TECHNOLOGY-KENYA: On the Way to Getting Wired

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Joyce Mulama

NAIROBI, Jul 1 2005 (IPS) - In 1961, there was just one to be had. By 1985, that figure had increased to 1,800 – and at the beginning of last year, it stood at about 520,000, according to government figures.

There’s no disputing that computer ownership in Kenya is on the increase.

Even so, the path to ensuring that the majority of Kenyans are able to benefit from information and communication technology (ICT) is littered with obstacles – something that came to the fore during a conference held this week in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

ICT Africa was organised by, amongst others, the Nairobi-based African Telecommunications Union and the Union of National Radio and Television Organisations of Africa, headquartered in Senegal. The four-day event (Jun. 27 to 30) brought together delegates from the continent and abroad to discuss a variety of ICT-related issues, including the challenges of extending communications technology to all in Africa.

According to the ICT Africa organisers, less than two percent of Africans currently make use of the internet. In North America, the figure is about 70 percent says Jabulani Dhliwayo, chairman of the ICT commission at the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). The NEPAD initiative is aimed at attracting more investment to Africa through improving standards of governance on the continent.

However, a glance at the official statistics from 2004 for fixed telephone lines in Kenya gives an idea of why so few are logging on.

While it has a population of some 30 million, the country only had about 240,000 subscribers last year for fixed phone lines, which are normally required for internet connections.

Of further concern is the fact that most of these lines are found in cities and towns.

"We do not have a robust network…which connects the rural and urban areas, and therefore you find that ICT facilities are concentrated in large cities and not spread out evenly to rural areas where 80 percent of our population lives," Shem Ochuodho, chairman of the African Regional Centre for Computing, told IPS at the conference. His Nairobi-based organisation is involved in ICT research and training.

Even if phone lines were laid down in remote areas, those living there who were also fortunate enough to have computers might not be able to switch the machines on.

"Electricity…is absent in most of rural Kenya. If we have to achieve universal access to ICT, then electricity is one issue that needs to be addressed adequately," noted Ochuodho.

The Kenya ICT Trust Fund may have come up with an interesting solution to this lack of electricity, however – albeit just for schools. Established by government and the private sector in 2004 to promote the use of ICTs in education, the fund is trying to power rural schools with solar energy.

It has also joined forces with civil society groups in an effort to equip public secondary schools across the country with computers. Of the 4,000 institutions in question, 400 have already benefited. Then, it will be the turn of Kenya’s 17,600 public primary schools, and private schools which lack computer facilities.

At present, computers are prohibitively expensive in Kenya. For the 56 percent of Kenyans who live on less than a dollar a day, even the cheapest machines can cost more than they would spend in a year.

As efforts proceed to make sure that Kenya’s children are not left on the wrong side of the digital divide, concerns are growing about computer literacy amongst adults. According to government figures, about 30 percent of adults cannot read and write, which effectively excludes them from taking advantage of ICTs. (The 2004 Human Development Report, published by the United Nations Development Programme, puts illiteracy figures somewhat lower, at about 16 percent of Kenyan adults.)

"For one to be able to make use of a computer, they must first be able to read and write. This calls for measures to contain the illiteracy level from all fronts," says George Okado, who lobbies for more effective policies to promote the ICT sector in Kenya.

Under the ‘Dakar Framework for Action’, the country has committed itself to halving adult illiteracy by 2015, and to providing opportunities for continued education amongst adults. The framework was adopted by 164 states at the World Education Forum, which took place in the Senegalese capital five years ago.

But, pending improvements in literacy and computer availability, a great many adults in Kenya – and elsewhere – will continue to receive information in a more old-fashioned way: via radio.

ICT Africa figures show that 22 percent of Africans have access to radios. And, while 10 million personal computers have made their way to the continent, 205 million radio sets are in use.