President William Ruto has said he will make hard decisions to take the country where ‘we all want to get’.
Ruto said the decisions he will make aim at taking the country forward for a better future.
“We must change this country. I don’t think we have another option. The young people, millions of Kenyans, talented, and hardworking, are looking for opportunities. We can’t postpone their future,” Ruto said.
He spoke when he presided over the official launching of East Africa Device Assembly Kenya, a local innovative devices manufacturer located in Athi River, Machakos County on Monday.
The president also presided over the unveiling of the company’s smart digital mobile devices of Neon Smarter and Neon Ultra brands.
“We must make the decisions now to enable them to get opportunities tomorrow,” Ruto said.
The company, which has been in existence for the last year, partnered with various other companies alongside Ruto’s administration through Public Private Partnership to make the launch successful.
They include Safaricom PLC, Tele One and Jamii Telcom Ltd.
“When I listen to Kenyans, they know where this country should be. The only problem we have is, sometimes we don’t dare to make decisions that will take us there,” Ruto stated.
The company is expected to produce 3 million mobile phones annually with unit costs of Sh7, 499 and Sh7, 999.
Ruto said his administration had pledged to help the development by providing infrastructure that would spur digital signature and implementation of digital national identity.
“The message here is that this time round, we are going digital in full because Kenyan’s transformation is going to be digital transformation. This event, therefore, has spur great significance in terms of enhancing digital experience to millions of Kenyans,” Ruto said.
He said the launch of a locally assembled smart device was a brilliant milestone that is broader.
The manufacturer has employed 300 people.
Ruto said his government was committed to ensuring the affordability of smartphones to enable lots of Kenyans to afford and access them.
“I’m happy when I see 300 Kenyans employed in this factory that will produce 3 million devices which will be 30 per cent cheaper than if we had imported them as complete units. We have the benefits of jobs for our young people and much more affordable products,” Ruto said.
Ruto urged the investors to pre–load the e–citizen application on the devices to enable every Kenyan who buy the phones to have government services ready on them.
He said the power of vision and faith can’t be replaced by anything else.
“We want to make the services even cheaper by using means like Universal Service Funds and other interventions. I want to persuade you that the power of vision and faith can’t be replaced by anything else.
"We have many people whenever they hear me speak about the future of Kenya, they say William Ruto has made another promise. I committed myself to this promise and today it’s a reality. It’s because of the power of vision and faith,” Ruto said.
Ruto said it was his priority agenda to make sure that every Kenyan has an opportunity to interact through digitalization.
He said the government had already purchased 100, 000 tablets through its Health ministry to be used by community health promoters across the country.
“One of the most important commitments of my administration under the bottom-up economic transformation agenda is to transform institutions by changing every possible measure to ensure every citizen has the opportunity to make their contribution to national growth, and development and also benefit from that transformation in many ways,” Ruto said.
Ruto said the plan had laid down the strategic framework for Kenyans to pursue their livelihoods and more profitably to access high government services, more conveniently and affordable.
He said onboarding government services digitally had borne fruits in different sectors.
“So far, the response has been strong and encouraging. More land for instance this year was put under cultivation with this season seeing more farmers receive more subsidized fertilizers and other inputs including extension,” Ruto said.
Ruto said due to the digital platform, it was the first time the government managed to cut out brokers and cartels who exploited farmers whenever there were subsidy programs. 13, 000 government services have been so far boarded up from 320.
Such cartels, Ruto said used to buy subsidized fertilizers, repack and exorbitantly resell them.
“Technology has helped us this time round. This year, maize harvest in the country is going to be 15 million bags more than last year," Ruto said.
"Similarly, millions of hustlers have been able to register with Hustlers Fund and received affordable credit that is not necessarily secured by anything other than their ability and credit rating,” Ruto said.
Ruto said Kenyans had confidence that technology had made things easy, affordable, efficient, transparent and accountable.
He said the government would launch a digital national ID in December 2023.