Frederick Kiwanuka
17 June 2009
Kampala — The information and communication technology (ICT) ministry does not trust the Police to protect its communication installations, a senior official in the ministry has said.
Following the disappearance of valuable equipment that was protected by the Police in Jinja district, the director of communication and broadcasting, Eng. Godfrey Kibuuka, recently said: "May be in future, but at the moment, we are still sceptical of entrusting our equipment to the Police."
Kibuuka was speaking during a sensitisation workshop for leaders of Luweero, Nakasongola and Masindi districts at Lyiderenes Hotel in Luweero district.
He said after the theft, the Inspector General of Police, Kale Kayihura, established a unit to guard government installations, but it did not change the ministry's attitude towards the force.
The leaders were being briefed on the second phase of the installation of an optic fibre cable that will run from Bombo in Luweero to Gulu district.
The $60m project, which commences next month, is part of the $102m National Data Transmission Backbone and e-government infrastructure, which is funded by a Chinese loan.
Earlier, a Police officer from Masindi district, Tom Eyaku, had suggested that the communication installations be put near Police units to enable easy monitoring.
But Kibuuka said the ministry preferred employing private guards. Opening the one-day workshop, the ICT minister Aggrey Awori said the project, whose first phase linked Entebbe, Kampala, Jinja, Bombo and government ministries, was aimed at installing a countrywide optic fibre infrastructure to enhance transmission of data, voice and video communication.
In his speech read by ICT state minister Alintuma Nsambu, Awori said the Bombo-Gulu phase would entail laying 1,500kms of optic fibre. He said the national infrastructure would be linked through Kenya to the sub-marine cables at the East African coast of Mombasa.
Kibuuka called for support from the local leaders and collaboration with other infrastructure providers like the road authority.
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