Daniel Nyassy
15 June 2003
Nairobi — The Postal Corporation of Kenya has been urged to take its services to the rural areas where the majority of Kenyans live.
Transport and Communications Minister John Michuki said many postal organisations in Africa have failed to take services to rural areas, which now seriously lack access to communication.
The continent lacks strong organisations to spearhead the development of the communications sector.
Michuki said development of the communications sector is key to economic and social wellbeing of the people.
The Minister spoke at the Whitesands Beach Hotel during the 22nd Ordinary Session of the Pan-African Postal Union (PAPU) Administrative Council Meeting, which ended yesterday.
He said African postal services faced a big challenge to serve people in rural areas which lack infrastructure while also facing the harsh realities of liberalisation, privatisation and competition.
Michuki said the Kenya Government has a policy framework to change the postal services to meet emerging challenges.
He said modernising the Postal Corporation of Kenya's national network to make it more efficient and cost-effective is one of the goals.
"The Government of Kenya has taken the issue of universal access very seriously. Plans are at an advanced stage to set up a universal service fund to finance the rollout of basic communications services in un-served and under-served areas," he said.
The Minister said Kenya has 900 post offices and over 400,000 private letter boxes.
More than 60 postal and courier operators have been licensed, he said, adding that the sector's market is about US$ 56 million and was projected to reach US$ 420 million by 2006.
He asked postal corporations in the East African region and Africa as a whole to go into automation projects to boost efficiency.
"PCK is working with its counterparts in Uganda and Tanzania on a regional automation project to facilitate a more efficient link for tracking and tracing of mail as well as financial remittance for customers within East Africa," he said.
Africa has to cope with the changes brought about by globalisation, deregulation, competition and new technologies, the minister said.
The seminar brought together participants from East, South, West and North Africa, Britain and Canada.
Among those in attendance were PAPU Secretary-General Ben Jilani Haddada, Union of Postal Services Deputy Director Moussibahou Mazou and the chairman Carlos Da Silva.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2003 The East African Standard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
