The Government is committed to leveraging on digital technology to wipe out corruption among public servants who insist on bribes before rendering service to the citizens, ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo has said.
Owalo, who spoke at Bondo technical training institute and Gobei secondary school in Bondo Sub-County where he launched digital hubs, said that by availing services on e-citizen platform, the government was doing away with bottlenecks that middlemen and corrupt officials were exploiting to fleece the public.
“We do not want unnecessary bottlenecks between Kenyans and the government” he said adding “maneno ya hongo tutazika kwenye kaburi la sahau.
He said that so far, 16,972 services are available virtually, against 350 when the Kenya kwanza took over government.
Owalo said it was the intention of the government to open up 1,450 digital hubs across the country, adding that initially, the government targeted Technical and Vocational Educational training centres (TVETs) and technical training institutes.
“Moving forward, we want to move to the villages while working closely with the Members of Parliament who will set up digital hubs in the wards.
The CS said that since the beginning of the programme, 390,000 youths have been trained while the government has helped create 139,000 digital jobs for the youths.
He urged Kenyans to support the government deliver on its mandate.
Bondo Member of Parliament, Gideon Ochanda hailed the government’s digital agenda and said that he, together with the area constituency development fund committee, was ready to surrender his office in Bondo town to be turned into a digital hub to enable the youths exploit the available digital jobs.
Former Rarieda MP, Nicholas Gumbo challenged the youths to be active wealth creators, adding that days when people left colleges to look for jobs was gone.
