President Kenyatta with IBM senior Vice-President Rodney Adkins and Jendayi Frazer among other officials. Photo/PSCU
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 21 – Information technology company IBM has pledged to partner with the government to improve service delivery.
Speaking when he paid a courtesy call on President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House Nairobi, IBM senior Vice-President Rodney Adkins said his company would work with the Jubilee Government in ensuring Kenyans received better services.
Adkins, who was accompanied by former US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer, singled out security, tax administration, migration services and education as the immediate areas that could benefit from his company’s investment.
He said his meetings with officials from the ministries of Interior and Coordination of National Government, Education, and Devolution, had established exact areas where his company’s investment would be useful.
“During my meetings with Government officials, we explored areas that could benefit from our partnership,” Adkins said.
President Kenyatta welcomed IBM’s investment in the country, saying his Government was keen on using ICT to transform Kenya in line with the Vision 2030 development blueprint.
“Your decision to invest in Kenya is a vote of confidence in our country as an investment destination of choice,” President Kenyatta said.
Early this month, IBM Corporation launched its 12th Research Laboratory globally at the Catholic University in Nairobi.
The laboratory which is the first of its kind in Africa will conduct applied and far-reaching exploratory research into the grand challenges of the African continent by delivering commercially-viable innovations that impact people’s lives.
The 2000metres squared facility features one of Africa’s most powerful, cloud-enabled computing hubs giving IBM researchers the ability to analyse and draw insight from vast amounts of data in the search for solutions to Africa’s most pressing challenges such as energy, water, transportation, agriculture, healthcare, financial inclusion and public safety.
