ICT CS Eliud Owalo slightly differs with President William Ruto over the loss making state owned corporations
According to the CS, nothing wrong with the parastatal having debts, as long as as they’ve plans to mitigate the situation
He pointed out as he confirmed his commitments that no more revenue leakages at Kenya BBroadcasting corporation
The Information, Communications & the Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo has disclosed that the issue of Channel O’s contract with KBC is a very historical issue going way back to the year 2006.
In an exclusive interview with Citizen TV’s stargirl Lilian Muli, the CS made it clear that there’s nothing wrong with the parastatals being in debt as long as they are working to revitalise the situation
“I have made sure since coming into office that we are not going to have revenue leakages at Kenya Broadcasting Corporation [KBC]
One of the avenues which has been a cash cow for KBC is the issue of land, everybody has been targeting KBC land.
I’ve ordered that we are going to have a proper valuation of all assets of KBC and if we are to lease out any property then those properties have to be leased out at prevailing market rates,” he opined
On the matters of court cases, Mr Owalo, said that they have had cases in court for quite a long time and at some point in time there was a ruling that this case be referred to arbitration. That arbitration process has been going on
CS Eliud Owalo, “To revitalize KBC, we have to modernize the broadcasting studio. We have to upgrade the infrastructure which is largely dilapidated
He further disclosed that the Ministry of ICT owes the media houses about 1.7 billion shillings and he have told the media houses that they are progressively going to clear those debts.
“I want the media to run away from this notion that it is the responsibility of the government to finance operations of the media by way of advertisement revenue
Questioned on the appointment of David Mugonyi as new Director General for Communication Authority of Kenya, Owala gave it a wide berth that he did not appoint the Director General of the Communications Authority of Kenya.
“That does not lie within my functional domain, it is the domain of the board of CAK to do that
On cyber insecurity
The CS, pointed out that it’s not the preserve of the CAK alone to handle cyber insecurity in this country.
“We are determined to pursue our digitalization agenda. We need to do is to build a robust comprehensive risk mitigation framework around that space so that we are not exposed to cyber-attacks
He underlined that the Ministry is partnering with MPs through the CDF to ensure that in each and every ward in this country, they are going to have a digital hub
“There is nothing wrong with a given parastatal being in debt, what is wrong is being in debt and doing nothing about it to alleviate the situation. I have given instructions to the management and board of the Postal Corporation of Kenya that moving forward, I don’t want to see any salary delays. The critical success factor for Posta moving forward is the pursuit of e-commerce,” he observed