Davis Weddi
4 November 2009
Kampala — THE National Information Technology Authority-Uganda (NITA-U) has become the centre of attention in the ICT sector with stakeholders accusing the ICT ministry of sidelining them.
The continued delay by the ministry to announce when NITA-U will be operational is also causing suspicion.
While this is happening, Parliament has already started hitting at the ministry. A week ago, ministry officials were embarrassed when they were locked up at Parliamnet for reportedly telling MPs lies about the national data backbone project.
There is also contraversy over the national data backbone project.
Whereas minister Aggrey Awori told reporters recently that the second phase of the project had been halted pending completion of repairs on cables that were damaged in the first phase, MPs on the parliamentary committee on ICT insist the second phase started long ago.
This confusion has created a misunderstanding between the ICT ministry and some stakeholders even before NITA-U recruits a management team to operationalise its activities.
While ministry officials think there is a deliberate hate campaign against them, some legislators feel that NITA-U is not necessary. They say its role might be a duplication of the activities that could be better handled by Uganda Communications Commission.
NITA-U is supposed to be the main regulator of the information technology sector. One of the areas in its mandate is operationalising of services provision under the national data backbone (NBI-EGI) project. Its seven-man board inaugurated in August has also started crumbling with two of its members opting out.
NITA-U was formed earlier this year and a governing board was appointed with former state minister Betty Bigombe as the chairperson. Its origins are linked to the efforts of former ICT minister, Ham Mulira, who mooted the idea during the days of Uganda Computers Services.
According to Dr. Pat Samaanya, the ICT ministry Permanent Secretary, the authority's budget of sh1.7b in its first year will be met by the Ministry of Finance, which will also fund the organisation for the next 3 years.
The two members of the board, who bowed out are the acting commission for IT Ambrose Ruyooka and the presidential assistant on ICT Ibrahim Kaliisa. According to Awori, they were not forced out, but resigned due to busy schedules in their respective positions.
It has also emerged that some stakeholders, who were not happy with the way the authority was constitued, have initiated a petition: "The urgent need to constitute NITA-U professionally."
In an online petition so far signed by 60 ICT industry stakeholders, the author, James Lungabo, says: " I believe we can salvage the seemingly disastrous situation before us." This has also led to several allegations against the ICT ministry coming up. "I have received a lot of information, but unfortunately, am obliged not to reveal it," Lungabo said in a telephone interview.
In the petition, Lungabo enumerated that while they in the ICT community were happy with the development of NITA-U, they got disappointed that:
Some board members were positioning themselves to do business with the ICT ministry under the NITA-U-run projects like the fibre backbone.
That one of the board members, who happens to be a commissioner in the ICT ministry, was recalled by the ICT minister under unclear circumstances.
And that the position of executive director, which is supposed to have been advertised, never was. Instead the board reportedly wanted to hand-pick connected people to fill this portfolio.
"We don't want NITA-U to end up as a white elephant because the tasks ahead require performers, not politically connected officials," Lungabo said.
ICT stakeholders include every Ugandan, the Parliamentary Committee on ICTs, the ICT business community, the civil society and the ICTministry.
Consequently, the stakeholders who are also members on the I-Network Uganda mailing list, have demanded to meet the ICT ministry officials to "explain" what they think is hurting the industry.
A leading IT figure, said: "The NITA-Uganda Act provides academic institutions to be represented by a dean of an ICT faculty; government departments to be represented by the commissioner for IT and indirectly provides for the chair to have a technical person with knowledge in ICT/ IT like UCC chiefs are always engineers."
The recent showdown in parliament however indicates that there is yet a lot more to come if the Ministry does not open up and provide its stakeholder with adequate information about what is happening.
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