President William Ruto has said at least 5000 government services will be moved online within the next six months to ensure effective delivery of services as government develops the digital superhighway.

Speaking during the launch of Data Protection Registration System by the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC), President Ruto said 600 government services have already been moved online in the last two weeks from 300.

This comes as the ICT ministry is directed to embark on development of a digital identity to replace the troubled Huduma Namba by end of the year.

“I have also asked the Ministry of ICT to also work on a digital identity so that the big Huduma thing that never was, we can finally have as Kenya, a digital identity,” said President Ruto.

President Ruto said the government also targets to ensure Kenya lays additional 100,000km of fibre optic cable to connect counties and open up opportunities for the digital superhighway. This comes the President called on the ODPC to be vigilant on securing citizens data from cybercriminals.

“Data protection must serve the greater interest of the public by ensuring that we have sufficient information for effective and efficient delivery of public goods and services. However we must also ensure that criminal elements do not hide under data protection or exploit it to perpetuate crime or evade paying tax,” said President William Ruto.

According to ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo, the government is also targeting to roll out 25,000 free wi-fi hotspots and 4500 digital hubs across the country to create job opportunities for the youth.

“We are also embarking on a digital entrepreneurship programme that will ensure Kenya as a country becomes a manufacturer of both digital infrastructure and software. While doing this, we have now embarked on the process digitalizing government services and also digitizing government records,” said Eliud Owalo, ICT and Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary.

The data protection registration will be used to register data controllers and processors as required by the Data Protection Act.