Kabogo: Why I'm best pick for ICT job

ICT Cabinet Secretary nominee William Kabogo when he appeared before the National Assembly during the Vetting on January 14, 2025. /ENOS TECHE

William Kabogo has told MPs that he is banking on his track record during his reign as the Kiambu Governor to initiate transformative policies in the Ministry of Information, Communication, and the Digital Economy.

Kabogo was appearing before the Committee on Appointments of the National Assembly for vetting following his nomination to take over the docket left vacant following the exit of immediate former ICT CS, Margaret Ndung’u.

In his preamble before committee members started shooting questions, Kabogo, who previously also served as Juja MP, said the digital space was not a new thing to him “and that gives me a head start”.

“Why I think this is a good job for me is that I managed while at Kiambu to digitise the entire revenue collection in Kiambu county,” Kabogo said.

He said this enabled the county to more than triple its annual revenue from Sh800 million to Sh2.7 billion within just a span of 14 months.

“I also managed to digitise the health systems such that there would be seamless work by doctors in treating Kenyans in all our Kiambu hospitals,” he added.

“I also had managed Information management systems for Kiambu county so that from a dashboard I would be able to know exactly what’s happening in each of the ministries.”

While serving as the Kiambu governor, Kabogo attributed the rise in on-source revenue collection to the automation of payment services that enabled residents pay for public services using mobile money and credit cards.

His claim on improved revenue collection was collaborated by the Controller of Budget in the annual county government implementation review reports prepared between 2013 and 2016.

The reports indicated that Kiambu County collected revenues amounting to Sh1.2 billion in 2013, Sh2.11 billion in 2014 and Sh2.46 billion in 2015 from local sources.

Kabogo was born in Komothai Subcounty in Githunguri Constituency and attended his early education at Komothai, Kititu in Ruiru where he sat his CPE before joining Thika Technical High School.

He later in 1978 left for India to pursue a Bachelors degree in commerce and returned in 1983 and joined civil service as an audit assistant in the Auditor General’s office.

Kabogo told MPs the job was boring so he left almost immediately and relocated to Mombasa where he worked as a business advisor for an NGO.

“I rose from business adviser to executive director. Come 2002, it was Uhuru time the generation to join politics and lead Kenya and at that point I had become an astute businessman, made a little bit of money and I thought I would join the team to take the country to the next level.”

He said he was successful on his first attempt in the murky waters of politics where he was elected Member of Parliament for the larger Juja, today divided into Juja, Thika and Ruiru constituencies.

He said in 2013, he vied for the Kiambu gubernatorial seat and won, becoming the first governor of the county.