ICT Ministry delegation visits Belgium 27/04/2015

The Principal Secretary for Information, Communication & Technology (ICT), Mr. Joseph Tiampati, undertook a one-week working tour to the Kingdom of Belgium from 20 to 24 April 2015. Mr. Tiampati was accompanied by the Secretary to the ICT Authority, Dr. Catherine Gitau, Mr. John Sergon and Mr. Robert Mugo, also of the ICT Authority. The delegation further included members from 5 counties: Nyamira, Mandera, Kilifi, Uasin Gichu and Nyandarua.

The purpose of the visit was to benchmark on the best practices that Belgium has adopted in the integration of ICT in delivery of services to its citizens, such as the Belgian e-card, online services at various municipalities and online fiscal management. The delegation made visits to the Prime Minister's Chancellery, the Federal Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Mechelen City Hall.  It furthermore visited CIPAL (Centre for Informatics of the Province of Antwerp), a public ICT company run by and for local and provincial authorities in Flanders; and the Belgium-based headquarters of Soulco, a multinational distributor and integrator of IT and telecom products and services.

Soulco is currently implementing the county connectivity project in Kenya under phase II. It is hoped that phase III of the project will extend to Kenyan embassies abroad and to other government institutions.