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{
    "id": 699524,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/699524/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 261,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there is an ongoing debate in certain countries like Britain that, provision of fiber optic and internet infrastructure is as basic as the provision of water, electricity and telephone. I hope that we will get to that level. Unfortunately, we are still at a stage where 60 per cent of the population in some counties defecates in the open and 80 per cent of the population draws water from wells, ponds and lakes. Therefore, we need to first address these basic, bread and butter issues. Let our people defecate decently, get clean drinking water and then get to the level where we can provide ICT infrastructure as a basic service. We need to look at ICT beyond the traditional applications. When the Chairman of the Committee presented his report, he talked about the ‘business as usual’ applications of technology in the counties that he visited. We must go further than that and look at the use of ICT in telemedicine. Counties have got serious equipment in the hospitals which are lying idle because the governors say that they do not expertise to manage the equipment. We could do telemedicine that has been tested elsewhere and seen to work. Our farmers are suffering losses because of changes in the climate. When I was in financial services, we invented an insurance product that used technology. It was called a Weather Index Based Insurance Solution which used technology to detect if the temperature went too high or rainfall went too low. If crops failed or livestock died as a result of changes in climatic conditions, the insurance company could pay. This is a solution that counties that engage in pastoralism and in serious agriculture can implement. We should not just look at technology as using Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS), using Integrated Payroll and Personnel Database (IPPD) or having a website and a Twitter handle. With regard to time and attendance systems, we have a lot of ghost workers in these counties. We are told that there was a Capacity Assessment and Rationalization of the Public Service (CARPS) that was happening. Since the former Cabinet Secretary, Ann Waiguru, left office we have not heard anything about the CARPS exercise. As a result, most counties are stuck with employees in the payrolls, some of whom are ghosts, aliens, human beings and others political sycophants who are in payrolls and being disguised as doctors. We need to have a situation where anyone who reports to work in the counties uses a thumbprint, so that we can distinguish the ghosts from the real people. Therefore, ICT can be applied so broadly to have value in our counties. As I conclude, being digital will not be fashionable---"
}