Officially opening the first ITEX ICT Conference in Gaborone last week, Mrs Venson-Moitoi said the digital gap was an obstacle to development.
Mrs Venson-Moitoi added that government recognised that the public private cooperation to overcome the digital divide was crucial to the building of an information society.
She described the exhibition as a step that would add momentum to government efforts to close the digital divide in Botswana.
She said the government was committed to an ICT supported development agenda, as evidenced by the swift steps taken in adopting the national ICT policy, the cyber crime law and other supporting ICT related policies. Mrs Venson-Moitoi said the government, for 20 years, has been committed to electronic government (‘e- government’).
“We just did not give it that name 20 years ago,” she explained. “For the past 15 years, many government activities had been computerized to bring efficiency.”
She said the government believed that digital and the web lifestyle would give it an opportunity to reinvent itself around constituents.
The electronic initiatives contemplated by the government, she said, would bring Botswana into the company of a growing number of countries that had realised the extend of the social and economic benefits.
The minister said information security was a concern to her ministry and the creation of a legal and regulatory framework has been recognised as a fundamental requirement.
She urged people to have confidence in the transactions they conducted in the internet, adding that privacy and data protection, consumer protection and visible protection from cyber-crime were required.
She said recently Parliament adopted a cyber crime law to address crimes committed using electronic media adding that she was hopeful that such legislation would be most effective.
The minister urged all the involved parties to work together to reduce the impact of computer related crimes on users so that these situations would not affect people’s willingness to use e- government.
The three-day conference was aimed at providing an opportunity for professionals and stakeholders to benchmark, learn, share and network hence strengthening Botswana’s ICT policy implementation.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Portia Rapitsenyane
Quelle/Source: Dailynews, 04.08.2008
