We dont seem to learn!!! Why should each country for example Kenya not have its own e-payment gateway? Every time you involve third parties in transactions, you up the prices its basic economics 101 which makes one wonder "that the cost of deploying this e-payment gateway is about US$100 million and is estimated to be more economical than if each country were to design and implement its own gateway." Why is it so hard to get our act together, and amend the necessary laws so that e-transactions are legally recognized, and then let the private sector build the e-payment gateways!! In any case did anybody bother to shop around to find out how much an e-payment gateway actually costs, or was the above accepted as the gospel truth without facts? NEPAD e-Africa Commission project progress is hailed The NEPAD e-Africa Commission Steering Committee held its 9th meeting on 11 June 2008 in Pretoria, South Africa and hailed progress made by the organisation on projects approved by the committee such as UHURUNET submarine cable, UMOJANET terrestrial cable, the Kigali Protocol, the NEPAD e-Schools Initiative and the NEPAD e-2010 Project. The meeting was attended by representatives from Botswana, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa. Notable among them were Kenya High Commissioner to South Africa Tom Amolo; Muhammad Zannah, Minister (Political), Nigeria High Commission in South Africa; and Mamadou M. Seck, Director of NEPAD in Senegal. The meeting particularly took note of the NEPAD e-Schools Initiative stakeholders conference organised by the e-Africa Commission in Johannesburg, South Africa in April 2008 and the on-going activities with the various countries and agencies to develop this project. Progress on NEPAD e-2010 project The NEPAD e-2010 Project was approved by the 7th Steering Committee meeting in 2007 and since then progress has been made on development of the website portal, the software for the booking system, and the NEPAD Africa e-Payment Gateway. The Kenya Government, through its Tourist Trust, with which the NEPAD e-Africa Commission has been working closely on this project, provided funds and seconded a person to help with the establishment of the e-payment gateway in Kenya. NEPAD Africa e-Payment Gateway The NEPAD Africa e-Payment Gateway is an e-tourism project intended to benefit the African continent by reducing the costs of doing tourism business. The project will enable African citizens and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) of African countries to receive direct payments from anywhere in the world in a more cost effective and efficient way similar to that used in developed economies. The objective is to bring revenue directly into Africa using an African owned and operated infrastructure that will directly impact the GDP of African economies. Dr. Henry Chasia, the NEPAD e-Africa Commission Executive Deputy Chairperson, says that while engaging in this project the commission will seek to enhance policy and regulatory reforms to facilitate and accelerate electronic commerce. Lyndall Shope-Mafole, Director-General in the South African Department of Communications, and one of the executive committee members, emphasised the importance of the project to the South African Government in its efforts to ensure that all African countries participate in and benefit from the FIFA World Cup 2010 which is being hosted by South Africa. Says Ahmed Kassam, the project manager: “The project is intended to provide African businesses, citizens as well as governments with efficient and affordable access to electronic commerce platforms; and provide each country with the ability to increase tourism and SME sector revenues without incurring the high costs charged by existing third party platforms residing outside of Africa. “The project could secure e-tourism transactions by creating an escrow account that would hold the payment until the customer was satisfied.” The project is a joint partnership between African and international investors initially targeting the tourism sector but broad in scope to cater for the SMEs in other non-tourism sectors that do not have the resources to market and conduct electronic commerce through the internet. It is intended that African entities will hold the majority of shares in the venture. The NEPAD e-Africa Commission has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) to support the design, development and roll-out of the gateway. The cost of deploying this payment gateway is about US$100 million and is estimated to be more economical than if each country were to design and implement its own gateway. The executive committee also resolved to convene an e-Africa Commission meeting in August, 2008. The commission consists of Ministers responsible for ICT, AU Commissioners for Infrastructure and Energy, and Human Resources, Science and Technology, the CEO of the NEPAD Secretariat and the Executive Deputy Chairperson of the NEPAD e-Africa Commission. It will be chaired by the Minister in charge of ICT in the country chairing the NEPAD Heads of State and Government Implementation Committee (HSGIC). For more information, contact: Samuel Mikenga Communications Manager NEPAD e-Africa Commission Email: SMikenga@eafricacommission.org Email: SamuelM@nepad.org Email: s.mikenga@paris.com Tel: +27 12 841 4523 (office) Cell: +27 725 296 769 Fax: +27 12 841 4094 Website: www.eafricacommission.org