Speaking during a communications conference that took place in Kampala recently state minister for ICT, Nyombi Thembo asked the law fraternity to offer up some solutions.
He said Uganda is currently facing enormous ICT challenges given the fast pace at which the industry is evolving. He cited public policy, regulation, legislation, internet freedom, and intellectual property rights issues as areas that needed attention.
He said “as is the case anywhere in the developing world, Uganda is grappling with Public Policy, Regulation, Legislation, Internet Freedom and Intellectual Property Rights issues just to mention a few,” he said.
He also spoke about increasing cybercrime inclusive of identity thefts, online, child pornography and private radio stations that get involved in hate campaigns, sectarianism.
He said, “In order to address the challenges facing the ICT sector, the government of Uganda has put in place a number of policy measures and interventions. Just recently, we passed the Communications Act of 2013, as the key legislation for regulating the country’s communications sector. And, the Ministry of ICT will soon unveil the National ICT Strategy and Investment Plan, 2015-2020. With regard to cybercrime, we have put in place basic Cyber laws as well as establishing a Computer Emergence Response Team (CERT). ”
He called for easing the tensions between Internet freedom and intellectual property because even if this freedom and intellectual property rights are complementary in nature, they conflict each other, especially in countries that heavily restrict information.
Nyombi said, “We should explore concrete ways on how to utilize ICTs in today’s Information Age, and how to bring communications law into today’s Digital Society.”
Godfrey Mutabazi Executive Director UCC said although ICT is indispensable in our lives, it have created a number of legal and regulatory challenges. These include human rights infringements, privacy and security issues among others.
“I applaud the demonstrable interest the legal fraternity has exhibited in empowering themselves with ICT knowledge and skills. We are eager to exchange views with you in a bid to improve our performance in the sector,” he said.
He asked the ULS and the legal fraternity in general, to continue supporting the communications commission by rendering legal interpretation and litigation of ICT-related issues.
Mutabazi said, “I would like to challenge the legal fraternity, the media, and other stakeholders here present, to have a keen interest in the ICT industry. In this Information Age, knowledge and skills of ICT are a prerequisite in our day-to-day operations.”
The Ministry is at the forefront of implementing priority areas aimed to develop a modern, and well integrated ICT sector and these include Operationalization and commercialization of the National Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) and e-government infrastructure to enhance service delivery and e-government, institutionalize the ICT function in the government by establishing ICT units in ministries, departments, agencies and local governments, and create common ICT cadre to enhance service delivery among others.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Winnie Mandela
Quelle/Source: East African Business Week, 09.11.2014
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