Africa must develop aggressive ICT policies

If Malawi is to speed up its integration into the global village, then it must develop more aggressive policies on Information and Communication Technology (ICT), an expert has said.

The expert, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, chief executive officer of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization (CTO), was speaking after a meeting with senior staff of the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) on Tuesday.

"We live in knowledge era and ICTs are the order of the day. Malawi and indeed Africa missed out on Agricultural and Industrial revolutions, we must try by all means not to miss out on the Information revolution," said Spio-Garbrah.

He added: "There have been improvements in ICT growth across Africa but, unfortunately, it has only been in mobile communication which has about 20% penetration. Unfortunately though, 95% of Africa is yet to receive or send an e-mail."

The CTO chief also said that there was significant representation of Africa at strategic bodies such as the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and CTO which Africa, and Malawi in particular, should take advantage of while it lasts.

"If we do not take advantage of the African presence at the ITU and CTO to advance continental, regional and national ICT objectives, we're never going to get such an opportunity again," he said, noting that countries that are showing significant growth in Africa are those that are heavily investing in technology.

Spio-Garbrah also encouraged Malawians to be innovative in developing their own ICTs as a means of speeding the process of bridging the digital gap that exists between Africa and the West.

"For long, we've relied on other people's products, it's time we see innovative use and production of Africa-specific ICTs so as to speed up our development. There are lots of opportunities waiting to be unveiled," he said.

E-commerce, Spio-Garbrah enthused, could help in the marketing of Malawian products to foreign markets at the click of a mouse and e-governance could help in easing, for example, congestions at several government departments, especially those that deal directly with the public.

He also encouraged Malawians to learn from Uganda, South Africa, Botswana, Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya in fields such as rural connectivity, convergence laws and new generation networks and regulating competition among others.

"But all this," he impressed, "requires aggressive policies and a keen interest in influencing capacity building and encouraging knowledge acquisition by making ICTs a mantra for development."

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