Constant investments in information and communication technology infrastructure by the government and private sector have over the years narrowed the digital divide and placed Kenya miles ahead of its East African neighbours with regard to 3rd Generation (3G) and 4th Generation (4G) mobile coverage.
Improvements in digital infrastructure and last-mile access, including a US$3 billion investment in the expansion of undersea cable networks, have ensured Internet connectivity to an estimated 240 million users in Africa.
Although Kenya’s internet penetration is higher than that of Africa, more needs to be done to improve rural access to broadband as well as internet-enabled devices.
Since 2006, the government has made considerable progress by initially providing the entire East African region with comprehensive fibre optic networks to connect the country with the outside world. This was followed by developing a comprehensive country-wide terrestrial fibre optic network that reduced the cost of broadband services.
The network spanned all corners of the country and linked Kenya to all its neighbours. Currently, Kenyans enjoy high-speed connectivity in almost all parts of the country. The heavy investments in broadband have yielded remarkable returns. According to the Communications Authority (CA), by September 2021, mobile (SIM) penetration in Kenya was at a whopping 133.3 per cent.
The data driven digital economy in Kenya is rapidly growing and evolving as a result of expansions in mobile broadband networks such as 3G and 4G. CA data indicates that at the end of 2021, at least 94 per cent of the Kenyan population was covered by 4G network. Because connection to fixed broadband and computer use is less spread in the country, smartphones are playing a key role in Internet access and data transfer, and plans are underway to begin testing 5G connectivity. Terrestrial cabling to all corners of the country is also complete.
National Public Key Infrastructure (NPKI)
The Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs through the ICT Authority as a licensed Electronic–Service Content Provider (E-SCP) and as the Government Licensed Certification Authority (GovCA) and the Communication Authority (CA) as the regulator and Root Certification Authority (RCA) are currently implementing the NPKI.
The NPKI is a National Critical Information Infrastructure (NCII) and is recognized in the Vision 2030 blueprint as one of the ICT flagship projects aimed at authorising and authenticating information systems in the country as well as facilitating the rollout of e-Government services and electronic transactions. The integration of digital signatures into various government services as a form of online security and identity will increase the level of trust between government agencies, customers, business partners, vendors and ultimately the citizens spurring e-commerce and digital trade.
The ICT Authority is currently working on the operationalisation and activation of the National Public Key Infrastructure (NPKI) as one of the core deliverable projects within this financial year (2021-2022).
As the Government Certification Agency (GCA), the ICT Authority is expected to offer the digital certificates services to various Government agencies among them the Kenya Revenue Authority, the National Transport and Safety Authority, Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning, and the National Treasury.
The National Public Key Infrastructure (NPKI) is a system used for the creation, storage and distribution of digital certificates, which are used to verify that a particular public key (online/virtual identity) belongs to a certain entity. The NPKI comprises a Root Certificate Authority (RCA) and the respective Government Certificate Authorities (CAs). The Kenyan Government Root Certificate Authority (RCA) is as by law operated and managed by the Communications Authority of Kenya.
The Kenyan Government Certificate Authority (GCA) is operated and managed by the ICT Authority (ICTA) as per the law.
ICTA is a Certification Authority, issuing digital certificates to end-users who in turn use them as per the applications that need protection, validation and non-repudiation.
The use of digital signature technology is used to identify transacting parties, to confirm whether the transaction has been changed or not, and to prove the fact of the transaction.
The envisaged use of the National Public Key Infrastructure (NPKI) currently in government includes digital online transactions, e-learning, and e-Government.
Benefits of NPKI
The government’s vision is to provide a digitally empowered citizenry, living in a digitally enabled society as the per the country’s digital economy blueprint. Digital economy and electronic transactions ecosystem cannot take place without the capacity of electronically identifying people, entities, organisations’ and machines in a reliable way.
The National Public Key Infrastructure (NPKI) technology using digital certificates (equivalent to electronic identity cards or wet ink) is the most secure form of identification electronically and also ensures protecting electronic data.
The National Public Key Infrastructure (NPKI) facility will offer the following core benefits to various MCDA’s and government agencies:
Authentication
The NPKI) Infrastructure univocally guarantees an entity’s identity and attributes (who is it and what is it?) and establishes who is sending/receiving data across.
Integrity
The NPKI service functionality detects any changes that may have taken place accidentally or intentionally while data is stored or transmitted over the Internet. Authentication and integrity services are the basis of electronic signatures, which can be compared with hand-written signatures, thus removing the need for paper and wet ink.
Non-repudiation
The NPKI ensures all parties to a transaction cannot convincingly deny having participated in the transaction.
Confidentiality
The confidentiality service enables electronic data (files and communications) to be protected, and controls access to the data by applying PKI-based authentication mechanisms.
The NPKI scheme consists of four envisaged independent organisational structures and agencies. These are;
- Steering committee: The Steering committee has a role to supervise, manage and make strategic decisions related to National PKI.
- Root Certification Authority (CA): The Communications Authority has the role of a Root CA which supervises and regulates Certification Authorities (CAs).
- Government Certification Authority (GCA): The ICT Authority has a role of Government Certification Authority (GCA) which issues digital certifications.
- Registration Authority (RA): An e-Government service provider assumes the role of a Registration Authority, which identifies and registers subscribers of digital certificates to Government Certification Authorities (GCAs). (e.g. Ministries and other user agencies). This role will be played by the ICT Authority.
Supporting Legal and Regulatory Framework for the NPKI
The highest legislation related to NPKI in Kenya as per the current laws and regulations is the “Kenya Information and Communications Act of 1998 CAP 411A” revised under the “Electronic Certification and Domain Name Administration Regulation 2010”.
With these laws, both the ICT Authority and the Communication Authority are mandated and empowered to offer the NPKI Services in their respective distinct roles as follows:
Communications Authority of Kenya (CA)
CA’s role is to define license frameworks for Certificate Service Content Providers (e-CSP’s) or Government Certificate Authority & Private Certificate Authority that issue certificates through “Technical rollout requirements for Certification Service Providers.”
The ICT Authority
As a State Corporation formed by the Legal Notice No. 183, cited as the Information and Communications Technology Authority Order, 2013 under the State Corporations Act, Cap. 446. Under Section 4 of the aforementioned Order, ICTA is mandated to amongst others, “promote e-Government services, and facilitate optimal electronic, electronic form, electronic record and equipment use in the public service”. ICTA is, therefore, the Government Certification Authority (GCA) with respect to the operationalisation of the NPKI.
Additional Legal and Regulatory Support for NPKI
Business Laws Amendment Act – March 2020
The recent developments to the scope of application of Electronic Certification services. The amendment has necessitated the amendment of KICA Section 83B (1) by deleting paragraph (c). The Business Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was passed to law on 18th March 2020. Clause 13 of the Bill provides for the amendment of section 83B of KICA to provide for electronic means of authenticating and signing documents of title which was previously not applicable.
The Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Regulations, April 2020 Section 59. (1)
A digital signature certificate required by a procuring entity shall be obtained from a certifying agency licensed by the Communications Authority of Kenya for accounting officer, head of the procurement function, tender opening and evaluation committee, as the case may be.
Land Registration Act (Electronic Transactions) Regulations Amendment Proposal 2020
The ongoing amendments to the Lands Registration Act provide for various uses and applications of the Digital and Electronic Signatures.
Connectivity Infrastructure
Kenya currently boasts of being one of the most connected countries on the Eastern Coast of Africa. There are six submarine cables; TEAMS, EASSY, SEACOM, DARE, PEACE and LION that offer connectivity to the rest of the world via redundant routing. The shared services including the internet are accessed through the Government Common Core Network (GCCN). Inland, there is a backbone, metro and last-mile connectivity that has cut across the country through the Government National Optic Fiber Infrastructure (NOFBI).
Subsequently, the government network is connected to the international broadband highway through TEAMS, an undersea fibre cable providing an activated internet capacity of 10 Gbps. Further, the government has a 20% shareholding of 5.2 TB (current capacity of TEAMS). The current TEAMS cable has no redundancy, thus affects the service availability and compromises the quality of the service. There are other submarine cables at the coast which are as follows: –
(a) DARE 1
(b) SEACOM
(c) LION-2
(d) EASSY
(e) PEACE
Backbone
In the last ten (10) years, the government has built about 8,900km of terrestrial fibre that has reached the sub-county level, mainly connecting key government institutions and offices for efficient service delivery. The government implemented the National Optic Fibre Backbone Infrastructure (NOFBI) in three Phases. NOFBI phase I was implemented between 2005-2009 and covered 4300Km of terrestrial fibre.
NOFBI Phase 1 was largely a linear network and needed to be improved to make it more reliable and available; hence, in 2010 the Government embarked of NOFBI Phase 2 in order to provide a more reliable, stable and efficient basic backbone network and also offer protection/redundancy leveraging on the NOFBI Phase I implementation. The NOFBI Phase 2 project work started in September 2014 and its scope included 2,100km fibre links and IP equipment to all the 47-county headquarters, the building of metropolitan area networks in all 47-county headquarters, and creating redundancy to the national backbone.
In 2017, the government embarked on NOFBI 2E network with a scope of 2,500km fibre links and IP equipment majorly covering sub-counties and creating sub-rings to further increase redundancy.
Kenya has since achieved a more reliable, stable and efficient national backbone network that is being used by the government at the national and county levels.
National Optic Fibre Backbone Infrastructure
Metro
In the last 10 years, the government has built a total of 534km of metro, mostly in Nairobi and County headquarters. These connect key public institutions and offices to offer service delivery. Due to metro connectivity challenges and the need for interconnectivity in public institutions, there is a great demand for the government to expand metro connectivity for effective service delivery as per the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Digital Economy Blueprint, National Broadband Strategy 2018-2023 and Smart Africa 2063.
Last-Mile
The foundation of ICT infrastructure is physical connectivity. That is a combination of First Mile, Middle Mile, and Last Mile. First Mile is the underwater cables, the Middle Mile is the backbone and metro network along with transmission and core network, and the Last Mile is the final connection to users. The Last Mile connectivity aims to ensure that national, county and other government institutions are connected to the backbone network for the delivery of digital services across the country.
The Smart County Project
This is a component of the larger Kenya Transparency Communication & Infrastructure Programme (KTCIP) to support ICT adoption within county governments in Kenya. The sub components of the programme include:
- Implementation of a Unified Communications System and an Integrated County Revenue Management System for Nairobi City County;
- For the other 46 Counties:
- Assist counties to develop ICT roadmaps that are aligned with the National ICT Master plan and their local county development plans;
- Assist counties to equip their county headquarters (and sub-counties) with basic equipment including office software applications, email and training;
- Assist selected counties to implement certain aspects of their ICT Road Maps.
These components are intended to help counties to improve service delivery to their constituents in a faster and efficient way, while being transparent and accountable.
County ICT Roadmaps
All the 47 counties now have ICT Roadmaps. These roadmaps are aligned with the National ICT Master Plan and the local county development plans. Through the roadmaps, counties are able to provide the best, most cost-effective ICT-enabled services and resources to its citizens.
They have also helped county governments to make ICT investments that are consistent with global best practice and with the idea of shared ICT services with the central government and neighbouring county ICT infrastructure.
The abridged version of the county roadmaps presents an overview of the gaps identified for intervention in four thematic areas namely, Connected County Government, Citizen Satisfaction, Connected Citizen, and Connected Legislator.
The key strategies identified in the implementation of the roadmaps are: Infrastructure, Connectivity and Inter-operability; Human Capital and Workforce Development; Public Service Delivery; and Policy Environment and Legal Framework.