The deputy board chairman of Tanzania’s Public Procurement Regulatory Authority, Mr Thomas Mihayo, told the third East African Procurement Forum that it was important to implement the plan “as soon as possible”.
He was speaking during the closure of the event in Dar es Salaam at the weekend. “E-procurement will play a crucial role in improving efficiency and transparency as well as saving resources and time.”
Read more: Introduce e-procurement, regulator urges East African Community states
The region has not suffered major cyber crime scares although a major bank in Kenya had been hacked into while websites of the Ugandan Army and the Kenya’s agency The National Security Intelligence Service were also hacked into.
The connection of the region to the cyber optic cable that started mid-last year is however expected to increase internet traffic and by virtual of facilitating global connection exposes the region to global cyber criminals.
Read more: East African Community to adopt common 'cyber-crime' laws
Following the Bujumbura Ministerial discussion in September to discuss the establishment of the network, the use of ICT in the health sector has been intensified to disseminate information on the outbreak of communicable diseases such as cholera, Rift Valley Fever and H1N1.
Read more: East African Community: Health sector goes digital, with next epidemic alert a click away
It is also intended to improve delivery of government services.
The need to have common cyber laws among the five partner states of East African Community (EAC) Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda, comes at a time when the countries have started exploiting benefits of being connected to high speed Internet following linking of the region to three undersea fibre cables.
However, the link has also opened up a floodgate of cyber crimes.
Read more: East African Community eyes trade growth with cyber laws
The best part of the arrangement in the bigger picture, concerns the laying down of the much - hyped - about fibre optic cables.
With the coming of the fibre optics, we anticipate that sooner than later, the entire region shall indeed be networked, enabling the efficient and easy tapping into of various e-connection interventions in the region.