Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 218247,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/218247/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 179,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Weya",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 304,
        "legal_name": "Sammy Arthur Weya",
        "slug": "sammy-weya"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move:- THAT, in view of the fast changing information and communication technology environment and the ever-increasing need to foster e-commerce and e-government to ensure penetration of ICTs into rural and remote areas in this country; aware that there exists a complex cumbersome licensing system of broadcasting and multi- media services; this House grants leave for the introduction of a Bill for an Act of Parliament entitled the Information and Communication Bill to set up a universal access fund, to create a one-stop shop for making decisions affecting the use of radio frequency spectrum and access networks and for matters incidental thereto and connected therewith. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we must understand where we are coming from when we try and bring these kinds of Motions to this House because over the years, Information and Communication Technology is something that has been adopted in various forms world over. In the modern world, you will find that the youth and children of the modern society study from nursery school up to secondary school using ICT to foster their educational environment. In fact, today you will not find things like the encyclopedia in form of books because they are given out in form of CDs and diskettes where you can do your research and homework. We want to create a Universal Access Fund because the multinationals are making huge sums of money in our environment in various forms of mobile telephony, internet access and fibre optic cables. They can roll out infrastructure into the rural areas from some of the money they are making. Some of these multinationals are doing this already but we want it done at a more advanced level because we know multinationals are more interested in tapping the market where they are making huge profits like in the big cities in this country where they are able to reap from the society. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Government is embarking on various projects, for example in fibre optic cabling that will go all the way to the district level. We would like to tap that system and go further into more rural areas, schools and hospitals so that our people in the rural areas can have more access to information technology. In the First World, you will find that even when a doctor is doing a medical analysis of a patient, he does not rely on himself as an individual. He does an analysis and sends it to experts in other parts of the world so that they can give him a feedback on what they believe is the diagnosis so that they can treat that particular patient. In the modern world, surgery is done through the internet. There are very few neurosurgeons in this country and we do not want a patient, for example, in Siaya, having to travel all the way in critical health to Nairobi which is the only place where you can find these neurosurgeons. We need to have a situation whereby a neurosurgeon in Nairobi can give instructions to a doctor in the deep rural area to perform an operation because of the lack of expertise in those areas. That operation can be carried out successfully without having to get helicopters or ambulances to bring the patient all the way to Nairobi. In today's world, when it comes to information technology, we need rural areas to create June 13, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1761 employment for our people. We need our people to be able to have connectivity in the deep rural areas such that somebody can conduct business from there. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we know that in a place like India, they are able to create a lot of work opportunities in the rural areas. It is a developing society in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and it is now creating employment for many people. We would like Kenya, also, to have that kind of business framework."
}