Kampala — The Executive Director of Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), Mr Patrick Masambu, has been elected the chairman of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) Council.

The elections took place at the 48th CTO Council meeting held in Abuja, Nigeria on October 9.

Mr Masambu becomes the first Ugandan to hold such a post. He will be at the helm of the new executive committee (board of directors) representing both the public and private sectors in ICT for 2008 and 2009.

CTO is an international development partnership between Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth governments, business and civil society organisations.

It provides the international community with effective means to help bridge the digital divide and achieve social and economic development, by delivering to developing countries unique knowledge-sharing programmes in the use of ICT in the specific areas of telecommunications, IT, broadcasting and the Internet.

In his acceptance speech, Mr Masambu noted that the organisation needs to improve continuously, building on the successes achieved during the past. Internationally, Mr Masambu is a board member of the Regional African Satellite Organisation.