Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has directed the Information and Communication Ministry to ensure that all mobile phone subscribers are registered before the end of the year.
The president expressed concerns that the current increase in crime was being perpetuated through mobile telephony due to the fact that owners of mobile handsets and subscriber identity module (SIM) cards were not registered.
"To guard against these tendencies, I am directing the Ministry of Information and Communication to put in place within six months from now, an elaborate databank that will ensure all mobile telephone subscribers are registered," he said.
The police have in the past raised concerns on the lack of control in the activation and subsequent use of mobile phones in Kenya.
In a speech delivered by Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka duringthe commemoration of the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) 10th anniversary and an ICT industry Expo on Monday night, Kibaki said the government was committed to ensuring that all Kenyans have access to ICT services.
He said the government would this year spend 1.3 billion shillings (17 million US dollars) in purchasing mobile computer laboratories for each constituency for use by secondary schools and another 15 billion shillings (195 million dollars) to support the purchase of laptops.
The president said such projects would ensure that youths in the rural areas were well equipped with key ICT skills to enable them to participate effectively in the unfolding digital economy.
To redress the rural/urban divide in the access to ICT services, the president said the government has amended the law to facilitate the creation of Universal Service Fund to finance the deployment of communication services in un-served areas of the country.
He said that in the 2009/10 financial year, the government has given numerous incentives to the ICT sub-sector by lowering taxes and giving rebates on key capital intensive investment areas and asked the industry to take advantage of the situation.
Kibaki said the government recognizes the telecommunication sector as a key player in the emerging digital economy, noting that the future of the world in the highly digitalized global village was entirely dependent on the extent to which people embraced ICT innovations.
"The ICT era has brought with it an unprecedented expansion of the democratic space and a tendency and yearning everywhere for free enterprise and entrepreneurship," Kibaki said.
He said in the current situation of innovation and free enterprise, regulation was important to maintain order and avoid the misuse of technology.
"In other parts of the world, every mobile phone is associated with an owner and his particulars must be held by mobile phone service providers. It is this failure that criminals are taking advantage of to harass people,” said police spokesman Eric Kiraithe.
Police have been urging the government to pass a law giving them and other security agencies the access to details of phone ownership or usage when investigating crime.
"Lack of SIM registration is mainly to blame for a series of abductions across the country," Kiraithe said.
Kenya will join Tanzania and many other African countries which have already registered and are registering phone users in a bid to curb crime. The country hopes the process will give an impetus to fighting crimes committed using mobile phones.
Many African governments believe that the registration of SIM cards will reduce such criminal activities and handset theft, and make it easy for the authorities to crack down on criminals.