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{
"id": 1556422,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1556422/?format=api",
"text_counter": 80,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. William Kabogo",
"speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication and Digital Economy",
"speaker": null,
"content": "we have development partners who have interest in seeing that we stay on top of this business. As you know, Kenya is probably the most advanced country in terms of connectivity in Africa. We do not want to be the first ones in Africa or number one in Africa, but play at the global space. We are doing it in phases. State to stage, which is yearly, what we have done every year. We have already done three phases and we shall provide the details. Hon. Kathuri, it is a responsibility of the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) to ensure connectivity in the whole country. Money is lying idle with the Authority. We should provide how money has been spent. I have given that commitment, that we shall give the entire details. That is why we are deploying fibre and last mile connectivity project. A commitment of Kshs10 billion has been put to ICTA and Kenya Power, the details of which we shall provide. The breakdown for the last five years, as per the request, will be given to Parliament in the next three days. The money cannot be misused. It is guarded by the licensee who are the responsible agency. That is a commitment given to me by the Director General, who is part of the support team I have here. I shall take him to task to be able to give that information to the House. From Senator of Nairobi City, Hon. Sifuna, it is ICTA which is doing it, not Telkom. I know there was a last connectivity to hubs and Government institutions, especially the centres of excellence in constituencies, but Telkom itself has got huge problems where they may not be able to do that last mile. We are now doing it with other providers and the Government is committed to making sure that all 53,000 connections to Government are done probably before the end of next year through fibre. It is also necessary to state that we are working with most companies like the American Towers, to be able to provide part of the 25,000 public Wi-Fi. The most important thing to note is that when I came in, most of the public Wi-Fi, were not working. The reason for this is that the part of sustainability was not considered during inception, but we are now trying to release these public Wi-Fis to young men and women who will man them and probably have a small fee of five shillings or thereabouts, so that they can keep them lit because internet is available. It is just a matter of making sure that they are working. The question on what are we doing in the view of obscene profits and the need to cut costs of connectivity, we have undertaken to lower calling rates and data packages. That negotiation is happening between CAK and the providers, but as I said earlier, we prefer to connect fibre optic, which is Government internet to most of these places, so that it is reasonably priced or almost free for the public to use high speed internet. This, they say, is currently ongoing and in phase four. Mr. Speaker, Sir, in many places in northern Kenya, people climb trees to access communication signals according to Sen. Dullo. We are currently, again, not planning, but laying cables. Where we cannot do because of certain reasons such as security is where we intend to use masts that are already there and use satellite internet provision through Starlink and those that have recently been licensed by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK). The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1556423,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1556423/?format=api",
"text_counter": 81,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. William Kabogo",
"speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication and Digital Economy",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, there was a question on Bungoma, on what we are doing to ensure there is connectivity. The plan for the rest of Kenya is to lay fibre. We have issues on efficiency of the Information, Communication and Technology Authority of Kenya (ICTA) and Kenya Power. I have them in my office almost every other week trying to push on this issue of Last Mile Connectivity. We hope that we should be able to pull up our socks to deliver on this very noble and important mandate. Sen. Wamatinga asked about connecting Jitume Hubs. Yes, we are on top of it. We are connecting all Jitume Hubs and one in every constituency. More so, those are centers of excellence. We also plan to do 1,450 digital hubs, one in every Ward. That is happening in collaboration also with Members of Parliament, who amended the law to allow them to use the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG- CDF) to construct and for us to provide the link. This will be done with Government Wi- Fi, which will not be paid for by the Jitume Hubs. We are on top of it. Regarding Government policy on expanding mobile connectivity in northern Kenya, we are working with security agencies and mobile network operators to deploy. Our plan to improve connectivity in Wajir and Mandera is that we have concentrated in this region and such areas. As I said earlier, we shall provide details of what has been done so far and what we intend to do before the end of this financial year. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I think it was the last question on network coverage in West Pokot and Uganda, and why Uganda seems to be stronger. It may happen that Uganda may be stronger, but we have places where you pick either Kenyan or Uganda signal. We plan to make sure we have good connectivity in the entire republic, and not limited only to border towns. As I have said, some of the supplementary questions may not have been properly addressed. We shall seek your indulgence to get us a copy of the HANSARD through the Clerk, so that we answer these questions substantively to the satisfaction of the House. I submit."
},
{
"id": 1556424,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1556424/?format=api",
"text_counter": 82,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Kingi",
"speaker_title": "The Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Proceed, Sen. Thang’wa."
},
{
"id": 1556425,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1556425/?format=api",
"text_counter": 83,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Thang’wa",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to ask my question. I am happy to see the Cabinet secretary, Hon. Kabogo, who hails from my county, Kiambu. It is good to tell the House that we used to work together between 2013 and 2017 when he was my Governor, and at that time, I was a Member of the County Assembly (MCA). So, congratulations once again, CS Kabogo. From everyone who is asking, we can tell that the whole country is suffering when it comes to network coverage. Allow me, as a member of the Senate Caucus on Futures, that is foresight, to ask, after we get the whole network, then what next? Is the Ministry of ICT and Digital Economy working with the Ministry of Education and the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) to integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies into the curriculum of basic and tertiary education? This is because we are in the times of AI and very soon we are going to lose jobs. They say, as per the national AI strategy that the Cabinet Secretary launched a few weeks ago, we are going to lose 40 per cent of our jobs. So that we protect and enjoy the opportunities that will come with AI, is the Ministry for ICT and Digital Economy working with the Ministry of Education? The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1556426,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1556426/?format=api",
"text_counter": 84,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Onyonka",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also would like to be in that category of Hon. Kabogo's friends who wish to say congratulations. Indeed, the way you are speaking encourages me because it sounds as if you have got the bits and pieces. We have a new and latest development called ChatGPT, which is a new technology that is being introduced. Is your Ministry or the Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) in the process of creating platforms where young men, women, and even our colleges and universities, can be introduced to this new technology, so that we can catch up with our tomorrow?"
},
{
"id": 1556427,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1556427/?format=api",
"text_counter": 85,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Kingi",
"speaker_title": "The Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Hon. Cabinet Secretary, you may now proceed to respond."
},
{
"id": 1556428,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1556428/?format=api",
"text_counter": 86,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. William Kabogo",
"speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication and Digital Economy",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, I thank Members for congratulating me. Indeed, Hon. Karungo Thang’wa was with me when I was governor in that county. The question of the whole country suffering on the network coverage is true, although we pride in having 121 per cent mobile coverage in the country and approximately 62 per cent of coverage on fiber, which we would want to take to 90 per cent in the coming financial year. On the issue of AI, you realize we launched our AI strategy, which was between our Ministry in collaboration with the European Union (EU). We are now working on a policy, which we hope to have in place before the end of this financial year. We are now integrating AI into the curriculum and working closely with the Ministry of Education to be able to bring AI into this space of ICT. As you know, this is a field that is really changing. To join that with the question from Sen. Onyonka, ChatGPT is in very wide use right now in the world, and Kenya has not been left behind. We urge Kenyans to be able to participate in this space. The question was whether we are going to encourage Kenyans to come up with a way of making AI learning possible in the country. That is what we are doing. We also intend to bring into law on good use of this space because it can be used for good and bad. That is work in progress."
},
{
"id": 1556429,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1556429/?format=api",
"text_counter": 87,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. William Kabogo",
"speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication and Digital Economy",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK) is working on the areas that Sen. Onyonka has asked. We will give a comprehensive reply to most of the questions asked by Members. I submit."
},
{
"id": 1556430,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1556430/?format=api",
"text_counter": 88,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Kingi",
"speaker_title": "The Speaker",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Hon. Senators, that brings to the end our interaction session with the Hon. Cabinet Secretary. Hon. Cabinet Secretary, you are released, and you may leave at your own pleasure."
},
{
"id": 1556431,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1556431/?format=api",
"text_counter": 89,
"type": "scene",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "[The Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication and the Digital Economy (Hon. William Kabogo) was ushered out of the Chamber]"
}
]
}