Government committed to increase jobs through ICT

On April 12, 2018 the Ministry of ICT held and award ceremony of ICT innovators at the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance. The launch was officiated by the Prime Minister, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda. Below is his speech that was read for him the Third Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs, Al Haji Ali Kirunda Kivejinja.

The Government of Uganda recognises ICT as key Pillar for implementation of the long term national development programmes. This was recognised from as far back as 2003 when the first ICT Policy Framework was written under the then Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication, where it was noted that the harnessing of ICT would lead to a "knowledge-based economy" and hence a knowledge-based society. This was further affirmed by the decision to create a fully-fledged ministry to cater for the country's ICT needs.

According to the NDP II, the Government has committed itself to increase job creation through ICT research and development as well as increase the stock of ICT skilled and industry ready workforce. In addition, one of the NRM manifesto clearly puts emphasis on the promotion of ICT research and innovation. In this regard, I am glad to note that the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance has gone further to create an enabling environment for promotion of ICT research and innovation by implementing the National ICT Initiatives Support Programme (NIISP) that has three core pillars i.e. support to ICT innovators, development of regional ICT innovation hubs and supporting the existing ICT incubation hubs.

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me congratulate the team at the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance for this noble achievement that has brought us here today. Today we celebrate the innovative capabilities of Ugandans, especially the youth in the use of ICTs to produce very useful products.

I also want to congratulate all the innovators, who participated in this initiative. I am glad to note that over 300 projects were submitted for consideration out of which 12 were finally selected to be supported. This huge number of applicants shows the extent to which our young people have taken up ICTs and are developing innovations. I have been made to understand that all the proposals were very good and, if resources allowed, more projects would have been supported. To those of you who were not selected, I do encourage you to continue improving on your projects and you shall definitely benefit from future Government support.

I am very pleased to note that the selected innovations are not limited to ICT, but cut across other spheres of life such as health, agriculture, finance and energy, among others. This goes far to show that once used well, ICTs can actually support the economic and social development of this country and indeed catapult the country to middle income status.

As already pointed out by the minister, for a very long time, the Government of Uganda and the business sector have overly relied on foreign ICT products and solutions. Now given the demonstration of the capabilities of our innovators, I want to encourage Government entities and our private sector to give the first opportunity to Ugandan ICT firms whenever acquiring new systems. As a country, we should stop being a net importer of ICTs, but rather strive to be net exporters of ICTs!

Today, it is truly a time to celebrate our innovators. However, I hope you will not stop being innovators, but continue to build on what you have achieved. As you receive the Government support to extend your innovations further, please use the resources very well and for the right purpose.

At the same time, I want to challenge our innovators to produce a Ugandan WhatsApp or Facebook so that the revenue that we lose to foreign campaigns can be retained in Uganda. I also want to take this opportunity to caution all Ugandans to use ICTs responsibly. Some use ICTs for posting offensive messages that are not only a wastage of time but also a misuse of a great resource such as Internet. Additionally, the increasing use of ICTs has also come along with increasing risk of cyber-attacks and other ICT security risks. Hactivists, terrorists and other organised criminals are also making innovations with bad intentions targeting the cyberspace. So let us take caution as we embrace innovations.

As I conclude, I want to emphasise that the way of carrying out business in the world today is changing at a very high speed with new technologies taking a centre stage. Both Government and the private sector have no alternative other than to move in that direction and adopt the use of ICTs to modernise service delivery. These innovations in ICT are fundamentally disrupting the way we work, learn and interact so as a nation, we shall adapt all the ICT innovations for the good of the country.

I thank you all for listening to me!

For God And My Country