Government chief of staff and head of public service Felix Koskei has encouraged jobless youth to embrace the Internet for livelihoods.
Koskei said President William Ruto’s administration was committed to ensuring that there was Internet connectivity in all parts of the country.
“I urge young people not to give up because they haven’t gotten the physical jobs but to use their phones, laptops, tablets to work, to be national employees, work for multinational companies abroad and earn money,” Koskei said.
He spoke at Machakos Technical Institute of the Blind in Machakos County.
“You will be earning in dollars, not Kenyan shillings,” Koskei said.
Koskei launched Jitume Laboratories at both Machakos Technical Institute of the Blind and Machakos University.
He also unveiled the Last Mile County Connectivity Project (LMCCP) at Machakos County Commissioner Josephine Ouko’s office.
Koskei also conducted a live online meeting with Internal Security PS, regional and county commissioners as demonstrations that the launched Last Mile County Connectivity Project was operational.
“As a government, we are going to continue rolling out this digital space. We want every citizen of this country to be digitally connected,” Koskei said.
“All citizens to transact their businesses easily. Somebody who has a wholesale can communicate with retailers and manufacturers. Those selling in the market, ‘mama mboga’, can easily place orders from manufacturers pay for the goods and receive them without physically going for them, money will be transferred digitally,” Koskei said.
He said digital transformation should be embraced by all citizens.
“It’s a transformation we need to embrace and will turn around this country. We will operate as any other country like the first world,” Koskei said.
Koskei said he was excited to see the hard work that the government had been doing for the last several months, about a year.
“I can see ICT infrastructure rolling across the country, and we came here today to launch Phase 4 of the local Connectivity in Machakos. It’s a transformation project because we have seen the Jitume App.
“We have seen how children who are abled differently can do their tasks, study, easily navigate computers,” Koskei said.
He thanked donors, instructors, teachers and the institution’s board of directors stating that they not only embraced technology but lived with it.
“We have seen children who don’t see sending Mpesa to their parents, friends and loved ones without any assistance, nobody knows their PINs.
“You can see how fast they can read, use Excel, PowerPoint among other packages on computers. They can communicate and even do jobs abroad,” Koskei added.
He said the students could work for employers in America, Europe and elsewhere since they could access all they wanted through technology that they had been provided with.
“So, optic fibres that the government has been rolling for several years now, digital hubs that the government has been establishing in every county and sub-counties, WIFI installations in markets, shopping centres will transform this country,” Koskei said.
Koskei said the technology will make work, communication easier, and more efficient.
He said young highly educated people with lots of energy can now access jobs not only in Kenya but all over the world.
The head of the public service was accompanied by ICT CS Eliud Owalo and PSs John Tanui (ICT), Veronica Nduva (Performance and Delivery Management), Teresiah Mbaika (Devolution) and their TVET counterpart Esther Mworia.
Parliamentary ICT Committee chairman John Kiarie and Machakos MP Caleb Mule also accompanied Koskei.