providers do not consider economically
viable;
2. High quality internet access is available
everywhere in Kenya;
3. Every Kenyan can afford a device that they
can use to access the Internet;
4. Every Kenyan has access to free advice
about appropriate digital technology
choices for their needs;
5. Every Kenyan has the skills they need to use
their choice of digital technology
appropriately;
6. Kenya receives global recognition as a safe
place to do digital business.
This requires a multidimensional approach
to the tri-fold challenge of ubiquity, utility and
participation.
Ubiquity: The challenge of equipping the
entire geography of our nation with the
infrastructure and connectivity to make data
everywhere available is variously addressed in
this policy document. It is the government’s
policy to treat all populated areas of our
country equally and provide equivalent
infrastructure per capita.
Participation: To achieve the full
participation of every Kenyan it is the
government’s policy to provide every citizen
with the Tools, Attitudinal change support,
Skills and Knowledge (TASK) necessary to
participate in our joint digital future. The plan
is to ensure that a significant proportion of
Kenyans’ life, work and play will be digital.
Tools: The tools provide the environment
through which people can access, use and enjoy
the technology in their work, community and
recreational activities. These include services,
devices, access and applications. It is the
government’s policy to provide:
1. A Digital Identity (Universal Personal
Identifier) for every citizen: for the safe and
lawful use of services;
2. Public Key Infrastructure: To provide for
security of transactional data, party
recognition and contractual validity
Ministry of ICT, Kenya
3. Legal framework and technical support for
blockchain: to securely record all
transactions
4. Regulatory and Legal support for digital
payments: to enable safe financial
transactions
5. A delivery services framework for the
delivery of physical goods and services
6. Recognition and enforcement of digital
contracts to build confidence in online
transactions
7. Cyber and computer crime and Critical
Infrastructure legislation.
The policy envisages that citizens will use a
wide variety of devices: smartphones, tablets,
computers and Internet of Things devices.
However, the basic properties required of all
these devices are that they should be
affordable,
secure,
internet-enabled,
identifiable and should promote mobility.
Since internet-enablement is a basic
principle of participation this policy seeks to
facilitate connection to the network with a
secure digital identifier and the delivery of a
mandated minimum bandwidth (defined in the
Broadband Strategy) to enable reasonable
quality of interaction.
Attitudinal Change: Support Purely online
transactions
for
non-digital
goods
foundationally require a degree of trust and
trustworthiness combined with an openness to
change and innovation. This policy recognizes
that there are certain attitudes and behaviours
that should be encouraged in order for Kenya to
maintain and grow it’s leadership in the African
and global digital space.
It is the government and people of Kenya’s
confident viewpoint that Kenya is a leader and
not a follower in this realm. We have observed
what this confident attitude has done for Kenya
in the world of sports, especially athletics and
team sports, and we believe that it can have
similar a dramatic result in the realm of
technology.
This policy seeks to promulgate a digital
culture wherein citizens have a preference for
activities, goods and services that are
channelled and / or facilitated through
technology and where all strata of society
integrate digital technologies into their lives as
a natural way of performing all the activities
necessary for life and happiness. The policy will
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