Kenya’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector has received a R425-million injection from the World Bank in a signed loan agreement between the World Bank and Kenya’s Treasury.
This is the second time that Kenya received funding from the World Bank, and will use the newly-acquired funds to finance the Kenya Transparency and Communications Infrastructure Project. The first loan in 2007 was used to expand the country’s infrastructure and to develop rural ICT centres.
“With Sh2.98 billion we want to roll out Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) to all the counties and expand e-Government, the open data initiative which will be given Sh549 million and operational costs of Sh169 million,” said Kenya’s Finance Minister Njeru Githae.
World Bank Country Director Johannes Zutt added that the funding will be a huge step forward for the country. “ICT opened a path for achieving remarkable improvements in transparency and therefore governance. This potential transformation in Kenya’s governance is most visible in the government’s decision last July to launch Kenya’s Open Data Portal”.
Charlie Fripp – Consumer Tech editor
