NAIROBI, Kenya Mar 3 – Senate Committee on Information and Communications Technology Tuesday demanded a detailed briefing from ICT and Youth Affairs Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru over poor cellular network in rural parts of Kenya despite huge allocations under Universal Service Fund (USF) to resolve the problem.
Committee Vice Chairperson Senator Abshiro Halake (Nominated) said clear answers are needed on funds amid concerns that some parts of the country remain out of reach by 2G networks.
“It is not fair that some parts of this country people literally have to climb on trees, hills or go many miles to get signals,” she said citing parts of Isiolo, Baringo, West Pokot and Kitui counties which lack basic communication infrastructure.
“Apparently some Sh9.6 billion was available for this work. It is enough for this county. We cannot understand why it is taking so long, why people must be excluded when billions are allocated. We need these answers, we are going to be recommending some of these parastatals to be done away with if they are not doing whatever they are supposed to,” Halake stated referring to the Communication Authority (CA) under which the USF is domiciled.
CA currently exercises an administrative mandate over the fund and is expected to finance national projects that have significant impact on the availability and accessibility of ICT infrastructure in rural, remote and poor urban areas.
USF boasts three hallmarks namely, availability, accessibility and affordability.
In the 2015/16 financial CA undertook an ICT Access Gaps Study which identified 348 sub-locations without telecommunication services.
The Authority then allocated Sh1 billion to connect 202 sub-locations to 2G telecommunication services and a further Sh500 million to connect 894 public schools to broadband (5Mbps).
CA has however cited challenges in concluding the initiative among them lack cooperation from licensees, the demand for the USF projects outstripping the budgetary, inequality in distribution of projects among sub-sectors, external interference and delays in tendering.
