President Uhuru Kenyatta warns firms using courts to delay Government projects

President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday said the Government will no longer entertain companies using the courts to hold back the country.

On the back of a protracted legal battle that has delayed the roll-out of laptops to schools, the President warned that such firms would be blacklisted.

"We must move away from a vendor-driven society. Kenyans are interested in affordable and efficient services," said the President.

He said the many law suits between service providers themselves and regulators were not in the best interests of the country but only served the companies' interests.

The President spoke when he received the Digital Dividends Report 2016, a World Bank flagship project, at State House in Nairobi.

He told interested suppliers that they would not be allowed to delay the roll out of the digital learning project.

"Unnecessary rivalry between vendors has to stop if the country is to move forward and achieve its development targets," he said.

He said many more Government programmes including e-procurement, extension of the police command and control centre outside Nairobi and Mombasa, and privatisation of Terminal Two at the Port of Mombasa have been slowed down by vendors battling in courts for control.

President Kenyatta told technical training institutions in the country to open up training opportunities that will enable young people to become ICT experts.

The report was presented to Uhuru by the World Bank Country Director for Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Eritrea, Diarietou Gaye.

The digital dividends report analyses the transformational impact of the Internet, mobile phones and other related gadgets that gather, store and share information digitally.

The report defines digital dividends as benefits of technology in promoting development through reduced costs.