them that they can count on Kenya's unwavering support in every single aspect of their national life as we continue to make this continent more prosperous for its people and future generations,” President Kenyatta said.
The Head of State, who was accompanied by former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, also fielded questions from the press on several national matters including the availability of the Covid-19 vaccine and the recently announced pandemic containment measures where five counties were put under partial lockdown.
Former PM Odinga said although Kenyans are facing difficult economic times, they should not let their guard down in terms of combating the Covid-19 pandemic.
He expressed optimism that the Government will devise a way of mitigating the negative economic effects of Covid-19, especially on the most vulnerable in the society.
ICT CS Joe Mucheru and South Sudan Ambassador to Kenya Chol M. U. Ajongo also spoke at the media event attended by Head of Public Service Dr Joseph Kinyua, Sierra Leone High Commissioner Abdul Karim Kargbo and his Botswana counterpart Duke Lefhoko among others.
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