African Regional Centre for Computing
(ARCC)
Ngong road, opp. Ngong Hills Hotel
P. O box 58638, Nairobi 00200
Tel: 2721008, Cell 0721 536409
“RAPID APPRAISAL OF NATIONAL
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY (ICT) POLICY
INITIATIVES IN KENYA”
Presentation by:
Mark Matunga (Rev)
Research team
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Dr. Shem Ochuodho 
Dr. Carey Onyango

Hon. Jackson Mwalulu 
Eng. Bruce Owalo

Mrs. Jedida Ochuodho 
Rev. Mark Matunga

Mr. Joseph Onyango
Ms. Cathrine Ndung’u 
Ms. Sopher Ondiaka 
Mr. Bob Wekesa

Mr. Lucas Odemba
Interns:
Ms. Janet Oyende
Ms. Linda Odhiambo
Mr. John Ouma
Ms. Plister Adongo
Ms. Njeri Njenga
Specialists:
Mr. Tom Nyang’au (Statistician)
Mr. Samson Owino (Editor)
Introduction
Africa Regional Centre for Computing (ARCC) has
been conducting a rapid appraisal of Information
and Communication Technology (ICT) policy
initiatives in Kenya. The exercise involves
identifying and collecting relevant documented
initiatives or efforts by both public and private
sectors, as well as civil society. The project’s focus
is in documentation of existing national ICT Policy
or policy initiatives.
Objectives
Identify major sector/stakeholders in ICT and draw up a
list of key informants for interviewing and questionnaire
administration with regard to their roles in policy
formulation.
 Carry out a review of related literature including sector
policy documents, legislation, and working papers.
 Conduct stakeholder workshops/symposia to brainstorm
and discuss the sector laws and other related policy
documents.
 Produce a comprehensive report at the end of the study.

Workshops

We identified major sector stakeholders and invited
them to stakeholders’ workshops:
- 1st Workshop 10th/Sept/2003 : A brainstorming session
- Private and public sectors were represented
- The general call was for integrated efforts and coordinating
body for formulation of ICT policies in Kenya
- 2nd Workshop 24th/Sept /2003: Sector paper presentations
- Telecom sector: By Eng. Charles Aloo
- IT sector: By Mr. John Omo
- Library & Archives: By Mrs. Rosemary Ndegwa
- Media sector: By Mr Maina Muiruri
Literature Review

The rapid assessment of the status of ICT initiatives in
Kenya involved conducting a review of Sectoral policy
documents, legislations, working papers e.t.c.

This activity entailed two parts.
Creation of a select bibliography of relevant literature,
(ii) Analysis and critique, i.e. review of literature.
(i)

Review of literature of over 200 books, journals, working
papers, magazines, articles, policy documents etc. were
done for each of the four sub-sectors : Telecom,
IT/computers, Library/Archives, and Media.
Questionnaire analysis

Questionnaire formulation, administration, and
analysis.
- Pilot questionnaire, and
- Revised questionnaire

Sent out over 180 Questionnaires
- By Snail Mail (postal)
- By Electronic media (e-mail & Web)
- Hand delivery

We received back 128 questionnaires, which is 71%
return rate and analyzed 124 questionnaires.
Findings
The study involved 124 respondents drawn from the
public sector (26.6%), private sector (30.6%),
academia (17.7%), civil society (11.3%) development
partners (4.0%) and other groups like diplomatic
missions (9.7%).
Public Sector
Private Sector
Academia
Civil Society
Development Partners
Other groups
Findings
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
40
50
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30
-3
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20
-2
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Percentage
Majority (71.0%) of the respondents were males the rest
female. (4.0%) did not disclose. The ages ranged from 20s to
over 50 years. Specifically, 17 (13.7%) respondents were in
the 20-29 years age category, (40.3%) were in the 30-39 years
age group, 30 (24.2%) were in the 40-49 years age category
while the 50 years and above age group made 13 (10.5%)
respondents. (6.5%) did not indicate.
Age
Findings
42.7% of the respondents had standards for hardware,
45.2% for software, 38.7% for maintenance and 41.1%
for operating systems. There were cases of nonresponse ranging from 19.4% for training to 26.6% for
maintenance.
Hardware
Software
Series1
Maintenace
Operating
Systems
34.00%
36.00%
38.00%
40.00%
42.00%
44.00%
46.00%
Findings
The study also attempted to look into the existence of policies
on the various components of ICT. For IT/Computers the
proportion of respondents was 46.8%. There were nearly
similar proportions for internet and library (41.9% and 40.3%
respectively) as well as for media and telecom (29.8% and
25.0% respectively).
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
Series1
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
IT/Computers
Library
Internet
Media
Telecom
Findings
In terms of ICT sub-sector, 23.4% were in IT/Computers,
16.9% in library, 7.3% in telecommunications and 19.4% were
in media. There were some respondents who did not regard
themselves to belong to any of the four sub-sectors (29.0%)
while a few did not respond at all (4.0%).
35.00%
30.00%
25.00%
20.00%
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
Non-response
None of the above
sectors
Media
Telecommunicatio
ns
Library
IT/Computers
Series1
Findings
18.0%
16.0%
14.0%
12.0%
10.0%
8.0%
6.0%
4.0%
2.0%
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When asked about the
ministry/institution under
which they would prefer the
national ICT policy to be
administered from.
MOSET (15.3%),
GITS (14.5%)
New Ministry (13.7%).
TRANSCOM (11.3%)
OP (10.5%),
MoTI (8.9%)
MoPND (8.1%)
C C K (7.3%)
N C S (5.6%).
Concluding Thoughts

The need for an ICT Champion in Kenya
 A Body Responsible for ICT Development and
Regulation (eg. An ICT Council/Authority)
 Borrow ideas from other success stories e.g
Rwanda, Singapore, India
 Bring all ICT sub-sectors and stakeholders
together to build consensus and create a critical
mass that can push the policy process forward
Discussions
Thank you!
Africa Regional Centre for Computing (ARCC)
Ngong road, opp. Ngong Hills Hotel
P. O box 58638, Nairobi 00200
Tel: 2721008, Cell 0721 536409
Web: www.arcc.or.ke
Email: info@arcc.or.ke