ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo now says the $40 (Ksh 5680) per unit smartphones promised by President William Ruto to Kenyans will be available in September 2023.
Speaking during an interview on NTV on Wednesday, August 2, CS Owalo disclosed that they had done feasibility tests and that the smartphones would only cost slightly more than Sh5000.
"We know that there is a deficit in the market as far as smartphones are concerned, we have partnered with the private sector for local assembly. The $40 smartphones will be in the market by next month (September)," CS Owalo stated.
The ICT CS pointed out that the government had already digitalized 5084 services and Kenyans would be accessing most government services virtually.
"By the end of the year, all government services will be digitalized. We've embarked on the digitization of government, but there's a deficit for affordable mobile phones," he stated.
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Addressing the digital identity that the Government is planning to roll out, CS Owalo said, "As a government, we are not going to force Kenyans to take the digital identity. We are giving Kenyans a means through which they can consume government services virtually," CS Owalo.
President Ruto promised Kenyans that they would have cheap smartphones where they could access government services at the comfort of their homes.
"We are well on course with our telcos in making sure that by August we will have smartphones affordably, working between the government of Kenya and our telcos, of 40 dollars which is like Sh5,400. You can now have a smartphone where all government services will be available," Ruto announced.
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