The International Telecommunications Union has awarded President Uhuru Kenyatta a prestigious award for promoting the use of ICT for sustainable development.
The ICTs in Sustainable Development Award honours the important contributions made by leaders, on behalf of their countries, towards harnessing the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for sustainable development.
President Kenyatta was given the award for the impressive progress Kenya has made in ICT development and the important role technology is playing in achieving development and service delivery goals.
The award is also meant to encourage nations to seek technological solutions to meet national and global aspirations for a sustainable and inclusive future.
Speaking at the event held at the UN Headquarters on Saturday night, President Kenyatta said the government remains committed to mainstreaming innovations and ICT to enable growth and development for the country and the whole region.
“Our National ICT Master Plan and National Broadband Strategy outlines our desired path to a knowledge-based economy where ICTs underpin service delivery, and provide the bedrock of our activities in critical sectors of the economy, especially agriculture, education and health,” said the President.
FOCUS ON INNOVATIONS
He said policies enacted by the government will consistently focus on innovations as an essential step to enhancing growth of the ICT sector.
In line with his policy to support the ICT sector, the President will soon launch Enterprise Kenya, a fund to encourage and support innovation in the country.
“This fund will be used to aid budding Kenyan innovators and start-ups to enable them get the necessary financial support to move from idea to start-up and from start-up possibly to market in good time,” said President Kenyatta.
He said the fund will be reinforced by a strengthened intellectual legislative regime, intense capacity building and mainstreaming of ICTs in government service provision to enhance ICT growth in Kenya.
Kenya has already gained international recognition for ground-breaking innovations in ICT and the use of technology in improving service delivery through Huduma Centres.
President Kenyatta thanked the International Telecommunications Union Secretary General, Mr Houlin Zhao, for nominating ICT Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi to the Broadband Commission.
“I am certain that our country will bring, through him, additional energy and creativity to enhance the very necessary expansion of the broadband footprint across the developing world especially as we move forward to secure sustainability of the developments we have so far achieved,” said the President.
