county ict roadmap 2015 -2020icta.go.ke/pdf/38.pdf · 2.1.5 current state of ict in the county 19...

Tharaka Nithi County Government ICT Roadmap 2015-2020

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OCTOBER 2015

‘A vibrant, modern and regional commercial hub with a high standard of living for her residents through the

use of ICTies’

COUNTY ICT ROADMAP 2015 -2020


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SIGN-OFF AND APPROVALS

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SIGN-OFFANDAPPROVALS

Project:CountyICTRoadmapSign-offfor:CountyRoadmap–PopularVersionCounty:THARAKANITHI

Sign-Off:

______________________ Accepted

______________________ Accepted withModifications

______________________ NotAccepted

Signature:

Accepted_____

Date1/9/15

Name(Capitals): JOHNN.LIBOYI

Position: CEO&GroupTeamLeader,

IPAConsultants

Signature: ______________________ _____________

Date_____________Name(Capitals): ______________________Position: ………………………

InchargeofICT

Signature: ______________________ _____________

Date_____________Name(Capitals): ______________________Position: Governor

Signature: ______________________ _____________

Date_____________Name: ______________________Position: ProjectManager,ICTA


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While submitting the ICT Roadmap, IPA Consultants take this opportunity to thank all stakeholders for the cooperation extended, timely inputs provided and hospitality extended, during the various stages of our assignment. We would specifically like to thank the ICT Director, the Chief Officers and Directors of various Executive Committees, the staff of the ICT department and all stakeholders in Tharaka Nithi County for making this a reality. We would like to acknowledge that the successful completion of our assignment is largely as a result of the stakeholder’s level of commitment and involvement in understanding the purpose and importance of the assignment.

We are confident that the future of Policy formulation in Tharaka Nithi County is in the hands of stakeholders who possess a sound understanding of the way forward. Most important is the clarity and unanimity that exists between the stakeholders, in recognizing the common objectives from a central viewpoint, that constitutes the prerequisite for success in achieving ICT Roadmap objectives. We look forward to the opportunity of future interaction and guidance, if any is required from us by the stakeholders, as they move forward to undertake initiatives or realign projects already in progress, with the objectives of an integrated environment as per the National ICT master plan.

We are confident that Tharaka Nithi County is moving ahead with a clear vision and towards attaining objectives that will not only strengthen the functioning and efficiency of each stakeholder but will further enable the stakeholders to interplay effectively to position in attaining a unique and contributing position in the competitive regional environment, wider perspectives in facilitation and important long term programmes

IPAMr. John Liboyi

AKNOWLEDGEMENT


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CONTENTS

PART 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION 9

1.1 COUNTY STRATEGIC DIRECTION 10

1.2 COUNTY PROFILE 10

1.2.1 GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE 10

1.2.2 STRATEGIC FOCUS AREAS AND PLANS 10

1.2.3 COUNTY SOCIO-ECONOMIC DATA 11

1.3 COUNTY SWOT ANALYSIS 11

1.4 COUNTY MONITORING AND EVALUATION SYSTEMS 12

1.5 COUNTY STAKEHOLDERS ANALYSIS 12

PART 2:CURRENT STATE 13

2.1 CURRENT STATE DESCRIPTION 13

2.1 CURRENT STATE OF ICT IN THE COUNTY 15

2.1.1 COUNTY ICT STRUCTURE 15

2.1.2 CURRENT ICT DIRECTION 15

2.1.3 COUNTY ICT SWOT ANALYSIS 17

2.1.4 CURRENT COUNTY INTEGRATION TO NATIONAL ICT MASTER PLAN 17

2.1.5 CURRENT STATE OF ICT IN THE COUNTY 19

2.1.6 CURRENT TECHNICAL STATE OF ICT IN THE COUNTY 21

2.2 CURRENT STATE OF COUNTY ICT MATURITY – COBIT 21

2.2.1 INTRODUCTION 21

2.3 FINANCIAL POLICY AND STRATEGY FOR ICT 23

PART 3:SUMMARY OF DESIRED END STATE 24

3.1 DESIRED END STATE DESCRIPTION 24

3.2 GAPS ANALYSIS AND CLOSURE STRATEGY 26

3.3 FINANCING PLAN 31

PART 4: ICT VISION ROADMAPS AND ICT MATURITY 32

4.1 CONNECTED COUNTY GOVERNMENT 32

4.2 CONNECTED CITIZENS 33

4.3. CITIZEN SATISFACTION 34

4.4. CONNECTED LEGISLATOR 35

4.5. COBIT IMPLEMENTATION 36


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PART 5: CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS 38

5.1. VISION, OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGY 38

5.2. LAWS AND REGULATIONS 39

5.3. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES 39

5.4 BUSINESS PROCESS 39

5.5. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 39

PART 6: PRIORITY PROJECTS FOR QUICK WINS 41

6.1. CONNECTED COUNTY GOVERNMENT 41

6.2. CONNECTED CITIZENS 41

6.3. CITIZEN SATISFACTION 42

6.5. COBIT IMPLEMENTATION 42


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BPR Business Process Re-EngineeringCBO Community Based OrganizationsCCK Communication Commission of KenyaCECM County Executive Committee MemberCIDP County Integrated Development PlanCO ChiefOfficerCOBIT Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology DMS Document Management SystemEMR Electronic Medical RecordsGDP Gross Domestic ProductGIS Geographic Information SystemsHR/M Human Resource ManagementICT Information and Communication TechnologyICTG&M ICT Governance & ManagementICTA Information and Communication Technology Authority of KenyaIFMIS Integrated Financial Management Information systemIPA Information Professionals AfricaISACA Information Systems Audit & Control Association ISO International Standards OrganizationLAN Local Area NetworkM&E Monitoring and EvaluationNGO Non-Governmental OrganizationsNOFBI National Optic Fiber Backbone Infrastructure nRI Network Readiness IndexPaaS Platform as a ServiceSaaS Software as a ServiceSLA Service Level AgreementSMEs Small and Medium sized EnterprisesSWOT Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and ThreatsTCO Total Cost of OwnershipWAN Wide Area Network

ACRONYMS


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Tharaka Nithi County Government, working towards a shared vision of becoming a prosperous and citizen focused County, believes ICT is a central force in unlocking the value of government information and harnessing technology to deliver better, trusted public services. ICT improves workforce productivity, eliminates process inefficiencies and is central to effective resource management.

In recognition of these benefits, the County ICT Roadmap documents the current ICT status in the county and provides a basic programme for prioritization of ICT investments in the County. It identifies priority investment areas such as Infrastructure, policy development and workforce training.

The ICT Roadmap has proposed far reaching recommendations, which, if implemented, will improve service delivery, improve working conditions for staff and create an enabling environment for innovation and job creation. But ICT implementation also poses a myriad of challenges, right from technology selection to acquisition and domestication. Although staff training, ICT Governance, ICT legislation and ICT policy development can help address these challenges, the ultimate winner is change of attitudes and perceptions on the role of ICT in Governance.

This ICT Roadmap offers Tharaka Nithi County a unified ICT services delivery approach that will help the county acquire technology at affordable costs, provide future direction of ICT investments and challenge county staff to be innovative in service delivery.

Key findings indicate that the County staff and Citizens have low ICT literacy skills, ICT infrastructure is poorly developed and so far ICT budgets are low at less than 1% of the total budget.

Staff and Citizen ICT literacy initiatives is one area where investments can help make a difference. An educated and literate people are easy to govern and can easily address healthcare and poverty challenges. Another area is to address the ICT infrastructure challenge. To communicate better internally and with citizens High Speed Internet and Wide Area Networks are necessary. As envisioned in the National ICT Master Plan, the National Fiber Optic cable should be pulled to all county headquarters.

Finally, the ICT Roadmap proposes that the County should adopt a focused approach in procurement and adoption of ICT to support business process. The guiding principles are that ICT investments must address include:

1. Address Business Requirements

2. Provide value for money

3. Promote innovation and service delivery and

4. Improve customer / Citizen experience of government services


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PREFACE

The County ICT Roadmap Project is an initiative of the ICT Authority of Kenya, with funding from The World Bank. The objectives of the County ICT Roadmaps are:

1. To develop a coordinated and coherent approach for ICT Roadmap development and guidelines which will enable each County to provide high-quality and cost-effective ICT-enabled services that meet the needs of County residents.

2. Foster innovation, best practice, and value for money in the use of ICT in management of County resources, learning and Citizen Outreach.

3. To define the conditions under which it will be possible to provide a shared and optimized ICT infrastructure with appropriate user support and standards for the National and County governments in Kenya.

4. Develop an ICT Strategy Roadmap for the next five years

The Tharaka Nithi County ICT Roadmap covers initiatives and strategies developed for the whole County in reference to previous sector plans and policies that have been produced for the County that require ICT as an enabler. The ICT Roadmap is being developed with consultations of various stakeholders and County Government departments.

Expected OutcomesThe ICT Strategy Roadmaps will be measured against:

Alignment to the National ICT Master plan, Vision 2030 and Count developmental plans such as the Tharaka Nithi County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP);

Identification of relevant County ICT roles and responsibilities;

Identification of County ICT gaps and appropriate action support measures;

A County ICT Implementation plan.

The Scope of the RoadmapThe Scope of the ICT roadmap is to enable the County:

1. Use ICT to enable efficient and cost-effective County operations

2. Provide County residents with the best and most cost-effective ICT-enabled services and resources; and,

Ensure that County ICT investment is consistent with global best practice, produces maximum value, integrated with the National Government and neighbouring County ICT infrastructure and systems, and is consistent with the philosophy of shared ICT.


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PART 1: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION

1.1 County Strategic DirectionThe Tharaka Nithi County strategic focus is defined by a Vision of “a county of choice for investment where residents enjoy the highest quality of life under a visionary democratic leadership”.

The County mission is “to transform Tharaka Nithi into a middle-level income county with a high quality of life and secure environment while strengthening unity of Professionals, Leaders and Citizens to chart a united response to the challenges of development and provision of quality services”.

The county vision and mission can only be achieved within an environment of mutual respect and value system between and among leaders and citizens. The County’s core values focus on efficient service delivery through Quality and responsive leadership; Inclusiveness, Equity and Equality; Professionalism and integrity; Transparency and accountability; Creativity, Innovation and Competitiveness; United and Responsible citizenship; Hospitable Customer Care and Respect for Human Rights; Respect for and conservation of environment and Honesty.

1.2 County Profile1.2.1 Governance StructureThe County Government of Tharaka Nithi, like all other 46 Counties in Kenya is headed by an executive Governor and a Deputy Governor. Other County Governance structures are the County Public Service Board, the County Treasury and the County Assembly.

The County Government is headed by the governor (and deputy governor), the County Executive Committee and the County Secretary. The Governor guides the management team through setting of, and overseeing, the strategic direction of the County.

1.2.2 Strategic Focus Areas and PlansThe County CIDP notes that Tharaka Nithi County leadership shall strive to ensure effective beneficiary participation and representations in all decision making so that they feel connected with their leaders and others in the Greater Meru and Kenya to gain a sense of contributing something of value to the community while reinforcing the belief that they have choices for the future and feel positive and comfortable with their destiny.

The County’s development agenda focuses on the following strategic areas:

• Wealth Creation through Economic Development

• Food security for a health county

• Social Cohesion and security

• Education, skills development and Innovation

• Job Creation and empowerment


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• Healthcare

• Affordable and quality Shelter

1.2.3 County Socio-Economic Data Tharaka Nithi County shares common borders with Meru County to the North, North West and North East, Kitui County to the East and South East, and Embu County to the South. It is located at latitude -02.27324o N and longitude 37.882411o E. The County has a total area of 2,638.8 km2. It is made up of Maara, Chuka, Igambangombe and Tharaka. The districts within the County are Maara, Chuka, Igambangombe, Tharaka South and Tharaka North.

As per 2009 national census, Tharaka Nithi County has a total population of 365,330, of which 178,451 are male and 186,879 female. There are 88,803 households in the county and a population density of 138 people per Km2. Thirteen (13.6%) percent of the county’s population is under five years old while 5.2% of the population is aged 64 years and above. The labour force (15-64 years) is 50% of the county’s population.

The key economic activities revolve around crop farming. According to 2009 National census, 98.2% percent of households in the county engage in crop farming. Coffee, tea and horticultural crops are the major produce in high altitude areas while low altitude areas which are extensively dry are known for livestock husbandry such as cattle, goats, sheep keeping and honey production. Millet, sorghum and Cassava do well in the lowland areas as they are better adapted to the arid climatic conditions.

Poverty rate stands at 48.7 of the population while illiteracy is high. Only 10% of the population has secondary education.

1.3 County SWOT AnalysisImplementing the systems and plans identified by both the CIDP, sector specific plans and the ICT Roadmap requires a clear understanding of the County strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. A study undertaken by an organization to identify its internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as its external opportunities and threats is called SWOT Analysis.

Although there are many advantages of a SWOT analysis, their major benefit is in allowing the County Government:

• Staff understand its mandate and citizen expectations better

• Address weaknesses such as low staff literacy

• Identify and address threats to successful delivery of services or implementation of projects

• Capitalize on opportunities such as ICT investments and innovations


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Table 1 provides a summary of SWOT analysis for Tharaka Nithi County.

COUNTY STRENGTHS COUNTY WEAKNESSES• Happy, Responsible People, ready to work with their

Government

• Rich natural resource base made up of up of water resources, mineral resources and wildlife

• Good agricultural base

• Strategic location for regional trade given the good roads linking Meru, Kitui and Embu Counties

• Heritage of historical artifacts such as Kijege and Ntugi Hills well known as a stopover points for migration of highland Bantus (Meru, Kikuyu, Embu).

• Skilled and hardworking labor force

• Poor physical infrastructure. Water, Road networks, schools and other facilities are inadequate and the existing ones are in poor condition especially in drier low altitude zones.

• Relatively high illiteracy level

• Inadequate market information

• Lack of value addition, for example inspite of the fertile soil, the county is not food sufficient due to under developed food industry

• Unemployment

• High Environmental degradation

COUNTY OPPORTUNITIES COUNTY THREATS • High agricultural potential, including the potential for

agricultural produce value addition

• Unexploited local and regional trade

• Diversity of adequate renewable energy resources such as hydro power generation, wind energy, solar and biogas

• Array of mineral resources

• Devolved funds

• Secure and peaceful environment

• Potential for tourism

• Aridity and frequent droughts

• Climate change

• Drug abuse

• Flooding of Tana River and its tributaries

• County brain drain

1.4 County Monitoring and Evaluation SystemsThere is no monitoring and evaluation department. This activity is carried out by the departments implementing the projects. There is need to create a fully-fledged independent Monitoring and evaluation Unit to determine if the County is getting value for money in many of the areas where it is investing.

1.5 County Stakeholders AnalysisAs stated earlier, a clear understanding of County stakeholders and their expectations is essential in design and delivery of public service. The purpose of Stake-holder analysis is to assess which individuals or groups are likely to support, resist, or remain neutral during the project implementation. The process looks at why the stakeholders respond the way they do and how they may be influenced to ensure a response most favourable to achieving project goals.

Table 2: Stakeholder Analysis


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The stakeholders’ commitment can be rated by how favourable do they currently view the project and to what extent they might support, resist or remain neutral to the project. A scale of 1-5 is assigned to each stakeholder’s response i.e.

1= negatively, actively or subversively working against

2= moderately negative, passive resistance

3= Neutral

4= moderately positive, passive support

5= Active support, “All in”

Table 2 shows stakeholder matrix for Tharaka Nithi County from an ICT project management perspective.

STAKEHOLDER STRATEGIC IMPOR-TANCE

CURRENT COMMIT-MENT

INVOLVEMENT GOALS/NEEDS

ICT governance committee

Defines and prioritizes use of resources to drive transformation

Not in place Decision making • Define key performance measures

• Guide deployment of efforts

• Implement strategy

• Report on successes

Leadership Provides resource support and endorsement for transformational leadership

4 – The department of ICT has appointed a Governance Committee

Support/Endorsement

• Overview of key activities/ service issues

• Overview of performance measures

Staff Streamline process and increase capacity; improve service delivery

2: Lower staff numbers, no ICT director

Feedback • Demonstrate expected behaviours

• Provide feedback on leading practices and experiences

Assembly Provides checks and balances on excesses of the executive and legislate on projects issues

5 – ICT Committee in place. Well trained ICT ambassadress

Oversight • Overview of project implementation in regard to policies and legislation

Citizens Provide feedback on service delivery systems and citizen satisfaction

2– Challenges in ICT literacy hinder capacity

Public participation

• Understanding of the project and its needs/effects of implementation

Table 2: Stakeholder Analysis


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The Tharaka Nithi County CIDP describes county stakeholders into the following groups:

1. CITIZENS: All people living and working within Tharaka Nithi County. These are the Citizens on whose behalf the County Government offers services

2. STAFF: County Government and National Government staff who offer services to Citizens

3. LEADERS: Tharaka Nithi County Leaders, politicians, Community and Church Leaders who provide leadership and governance to the people of Tharaka Nithi

4. National Government and its departments either resident in Tharaka Nithi or offering support nationally for example the National Senate, Constitutional Commissions such as CRA.

1. PROFESSIONALS: All Professionals working or living elsewhere but are originally from Tharaka Nithi County or with an interest in Tharaka Nithi County

2. Meru cultural leaders

The County Government looks up to all its stakeholders to inform policy decisions, initiate development projects and provide leadership including criticism.


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2.1 Current state of ICT in the County2.1.1 County ICT Structure The County Government structure places the head of ICT as a manager reporting to the Chief Officer in the Department of Lands, Urban Planning and The ICT. The ICT department is fully centralized offering ICT services to departments from a central location.

Currently the County has appointed an ICT Governance committee that will provide overall ICT governance in the County.

There is no specific ICT bill or legislation that has been passed.

The County Government has three ICT staff including the ICT manager responsible for supporting all the County Departments including at sub County and ward level. The County Public Service Board is support by the County ICT Staff.

ICT staff is responsible for providing support, managing LANs, Developing applications and training staff.

There is also need to elevate the head of ICT to an ICT director to give ICT visibility in Management.

2.1.2 Current ICT DirectionThe people of Tharaka Nithi, working towards a shared mission to “… enhance sustained socio-economic growth through optimal utilization of resources to improve the quality of life for residents in the County” have identified four key objectives that ICT investments must address:

1. Value for money – Linkages to business cases, acquire, evaluate and manage affordably. To this end, the County Focuses on improved procurement of ICT assets whose business value is well articulated, ICT governance mechanisms that encourages and promotes ICT innovation and a desire to have an effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.

2. Service Delivery: Improved service delivery through investing in systems that add efficiency, improve staff productivity and expand delivery of services by taking Government services online.

3. Shared by default – Share and reuse and only procure as a last resort.

4. Always connected -to enable staff and citizens access services on multiple channels (Website, Radio, SMS, manual access to services)

To achieve these objectives, the County has identified and prioritized several investment areas generally grouped into 4 categories:

• Infrastructure Development. As a priority, the County will work with the national

PART 2: CURRENT STATE


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government to bring the National Fiber Optic Backbone to the County Headquarters in Kathwana. Additionally, there is need to invest in a data center and connectivity using Wide area networks to all sub County and ward offices.

• Development of ICT strategic plans and policies - to set out the County strategic focus, improve ICT governance and prioritize investment areas. The appointment of the ICT Governance Committee is expected to steer this area by setting up guidelines and structures for investments in ICT.

• Workforce training and Management - to ensure that staff is able to deliver better services with existing technology. ICT literacy and capacity building are the primary strategy for achieving this goal. An ICT literate worker is defined as one who has the necessary skills to select, use and derive benefits from ICT. Using this definition, it can be safely concluded that the County is in dire need for staff training in ICT.

• Digital services / Systems -in particular the paperless County using Document Management Systems. Other priority systems for the County are:

• Human Resource Management System• E-Extension and Marketing services to support and improve provision of agricultural

extension to farmers and provide market information for agricultural products.• Land Management and town planning system that will map all land to enable proper

planning and development zoning. The system needs a GIS component.• Reconnect all Level 5, 4 and 3 hospitals with an integrated healthcare management system.

Some of the projects currents underway include:1. Infrastructure: Networking all County, sub County and ward offices. The offices are

temporary and so the best investment is Wi-Fi.

2. Governance: The County is planning to develop an ICT strategic plan and other ICT policies.

3. Workforce management: Plans are underway to train all County staff in ICT use

4. Website Redesign to bring citizen services online.

To date the County has achieved a number of objectives:

1. Developed basic ICT infrastructure in the County Headquarters at Kathwana, in particular a VPN for IFMIS access and a Local Area network using Wi-Fi. Additionally, the county has bought Desktops and laptops for all Chief officers and Directors. The next step is to move to sub County staff

2. Appointed the ICT Governance Committee


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3. Hired 3 ICT staff to offer basic support to County staff

4. Implemented IFMIS and IPPD for Finance and payroll management.

5. Secured some funding for purchase of land at Kathwana for the development of a Data center.

6. Setup of a Communication department in the Governor’s office

2.1.3 County ICT SWOT Analysis As noted early, SWOT Analysis is important in identifying strengths (areas where the County is doing well), weaknesses (areas that need improvements), opportunities (areas where value can be mined) and threats (areas that have negative impacts).

A quick analysis of Tharaka Nithi County reveals that a major weakness is lack of systems and ICT plans while the biggest threat is ICT funding. The table below presents a summary of SWOT analysis in Tharaka Nithi County.

COUNTY ICT STRENGTHS COUNTY ICT WEAKNESSES• Happy people and staff, motivated to work

• Existence an ICT Governance Committee

• Motivated leadership right from the Governor to the CEC lands, planning and ICT who understand the power of ICT in service delivery.

• Availability of a Small but steady ICT budget.

• No strategic plan or ICT Policies

• Low ICT budgets

• The County lacks enough ICT staff

• Low internet speeds

• Focus by departments on acquiring infrastructure and no budgets for systems

• Low ICT literacy skills among staff

COUNTY ICT OPPORTUNITIES COUNTY ICT THREATS • Pulling the National Fiber optic cable to Katwana will

open up the area• Illiteracy among the citizens may lead to under use of

proposed Community Information centers

Table 3: ICT SWOT Analysis

2.1.4 Current County Integration to National ICT Master Plan The Kenya National ICT master plan is a document that defines an enabling policy, legal and regulatory framework that aims at enabling e-government services that are simple to use and convenient for citizens and businesses and that increase the productivity, efficiency and effectiveness of critical economic sectors. It hopes to stimulate the setup and growth of ICT-related businesses to enhance employment creation, enable and scale up ICT innovation and develop a dynamic and robust ICT sector that will enhance socio-economic growth in Kenya.

One of the flagship projects is the National Optic Fiber Backbone Infrastructure (NOFBI) that is connecting all towns in Kenya to enable seamless connectivity. Tharaka Nithi is the only County without the Fiber Optic Backbone at the Government Headquarters in Kathwana.


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This should be a priority exercise by ICT Authority to pull the cable from Chuka to the County headquarters, a distance of only 25 kilometres.

Another National Master plan project is the connection of all National and County Government to IFMIS, an Integrated Financial Management Information System that promotes openness and accountability in the use of public money. Currently the County is using IFMIS mainly for payment and has not operationalized the e-Procurement module that automates business process which include procurement planning, management of suppliers, requisitions, quotations, contracts and receipts.

Although IPPD is in use by the Public Service, lack of HR staff means that it is not effectively used for staff management. Some basic functionality in HR management is needed for example timesheets and performance reviews.

Table 4 below presents a summary of the County integration with National ICT Masterplan

MASTERPLAN INITIATIVE STATUSBroadband infrastructure The National Fiber Optic cable is not at Katwana, the County

Headquarters

eGovernment 1. The County uses the following systems which can be broadly be described as government and related services:

2. IFMIS and related modules: In Use

3. IPPD: In use

4. GPay

5. National Agriculture Commodity Ex- Change

6. National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) and Associated Systems

7. HUDUMA Centres – available in Chuka Town

8. Assets Data Hub and Associated Systems

9. EMS

10. Revenue Collection : None

11. Recruitment and Selection

the ICT Human Capital and Work-Force Development

No projects in ICT human workforce development

Content Development Going Forward, the ICT department has procured funding for purchase of land where a proposed data center and youth innovation center will be built. The Youth center will focus on job creation through content development, Business process out sourcing and ICT labs

Table 4: National ICT Masterplan Integration


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2.1.5 Current State of ICT in the CountyThe Current ICT status in Tharaka Nithi is characterized by basic use of ICT in the ministries. The County assembly has not passed specific ICT legislation. Other indicators are:

1. Governance: The County has appointed a Governance Committee to guide ICT investment. However, it was noted that:

• The ICT department has not developed an ICT strategic plan.

• There are no ICT policies such as Disaster Recovery, Communication Policy, Document management policy etc. This should be prioritized in the next County Budget.

• Procurement of ICT has not been defined by clear business goals. It is possible to share some of the existing computers, printers and connectivity. There is need to move from infrastructure investments to systems. A policy should be developed to identify shared resources (such as printers that can be shared using a Local Area Network) to save the County costs associated with duplication of infrastructure which can be shared.

• The department of ICT has no Director. The highest ranking Officer is an ICT Manager, reporting to a Chief Officer in the department of Lands, Planning and ICT. There is need to prioritize the hiring of an ICT director to give visibility to the department.

• Not all staff is using official government emails. This is a major problem since it compromises the security of Government information. As a quick win, the ICT department should publish Guidelines on use of Government Resources (hardware and systems) and train staff.

• The ICT department has not developed its mission and vision. Even among staff, the County Mission and Vision has not been properly communicated to staff. The effect of this is that staff is not working towards a common goal.

2. Infrastructure: Connectivity within the County Government and to its sub Counties is minimal.

• Tharaka Nithi is the only County whose headquarters has no Fiber Optic Cable. The cable is 25KM away in Chuka on its way to Meru from Embu. This must be prioritized by ICTA.

• There is a VPN connection used for IFMIS

• Software in use is mostly MS Office for word processing.

• Internet access is only available through Mobile networks. Speeds are slow and often down. Pulling the Fiber optic cable to the County headquarters will address this issue.


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• The headquarter at Kathwana has no ICT infrastructure. The Government is in temporary offices. As the County builds a new headquarter, ICT infrastructure should be prioritized and put at the same level as electricity.

• About 20% of the staff has access to computers.

• The County is planning to acquire Computers for Sub County Staff

• Not all software in use is licensed

• The department of Health, in particular the Level Hospital in Chuka has partly automated its patient care

• The County has a website at http://tharakanithi.go.ke/ . However, the website has not put Government services online. The County can achieve this by redesigning the website using a Content Management System (standards based) so that it becomes easy for departments to plug in services.

3. Human Resources: The Department of ICT has four staff only including the ICT Manager and the IFMIS officer. These are responsible for day to day ICT management in the county. It was also noted that County staff from other departments do have basic ICT skills. The department of Communication is under the Governor’s office with one staff.

4. Monitoring and Evaluation: There is no monitoring and evaluation department within the County. Parent departments implementing projects are responsible for project monitoring and evaluation.


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FEATURE THE EXECUTIVE PUBLIC SERVICE BOARDICT Governance ICT Governance structure in place One ICT Officer

Standards & Operating Procedures No ICT Strategic Plan Strategic Plan based on CIDP exists

NO ICT Policy No ICT Policy

LAN Exists at Headquarters and at a number of ministries

No LAN in Sub Counties

Exists / within HQ

WAN None None

Internet Access

Email Available at tharakanithi.go.ke

Staff use personal email

Available but not extensively used

Website Available at www.tharakanithi.go.ke

Hosts email and a few online services

No specific website

Network equipment Available as part of the Local Area Network and Data Center

None

ICT Literacy Low ICT knowledge despite high ICT awareness among staff

Low ICT knowledge

Enterprise Applications No corporate database management System (DBMS)

None

Hardware Equipment Desktops

Laptops

Printers

Desktops

Laptops

Printers

ICT Capacity - Inadequate ICT technical staff Inadequate

Data Centre facility - No Server N/A

Application Portfolio IFMIS,

IPPD

Relies on the HQs

2.1.6 Current Technical State of ICT in the County

2.2 Current State of County ICT Maturity – COBIT 2.2.1 IntroductionICTs can be used as a tool to facilitate efficient delivery of services, improve accountability and transparency while increasing public participation in the political processes. However, successful implementation of ICTs in County governments faces many challenges and requires legislative, budgetary, and technical coordination as well as political support without which the ICT opportunities will remain unrealized.

As a way of guiding the County through the above ICT challenges, Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (COBIT) has been proposed as a framework for the modelling of County ICT maturity.

COBIT is a set of best practices for Information Technology management developed by


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Information Systems Audit & Control Association (ISACA) and IT Governance Institute in 1996. ISACA develops and maintains the internationally recognized COBIT framework, helping IT professionals and enterprise leaders fulfil their IT Governance responsibilities while delivering value to the business. The latest ISACA’s globally accepted framework COBIT 5 is aimed to provide an end-to-end business view of the governance of enterprise IT that reflects the central role of IT in creating value for enterprises.

Although majority of COBIT adopters are private Enterprises, a number of Governments, which include the Government of Dubai, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, European Parliament, Ontario Pension Board in Canada and Bahrain Civil Service Bureau, have also adopted COBIT. In Africa, COBIT is used in Nigeria and South Africa.

The COBIT Framework consists of linkages between organizational and ICT objectives while providing a mechanism for continuous measurement and maturity of ICT processes. These processes were customised to seven elements as listed below:

1. Strategy & Governance (7Processes)

2. Financial Management (3 Processes)

3. Personnel & Resource Management (3Processes)

4. Service Planning & Architecture (6 Processes)

5. Infrastructure & Operations (6 Processes)

6. Security (6 Processes)

7. Applications (3 Processes)

The methodology proposes a systematic and coherent maturity of all the above seven elements as the basis for sustainable ICT development within the County. There are six levels (stages) of ICT maturity ranging from Level ‘0’ through ‘5’, with Level ‘1’ being set as the BENCHMARK target.

COBIT BenefitsCOBIT supports IT Governance by providing a framework that ensure that IT is aligned with the business, IT resources are used responsibly and IT risks are managed appropriately. It provides a common language for managers; business and IT staff to work together for successful delivery of IT initiatives.

There are many reasons why the County Government of Tharaka Nithi should implement COBIT. Some of these include:

1. It improves IT efficiency and effectiveness


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2. It helps IT Staff understand the needs of the business and departmental needs

3. Puts practices in place to meet the business needs as efficiently as possible

4. Helps management understand and manage IT investments throughout their life cycle

5. Provides a method to assess whether IT services and new initiatives are meeting business requirements and are likely to deliver the benefits expected

6. Helps to develop and document the appropriate organizational structures, processes and tools for effective management of IT

7. Provides an authoritative, international set of generally accepted practices that helps managers increase the value of IT and reduce related risks

2.3 Financial Policy and Strategy for ICTIn Tharaka Nithi County the ICT Budget was Kshs 21.9million, for the 2015/2016 fiscal year representing 1.09 % of the total budget. The County targets should target to increase their spending on ICT to 5% of the total budget in line with the national broadband strategy. This funding will be targeted at infrastructure, software, consultancy and training needed to implement the ICT roadmap.

Currently, the county financing is 100% funded by the County. All ICT infrastructure and assets such as servers are owned by the County.


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PART 3: SUMMARY OF DESIRED END STATE

3.1 Desired End State DescriptionThe people of Tharaka Nithi, working towards a shared mission to “… enhance sustained socio-economic growth through optimal utilization of resources to improve the quality of life for residents in the County” have identified four key objectives that ICT investments must address:

1. Value for money – Linkages to business cases, acquire, evaluate and manage affordably. To this end, the County Focuses on improved procurement of ICT assets whose business value is well articulated, governance that encourages and promotes ICT innovation and a desire to have an effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.

2. Improved service delivery through investing in systems that add efficiency, improve staff productivity and expand delivery of services by taking Government services online.

3. Shared by default – Share and reuse and only procure as a last resort.

4. Always connected to enable staff and citizens access services on multiple channels (Website, Radio, SMS, manual access to services)

The consultant identified 5 themes to enable the County achieve the above objectives. These are:

1. Connected County Government;

2. Connected Citizens;

3. Citizen Satisfaction;

4. Connected Legislator.

5. COBIT Implementation

The County ICT Roadmap was formulated using the above themes as follows:

Connected County Government:1. Infrastructure Development. As a priority, the County will work with the national

government to bring the National Fiber Optic Backbone to the County Headquarters in Kathwana. Additionally, there is need to invest in a data center and connectivity using Wide area networks to all sub County and ward offices. Specific strategies proposed to achieve this include:

• Partnerships with private sector, especially with Mobile Phone Companies, to extend bandwidth to sub counties using GSM, 3G and 4G networks.

• Policy development to make it easy to procure ICT assets


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• Move towards low cost open source and cloud applications such as Platform as a service, infrastructure as a service and even Software as a service.

• Weigh the Build Vs Lease benefits for the proposed County data center

2. Development of ICT strategic plans and policies to set out the County strategic focus, improve ICT governance and prioritize investment areas. The appointment of the ICT Governance Committee is expected to steer this area by setting up guidelines and structures for investments in ICT.

3. Develop and optimize Local Area networks and Wide Area Networks as well as productivity tools that enable staff to share resources (shared County email, Document and Knowledge Management systems, Project Management Systems, Shared Staff calendar and to-do lists).

4. Procure high speed internet for the County and for citizen open spaces to enable citizen’s access high speed internet.

Citizen Satisfaction1. Workforce training and Management to ensure that staff is able to deliver better services

with existing technology. ICT literacy and capacity building are the primary strategy for achieving this goal. An ICT literate worker is defined as one who has the necessary skills to select, use and derive benefits from ICT.

2. Digital services / Systems in particular the paperless County using Document Management systems. Other priority systems for the County are:

3. E-Extension and Marketing services to support and improve provision of agricultural extension to farmers and provide market information for agricultural products. Specific technologies proposed under this project include:

• Bulk two Way SMS systems

• GIS applications for location based agricultural information

• Mobile Application development

• Use of Community Information Centers to provide information

• Support to local KARI and other Agricultural support programs

• Land Management and town planning system that will map all land to enable proper planning and development zoning. The system needs a GIS component.

• Revenue collection system to support the County in collecting revenue.

• Digital and Physical Asset Management system


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• Fleet Management System

• Reconnect all Level 5, 4 and 3 hospitals with an integrated healthcare management system.

4. Taking Government services online. Specifically, the following initiatives were proposed under this project:

• Redesign the County Communication office so as to take advantage of modern ICT. Specifically, the County website should be redesigned to make it easy to embed public facing services such as application for bursaries, tenders, zoning and building permits etc.

• Document Digitization and development of online approval workflows. This is necessary to enable the County move services online.

Connected Citizens5. Policy, legal and regulatory framework that enables and supports SMEs to do business

with the Government.

6. Development of public infrastructure such as public WIFI hotspots where citizen can access Internet.

7. Public Private Partnerships in developing public infrastructure that extends the reach of government services.

Connected Legislator8. ICT legislation that provides a legal framework for ICT exploitation in the County. Specific

legislation that ring fence ICT budgets or improve staff and citizen confidence in online transactions should be enacted. These include information security, digital signatures and procurement. Off course this also needs regulatory requirements to be in place.

9. Public participation using digital systems and applications. Examples include use of SMS, web portals and forums to add value to public participation.

3.2 Gaps Analysis and Closure StrategyThe Tharaka Nithi COBIT Current, Benchmark and desired state (see figure 1 below) indicates that the County does not perform well across five of the seven domains. The benchmark state defines the level at which the County should be in terms of process capabilities. Below the benchmark state, the County hasn’t really established the required COBIT processes and there is totally no framework being used in the development of ICTs.


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Figure 1: COBIT Current, Desired and Benchmark State

To produce the above chart summary, the 34 COBIT processes were remodelled into the seven elements to obtain ICT Governance and Management Framework. Each of the seven elements were averaged then analysed to produce the chart. However, it is important to note that the above chart is a mere summary of how the elements rank against each other on a scale of 0 to 5. The rankings are indication of the specific performance of the County in each of the processes.

It is advisable that the County ensures they reach the benchmark state as soon as possible to pave way to the strategic development into the eventual desired state. Ideally, the benchmark state is in this case treated as the best practice or baseline. After the County satisfies the requirements for the benchmark state, they proceed to satisfy the requirements of the desired state for the County.


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According to the above ICT Governance & Management Framework Summary, on average, five (5) out of the seven elements in the COBIT framework scored below the Benchmark state, i.e.

• Strategy & Governance

• Service Planning and Architecture

• Infrastructure & Operations

• Security

• Applications

Table 6 below provides a summary of processes that are below the benchmark. These are the processes that must first move from the current state to benchmark and ultimately to the desired state.

ELEMENT PROCESSES Strategy and Governance P01: Define a Strategic IT Plan

P09: Asses Risks

ME1: Monitor & Evaluate IT Performance

Financial Management AI5: Procure IT Resources

Service Planning & Architecture P02: Define Information Architecture

P03: Determine Technology direction

DS2: Manage 3rd Party Services

DS1: Define & Manage Service Levels

Infrastructure & Operations AI6: Manage Changes

DS3: Manage Performance & Capacity

DS10: Manage Problems & Incidents

DS9: Manage Configurations

Security ME2: Monitor& Evaluate Internal Control Adequacy

DS4: Ensure Continuous Service

DS5: Ensure System Security

DS11: Manage Data

ME3: Ensure Compliance with external requirements

Applications AI1: Identify Automate Solutions

AI7: Install & Accredit Solutions and Changes

Table 6 above indicates the reason why the five elements in Figure 1 are underperforming. For example, looking at Table 6 under governance, we note that P01- Define a Strategic IT Plan is not performed (no strategic plan). Looking at the table under standards and operating procedures, we note that the County has no ICT strategic plan. The implications of this are that:

Table 6: Processes Performing Below the Benchmark


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ICT STATE ANALYSISFEATURE PROCESSES CURRENT STATE Closure Strategy

STATUS RAMIFICATIONS

ICT Governance

ICT Governance structure in place. Deputy Governor is a member

Fairly coordinated decisions

A well-established ICT Governance Model in place

A well formulated policy for ICT investments in place

Develop ICT Policies (Fair use, Information Security, Digital Signatures

Develop ICT legislation and regulatory frameworks

Appoint various ICT Committees

Standards & Operating Procedures

No ICT Strategic Plan

CIDP in Place

Difficulties in planning for ICT investments

ICT projects cannot be aligned to County development Goals & Objectives

A well-developed ICT Strategic plan in place

Develop and ICT strategy

Align ICT investments with County Development Goals

Get management buy in of the ICT Strategy to enable project funding

No ICT Policy, Operating procedures

Uncoordinated procedures/operations

Well-developed ICT policy and procedures in place

Develop various ICT policies

Connectivity

LAN

No effective & efficient information sharing

LAN in all county government Offices and Sub Counties

Develop LANs in each County Department

Connect to NOFBI (not yet at Katwana)

Connect LANs to create WANs

Use GSM/3GN networks to connect to sub county offices

Create Cloud Policy

WAN

None No intranet

No efficient sharing of information between HQs, sub-counties and wards

WAN based connectivity

Create Intranet for sharing resources (Printers, files, Internet etc)

Use GSM/3G /VPN/Cloud for remote connectivity

Internet Access Email

Use of personal emails

Low Internet Connection Speeds

Compromised communication security of official information

Access to information is slow

Official email in use

Used Fiber Cable to access high speed Internet

Develop policy for email and communication

• The County faces difficulties in planning for ICT investments

• ICT projects cannot be aligned to County development Goals & Objectives

As noted in Table 6 the desired state that will move the County from the current state (lack of clear policy and strategy for ICT investments) is to develop and ICT strategic plan.

Table 7 below presents a summary of County Gap analysis and closure strategies.


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ICT STATE ANALYSISFEATURE PROCESSES CURRENT STATE Closure Strategy

STATUS RAMIFICATIONS

Website

Available but not extensively used for online Government services

• No effective communication

• Interactive website operational

• Taking all government services online

• Redesign website to enable taking of government service online

Network equipment

No WAN

WIFI exists

VPN Exists

No effective communication

Routers, switches, firewall, etc.

WAN

Wi-Fi

VPNs

Develop Public Network Infrastructure on Wi-Fi in Sub Counties and schools to promote connectivity

ICT Literacy

Low ICT literacy among Citizens

Low ICT literacy among County Staff

Low productivity among staff

Resistance to change

Reduced effectiveness and efficiency in production of reports

ICT trained and enabled technical and general staff

Continuous ICT skills acquisition

Initiate public literacy programs

Provide life and Job skills to out of school youth

Use e-Learning software to deliver Massive Online Courses

Hardware Equipment

Inadequate Ineffective productivity and communication in offices/departments

Optimal number of hardware

Consider the benefit of buy vs lease

Consider cloud infrastructure

ICT Security No ICT security policy

Vulnerability of government data

A comprehensive ICT Security Policy

A comprehensive ICT Security Policy

Data Centre facility

No Data Centre

No Cloud Computing

Not easy to use shared services

No centralized storage and efficiently distributed information

Data centre

Using Government Clouds to reduce data centre costs

Consider cloud Vs develop

Lease from neighboring counties (Trust)

Application Portfolio

IFMIS

IPPD

integrated Integration Train Staff

Move from hardware procurement to systems procurement

Consider cloud applications

No integrated revenue collection system

Reduced transparency and accountability

Integrated revenue collection system

Procure a revenue collection system

Other Applications

Poor service delivery Online delivery of public services

Seamless integration and sharing of resources among count staff

Digital by default

Procure the following services / systems

E-Extension Services

Document Digitization

Document Approval Workflows

Fleet Management

Project Management System

Monitoring and Evaluation

Table 7: Gap Analysis


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3.3 Financing PlanPrimarily, the County Government can fund the foundational pillars through a re-focused expenditure planning model, as adopted from the Kenya National ICT Master Plan of 2014. This can be facilitated through the County budget and allocations on ICT increasing to 5% of County Government budgets; as per the international benchmark.

Secondly, the County can also leverage on funding their priorities by approaching development partners who have ICT at the top of their support lists to meet the costs of ICT related expenditure. Creation of strategic mutually-beneficial partnerships with e-readiness in sectors such as education, tourism and entrepreneurship, counties can effectively leverage these partnerships for ICT funding .

Thirdly, the County ICT Roadmap can be financed through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs). ICT projects have a high risk associated with their implementation. These can be overcome by working with a partner that has demonstrated ability to deliver. One trend is to use a shared services approach for the provision of public services. The County should explore partnerships with universities and youth polytechnics to offer training and ICT literacy programmes to staff and citizens.

The introduction of user fees and special taxes to populations engaging in County-owned ICT equipment is also a type of funding for the ICT Roadmap. Special taxes will include licenses and rates for the various entities interacting with the ICT segment. The user fees will include membership and access to public computers, internet connectivity, County ICT databases and libraries among others. This category of funding will fundamentally aid in maintenance of the equipment, and ensure accountability in the uses of the various hardware and software.

There is need to enact policies that are suitable, promote sharing of costs and liabilities while promoting sustainable work methods such as service level agreements ensuring that the County gets value in ICT investments. Open Data and Open Source Legislation will enable the County optimize existing Data (for Innovation) while open Source will lower the cost of implementing Systems.

There is need to fundraise regionally and pool resources for purposes of implementation of shared services, thus two or more counties can get together implement systems that are cross cutting and of value to all the regions concerned. A case in point is Revenue Collection Systems and Health Information Systems.

Finally, the Roadmap can also be funded through direct investment ventures. The creation of investor friendly environment at the national and County levels is a potent channel through which the County can realize growth in ICT environment. The vision articulated in the Roadmap should provide a viable profile through which investors can develop solid inputs into the County.


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PART 4: ICT VISION ROADMAPS AND ICT MATURITY

In order to bridge the gap between the current state and desired state, the Roadmap proposes the implementation of various projects across four themes i.e. connected county government, citizen satisfaction, connected citizen and connected legislator. These projects are described below.

4.1. Connected County GovernmentThe Connected County Government theme looks at ICT as driver that can underpin county productivity and internal business, shared services and project management.

Table 8 below presents a list of adopted projects under connected county government together with project outcomes and objectives.

CATEGORY PRIORITIZED SYSTEM

Connected County Government

Integrated ICT Infrastructure: LANs, WANs, Internet, VPNS, Data Centers, Fiber Optic

Revenue Collection System

Enterprise Resource Planning System -

Staff Training / HRM Systems

ICT Governance Structure, Policy and Legislation

Paperless Office – Document Management, Knowledge Management, Document Approval Workflows

Collaboration and Communication Systems

Big Data Analytics, Data Visualization

Project Management

Desired Outcomes- A connected county with seamless information sharing

- Well trained and Motivated County staff

- Improved ICT Governance

- Improved Citizen Care / service delivery

- Improved project management

ObjectivesTo achieve the intended outcomes, the county should focus on providing adequate budgets to ICT. This will enable the development of ICT policies and implementation of flagship projects.

Table 8: Connected County Projects


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Connected Citizens

ICT Literacy programs

Development of e-Portals

Digital Economy legislation and policy development – e-signatures

Document Digitization and development of e-approvals

1. Infrastructure: Move away from owning infrastructure to running services; Move to Cloud infrastructure to save costs; Last Mile Connections to create WANs, LANs, VPNs.

2. ERP: Move up the COBIT maturity scale before implementing an ERP

3. Train and retrain staff to empower them optimize technology

4. Digitize Documents and implement e-workflows and authorization processes to make it possible to take services online

5. Use open source to save costs

4.2. Connected CitizensThis theme looks at ICT as a driver of business and industry. This can entail the empowering of business people, youth, women and special groups, availing of data and information for trade and investment for citizens, providing data on business opportunities in the county, data on social economic status of the county, linkages of citizens to business or employment opportunities.

Table 9 below presents a summary of projects proposed to achieve the connected citizen theme

The above systems, policy and legislation interventions are necessary to create a digital economy

Desired Outcomes1. Availability of digital fronts that enable business and citizens to engage the government

2. Public private partnerships that enable and extend service delivery

3. Appropriate legislation to bring confidence to online services. Legislation and policy on digital economy will create the conditions in which business can thrive by providing the right tools and opportunities that make it easier for local industry to do business with government

4. Improved cyber security and privacy of personal data.

5. Create an environment that makes it easier for entrepreneurs to create online business by reducing barriers of entry.

Table 9: Connected Citizens Projects


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6. Enable online participation by Citizens (e.g. through provision of Free WIFI) through improved access to health, education, government services and job opportunities.

7. Open government data to the public.

Objectives1. Address Cyber Security concerns through legislation and policy. Focus on e-signatures,

e-identification and information privacy.

2. Develop Citizen Portals that allow citizens to access government services. Make the website more interactive and embed other services such as SMS and Citizen engagement portals

3. Open Data

4. Initiate Citizen Literacy Programmes. Use e-Learning and other tools to offer literacy and education to citizens and business

5. Provide Incentives to investors to invest in Citizen tools

6. Sub Divide tenders to enable SMEs to tender for large tenders. Use technology to manage the sub divisions. This will provide SMEs with opportunities to present the market with innovative cost-effective solutions on contracts of all sizes.

4.3. Citizen SatisfactionThis theme considers delivery of E-government Services and use of ICT as a driver of County ministries and departments, public service board up to sub-County and ward level. At department level, the theme looks at staff capability and systems that can enhance service delivery.

Table 10 presents a list of projects under citizen satisfaction


Citizen Services

Integrated Health Information System with EMR, Hospital Management and Public Health

Development of e-Portals

Land, Planning, Zoning and permitting System

e-Extension Services

e-Learning System

Community Information Centers / Huduma Centers

e-Services

Citizen Help Desks

Data Visualization Dashboards

ICT Literacy Programs

Fleet Management

Citizen Service Charters

Table 10: Citizen Satisfaction Projects


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Connected Legislator

Legislation

Public Participation Systems – Radio, TV, SMS, Social Media, Collaboration Systems, Digital Libraries

Citizen Literacy Programs

Human Resource Training

Desired Outcomes• Improved ICT Literacy: ICT Literacy programmes aim at increasing the level of ICT skills

among staff and citizens. To effectively use ICT, staff must have the skills to select, use and obtain value from ICT investments.

• Improved Customer service and convenience. E-Government brings public services to citizens on their schedule and their venue. Citizens gain access to government services in their homes and offices, without having to work within the confines of limited office hours in sometimes distant locations. Wage earners do not have to forego a half a day’s pay to visit a government office

• Improved basic services such as healthcare, agricultural production, education and communication. E-Extension services will improve food security while health information systems will improve patience care outcomes. E-Learning will offer out of school youth live skills.

• E-Learning will improve staff capacity to deliver services using ICT. Benefits include improved staff skills through continuous low cost training and higher Knowledge retention rates compared to traditional training since it is possible to refresh or update course work whenever needed.

Objectives• Digitization of Government Records. A starting point is digitization of government records

and creation of document management and processing workflows including approvals. Government services can only go online and be effective if they are simple, convenient.

• Legislation and policy in cyber security, e-signatures and e-identification

• Use open source and cloud applications to access quality software at affordable prices.

4.4. Connected LegislatorThis theme considers delivery of E-government Services and use of ICT as a driver of County ministries and departments, public service board up to sub-County and ward level.

Table 11 presents a list of flagship projects under connected legislator

Table 11: Connected Legislator Projects


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Desired Outcomes• Improved Access to legislative information. E-Participation enables Citizens to access

information on Legislation enabling local communities to develop long-term capacity to solve and manage challenging social issues, often overcoming longstanding differences and misunderstandings.

• Improved quality of Citizen Participation in which citizens are informed and therefore empowered to add value to legislation decision making.

Objectives• Legislation: There is need to legislate and make it possible to accept Citizen Participation

inputs from electronic sources. Use of digital signatures is a step towards this goal.

• Capacity training and Citizen Literacy programmes: Train both staff, members of the assembly and citizens on the need, importance and use of ICT in Citizen Participation. In order to inform the public, or make better legislation, every effort should be made to ensure all parties are trained. E-Learning systems can easily address the training of MCAs and staff. Implementing or using a County Wide Human Resource Management system will help identify and address staff motivation and performance issues.

• Radio, TV, Web Portals and even two way SMS applications can be used to offer information to the public. Live Broadcasting of the County Assembly business.

4.5. COBIT ImplementationThe need of ICT Governance & Management (ICT G&M) is widely recognised by top leadership and management as an essential part of enterprise or corporate governance. Information and the pervasiveness of information technology are increasingly part of every aspect of business and public life. This has added pressure to derive more value from IT investments and manage an increasing array of IT-related risk.

Increasing regulation and legislation over business and public use of information is also driving heightened awareness of the importance of a well-governed and managed ICT environment.

ISACA developed the COBIT framework to help organizations implement sound governance practices for the ICT domain. Indeed, implementing good governance is almost impossible without engaging an effective ICT governance framework. COBIT provides a framework, best practices and standards to support ICT governance.

However, frameworks, best practices and standards are useful only if they are adopted and adapted effectively. There will be challenges that need to be overcome and issues that will need to be addressed if ICT Governance & Management is to be implemented successfully. COBIT implementation provides guidance on how to do this and covers the


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following subjects:

• Positioning ICT G& M within an enterprise

• Taking the first steps towards improving ICT G& M

• Implementation challenges and success factors

• Enabling ICT G& M-related organisational and behavioural change

• Implementing continual improvement that includes change management and programme management

• Using COBIT and its components

ISACA provides seven implementation steps to guide and facilitate the adoption of the COBIT framework within organisations as shown below:

Figure 2: COBIT implementation Phases (source ISACA)

Counties are advised to engage aqualified(certified)COBITimplementer from ISACA-KEN-YA Chapter (www.isaca.or.ke), to guide them through the imple-mentation process.


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PART 5: CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

Soh Bong Yu , a leading Korean e-Government specialist identifies the following five major areas for ensuring successful implementation of e-Government initiatives as articulated below.

OrganizationalStructure

VisionObjectivesStrategies

Laws &Regulations

InformationTechnology

BusinessProcess

Figure 3: Critical Success Factors

Source: Soh Bong Yu, “e-Government of Korea: How we have been working with it”

5.1. Vision, Objectives and StrategyA long-term plan with a clearly articulated vision and strategy is vital to the implementation of e-government. A quick fix or piecemeal approach will not work. The more effective approach is to think big and have a big picture (top-down design), but to start small and prioritize tasks (bottom-up) during the implementation process. The County Vision must therefore be available, with the ICT County Vision clearly aligned accordingly. In sum, successful e-government initiatives require:

1. A clear vision by the leaders

2. Strong support from citizens

3. Sustainable ICT Agenda setting


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5.2. Laws and RegulationsSoh Bong Yu says that it is important to plan for sufficient time and effort for legislative changes that may be required to support the implementation of new processes. The following laws need to be in place for e-government initiatives to succeed:

1. Laws on privacy and related issues such as the Data Protection Act.

2. Laws related to changes in business processes and information systems such as the e-Transaction Act.

3. Laws & Regulations regarding the government information technology Architecture and Data Centers

5.3. Organizational structuresThe effort required in change management should not be underestimated. Soh Bong Yu emphasizes that the organizational restructuring required to correspond to e-Government initiatives will typically take up between 30 and 50 per cent of total change management effort. Change in organization structures must therefore be well planned and implemented in a systematic manner. The following are important in successfully effecting organizational change:

1. Strong leadership with commitment

2. Planning – IT management and change management

3. Budget preparation and budget execution

4. Coordination and collaboration

5. Monitoring and performance measurements

6. Government-private sector-citizen partnership

5.4 Business ProcessThe existing way of doing county business may not necessarily be the most appropriate or effective. One of the tools to do business process innovation is Business Process Reengineering (BPR). BPR involves redesigning the work flow within or between department levels to increase process efficiency (i.e. to eliminate inefficiency in the work process). Counties should have a major review of existing processes with a view to re-defining them in order to leverage on ICTs.

5.5. Information TechnologyInformation technology changes rapidly. Soh Bong Yu identifies the following factors to consider when choosing technology and vendors are:

1. Level of application technologies required

2. Network infrastructure


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3. Interoperability

4. Standardization

5. Technical and human resource capabilities

More specifically, the following factors will drive the implementation and achievement of success the identified ICT transformation projects:

6. Good working relationship between the Executive, The County Assembly and Public Service Board

7. Top leadership and management support. Political goodwill and top management buy in is the key to success of the ICT Masterplan since financial investments and the right competencies can only be achieved from the top. Top leadership and management are critical both at the planning and implementation phases of the Roadmap development.

8. Establishment of a Project Management Office / Team. This office or team will be responsible for all aspects of the ICT Projects.

9. A Change Management and Capacity Building: Continuous Communication, Capacity building and team development plan is critical to the successful implementation of the ICT roadmap. A change management and capacity building plan must be developed and focus on staff skills and capacity and managing culture and group dynamics. An external and internal communication strategy must be developed and change agents and champions identified and incorporated in the plan.

10. User trainings and continuous testing to ensure users are capable of using the technologies. These trainings must focus on both internal users as well as external users of the new ICT technologies and services.

11. System Integration and projects sequencing: it is critical that projects are rightly sequenced and systems are implemented in an integrated manner to allow for seamless operations. An appropriate project implementation plan must be put in place and followed to ensure projects are prioritized on the basis of sequencing first followed by impact and costs.

12. Periodic performance monitoring, evaluation, reporting and reviews and taking appropriate corrective actions. An appropriate project management application and monitoring and evaluation staff are a must.

13. Managing people’s expectations, maintaining clarity and focus of the projects and ensuring deliverables are realistic.

14. The right organizational structure to support the ICT Strategy and ensuring right leadership and governance of the project.

15. Adequate Financing of the projects. An appropriate investment and financing strategy must be put in place and implemented to ensure the County can obtain finances from diversified sources and partners.


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PART 6: PRIORITY PROJECTS FOR QUICK WINS(6 months to Year 1)

The County discussed, adopted and prioritized several projects to be implemented in a span of five years. To implement these projects successfully, there is need for the County to select and adopt an appropriate project management portfolio with a well constituted ICT Project Governance Committee responsible for selecting and ranking ICT projects based on a sound business case and return on investments.

This section presents a summary of projects that the county can implement in a span of 6 months to one year. The projects have been group across the four themes: Connected County Government, Citizen Satisfaction, Connected legislator and connected citizen.

6.1. Connected County GovernmentTable 12 below provides a list of projects that can be implemented as quick wins under the connected county government theme.

PROJECT SOURCE OF FUNDING START DATE END DATE (YEAR) BUDGET (MILLIONS)

Unified ICT Infrastructure – NOFBI Last Mile Connections, LANs, WANs, VPNs

- National Government / ICTA for NOFBI to Sub County and Ward Offices

- County Allocations for Last Mile Connectivity

- Public Private Partnerships for WANs

June 2016 June 2020 100

ICT Policy Development

- County Allocations June 2016 Jan 2017 5

PROJECT SOURCE OF FUNDING START DATE END DATE (YEAR) BUDGET (MILLIONS)Web Portals - County Allocations June 2018 June 2020 2

Free Public Wi-Fi

- County Allocations

- ICTA

- Public Private Partnerships

Jan 2016 June 2018 30

The last Mile Connections on NOFBI are only possible once the cable reaches the County headquarters. However, this is critical in creating the foundation for most projects proposed under the connected county theme.

6.2. Connected CitizensTable 13 below provides a list of projects that can be implemented as quick wins under the connected Citizens theme.

Table 12: Connected County Project Estimates

Table 13: Connected Citizens Project Estimates


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6.3. Citizen SatisfactionTable 14 below provides a list of projects that can be implemented as quick wins under the citizen Satisfaction theme.

PROJECT SOURCE OF FUNDING START DATE END DATE (YEAR) BUDGET (MILLIONS)

E-Learning and Help Desk

1. County Allocations

2. Commission of Revenue Allocation

3. Public Private Partnerships

June 2016 June 2019 15

PROJECT SOURCE OF FUNDING START DATE END DATE (YEAR) BUDGET (MILLIONS)ICT Legislation - County Allocations Jan 2016 June 2017 5

Digital Public Participation

- Public Private partnerships

- County Allocations

Jan 2016 Jan 2017 20

Table 14: Citizen Satisfaction Project Estimates

E-Learning is central in addressing staff training, Citizen ICT literacy and supporting the business community and out of school youth.

6.4. Connected Legislator

6.5. COBIT ImplementationCost Implications

One-Off Approximate Costs (KSH)

Search, Evaluate & Procure COBIT Consultant (2months, 100,000/=)

Contract & Sign up a COBIT Consultant (1 Day, contract amount of between 400,000/- to 500,000/-)

COBIT Awareness & Appreciation Training for Top Leadership (Governor, County Exec, Speaker, and Chief Officers). (1Day Training for approx. 30 Pax, Cost of Hotel, Teas, Lunches, Cost of Trainer @ 50,000 per day)

COBIT Technical Training for Mid-level Management (Directors, Managers across Ministries)(2Day Training for approx. 30 Pax, Cost of Hotel, Teas, Lunches, Cost of Trainer @ 50,000 per day x2 Trainers)

COBIT Implementation Training for Technical Management (ICT Directors, ICT Technical Support, Auditors) (3Day Training for 10 Pax, Cost of Hotel, Teas, Lunches, @ 50,000 per day x2 Trainers)


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Annual Costs (KSH)

1. Continuous Improvement Costs – Improving processes from Level 0 through 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5. Various processes such as writing Strategic Plans, Documenting Operational Tasks, etc has to be done. The trained employees are supposed to drive these processes so the cost would approximate to the monthly salaries.

2. External Annual Audits (3-5days). COBIT Audits cost between 400,000 to 500,000 depending on the size and scope of the activities.


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Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology

Telposta Towers, 10th Floor, Kenyatta Ave. Koinange Street

P.O Box 30025-00100,Nairobi Kenya

Tel: (+254) 4920000 / 1

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.information.go.ke

The County Government of Tharaka Nithi

[email protected]

Tel: +254 713 588 460, +254 789 359 765

P.O.Box 10-60406,

Kathwanan

ICT Authority

Telposta Towers, 12th Floor, Kenyatta Ave

P.O. Box 27150 - 00100 Nairobi, Kenya

t: + 254-020-2211960/62

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

Website: www.icta.go.ke

Become a fan: www.facebook.com/ICTAuthorityKE

Follow us on twitter: @ICTAuthorityKE


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Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology

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