NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 23 – The Ministry of Information Communication and Technology has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of South Sudan in laying of fibre optic cables.
The MoU was signed by the ICT Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i and the South Sudan Communication Minister Rebecca Okwachi. The agreement is intended to provide effective communication and smooth economic engagements across the two countries.
Okwachi says the two countries will now have a chance to interact and communicate effectively.
“Somebody said one day it doesn’t matter whether I am in prison as long as I can communicate. For us as a landlocked country we feel that having this infrastructure really helps us to connect with the other parts of the world and much more with the region,” Okwachi told Capital FM.
On his part Matiang’i said the project will also link the four countries within the northern corridor which include Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan.
“We are one development community and we will work towards removing all barriers to effective communication and smooth economic engagements so that we support the growth of the economies for the countries within the northern corridor,” he told a news conference held on Friday.
The fibre optic cables will be laid alongside the construction of the Eldoret-Juba road in a bid to cut costs of the project that will run till 2022
“Having this fibre optic cable laid across the project of ministry of transport gives us the opportunity to fast track the connection in terms of technology making life easier as you work on the road you are also working on the fibre,” Okwachi said.
South Sudan, one of the world’s least developed countries gained independence from Sudan in July 2011 aims to lay the fibre-optic network in order to link the capital Juba with the rest of the world as well as cut the high cost of using the Internet.
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