Sometime this month, Uganda's Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), together with Chinese technology company Huawei, will launch the first phase of the national data backbone, which has cost some US$30 million. The fiber-optic cable interconnects government institutions and departments with the aim of reducing spending on public administration.
Read more: Uganda Completes First Phase of National Data Backbone
The programme is organised by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Stanbic Bank and US-based companies that manufacture Tropix and Founder computer brands.
Over 300,000 laptops will be loaned to civil servants to promote e-government (electronic government).
However the latter is not happening as it should be, according to Uganda's ICT Minister Dr Ham-Mukasa Mulira (pictured)and that realisation is partly the centre of intense deliberations by the ongoing e-Governance Forum on how citizens can be primed to effectively utilise ICT tools.
Read more: Uganda: Minister Urges More Effort to Attain ICT Effectiveness
Is the Uganda government set to become an efficient deliverer of services to the 28 million Ugandans out there? At least this is what the nationals are supposed to believe if the benefits that accrue from the completion of the first phase of the National Data Backbone is anything to go by. The government has said that it will now be possible for the different ministries, government departments and agencies to hold meetings on videoconference calls; that the president will now be in a position to address parliament or cabinet on a video call.
"The report reveals both encouraging and cautionary trends," the bank said in a statement issued recently.