Here is the latest issue of the APC Africa ICT Policy Monitor e-updates No. 13, 
a selection of the latest content added to the Africa ICT Policy Monitor website.

For these news, information resources and upcoming events, please visit the 
APC Africa Policy Monitor Website links below. 


Editor
APC Africa Policy Monitor Website
http://africa.rights.apc.org/

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News > Access

 Cameroon: Telecom Conference starts with a focus on 'Access'
06/09/2005 (Cameroon Tribune) -- The Commonwealth Telecommunication delegates yesterday, kick-started the Yaounde forum at the Conference Centre. There was every evidence yesterday at the Yaounde Conference Centre that the greatest challenge in telecommunication is not just the rapid developments in the Information and Communication Technology but the difficult way to have access to it.

 Ethiopia: Over 11 mln Birr rural technology expansion center to begin service soon
25/08/2005 (ENA) -- A rural technology expansion center constructed in Afar State with an outlay of over 11 million Birr would soon begin providing services, the State animal, natural resource and environmental protection bureau said.

 Kenya: Parliament website shut after media reports
03/09/2005 (East African Standard) -- Kenyan parliament has shut down its website amid reports that the The Standard’s exclusive report of well-guarded secrets embarrassed some MPs. Yesterday, http://www.parliament.go.ke was blank after the two-day serialisation of what reads like an A-Z of some of our MPs’ hitherto unknown — and perhaps best kept — career and educational details.

 South Africa: FXI expresses concerns over Convergence Bill
16/08/2005 (IFEX) -- The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) is deeply disturbed by a number of provisions in South Africa's new Convergence Bill, which is supposed to replace existing broadcasting and telecommunications legislation, and is also concerned about the process that has led up to the development of the Bill. The FXI presented a number of these concerns to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications earlier today. A number of provisions threaten the freedom of expression and independence of the communications sector, and the FXI fears that the Bill will not necessarily address the growing divide between the communications 'haves' and 'have-nots' in South Africa.

 Guinea: Government Democratises Airwaves
07/09/2005 (IFEX) -- The small West African republic of Guinea took an important step toward guaranteeing press freedom last month, following the signing of a presidential decree that opens up the airwaves to private broadcasters, reported the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

 Rwanda: RITA to launch ICT media network
26/08/2005 (New Times Rwanda) -- Rwanda Information Technology Authority (RITA) will soon embark on a holistic ICT/media approach aimed at imparting the media with ICT skills to promote their reporting. On Tuesday, RITA assembled various journalists and discussed modalities of establishing the first ever ICT Media Network in the country.

News > Laws and Regulation

 Ugandan President stops TV tax
06/09/2005 (NewVision) -- PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has ordered information minister Dr James Nsaba Buturo to stop, with immediate effect, levying tax on television sets that are not used for commercial purpose. Museveni made the directive while meeting members of the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation at State House Nakasero yesterday morning.

 Nigeria: New guidelines for erection of telecom masts
05/09/2005 (Vanguard) -- The Nigeria Communications Commission, NCC , says new guide lines for the erection of telecommunication masts by telecom service providers in the country will soon be out. The new guidelines, according to the regulatory authority, will spell out many things as regards erection of masts in the country including the exact proximity to residential buildings.

 South Africa: No licences for content, applications providers
27/08/2005 (ITWeb) -- Applications and content service providers will not require licences in terms of the Convergence Bill, says Joe Mjwara, Department of Communications deputy director-general in charge of policy.

News > E-Commerce

 Zambia: E-solutions right solution at a right time
02/09/2005 (Times of Zambia) -- THE steadfast growth in Zambia’s gross domestic product (GDP) needs to be backed by the utilisation of electronic solutions (e-solutions) in the economy, Huawei Technologies managing director Zhang Wei has said. Mr Wei said in a statement released in Lusaka yesterday that his company had introduced e-banking, e-governments and e-campus in Zambia to assist the country in embracing and advancing in e-solutions. Zambia | E-Commerce

 South Africa: Websites Become Lucrative in SA
25/08/2005 (BusinessDay ) -- SOME South African websites are finally becoming an effective way of generating revenue for a business by attracting enough local and international consumers to make them viable. South Africa | E-Commerce

News > E-Governance

 Botswana: ICT can spur political change
01/09/2005 (BOPA) -- GABORONE - A British academic attending WITFOR in Gaborone has called for a shift of perception from information and communication technology (ICT) as an instrument for development to ICT as part of a political process of change.

 Uganda: Digital land titles in offing
23/08/2005 (NewVision) -- The lands ministry will introduce electronic land titles to eliminate the over 4,000 fake land titles in the country, the minister, Kahinda Otafiire, has said. During a workshop at the Grand Imperial Hotel in Kampala recently, Otafiire said the ministry had hired Stewards Net Technologies and Magna Carda to computerise the land registration system and print the cards.

 Nigeria: Obasanjo gives nod to electronic voting
23/08/2005 (BusinessDay Online) -- President Olusegun Obasanjo has given tac-it support for the use of electronic voting machine for 2007 polls. This is even as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) maintains that the National Assembly cannot dictate to it on the method to be adopted for the polls.

 Zambia: State to computerise expenditure monitoring
22/08/2005 (Times of Zambia) -- The Government of Zambia will soon come up with a computerised system of checking how ministries are operating and utilising their budgetary allocations as a way of enhancing efficient use of money. Ministry of Finance Permanent Secretary for budget Petronella Mwangala said yesterday when she appeared before the parliamentary committee on estimates that some ministries had a tendency of not using money even when the treasury had released the funds.

News > National ICT Strategies

 Human Development Report 2005 Launched
08/09/2005 (UNDP) -- This year’s Human Development Report takes stock of human development, including progress towards the MDGs. Looking beyond statistics, it highlights the human costs of missed targets and broken promises. Extreme inequality between countries and within countries is identified as one of the main barriers to human development—and as a powerful brake on accelerated progress towards the MDGs.

 Botswana: Political leaders urged to appreciate ICT
06/09/2005 (BOPA) -- Information communication technology experts have emphasised the importance of sensitising African political leaders about ICT issues so that they can appreciate and support it.

 Botswana: WITFOR Declaration To Be Presented To UNESCO
05/09/2005 (Mmegi) -- The just ended World Information Technology Forum (WITFOR) conference adopted a proposal called the “Gaborone Declaration”, which will be presented to the UNESCO general assembly. The proposal focuses on how technology can be used to enhance development and eradicate poverty in developing countries.

 Ethiopia: ICTAD project being undertaken with 25 million USD
21/08/2005 (ENA) -- The Information and Communication Technology Assisted Development (ICTAD) project is underway in Ethiopia with 25 million USD loan obtained from the World Bank. Manager of project management unit with the Ethiopian Information Communication Technology Development Authority (EICTDA), said the project is believed to be crucial in reducing poverty and improving living of the people.

News > Media

 Kenya: Freedom of the media spelt out in document
24/08/2005 (East African Standard) -- The proposed new constitution for Kenya guarantees freedom of the media and gives citizens rights to information held by the Government. It bars the Government from controlling, interfering, harassing or penalising anyone concerned in publications and broadcasting.

News > Training and Education

 Zimbabwe: Computers gather rust
30/08/2005 (Zakeus Chibaya ) -- HARARE – Fearful that people are going to read uncensored information, the Zanu (PF) government is reneging on its promise to provide internet services to schools after doling out hundreds of computers countrywide during the March elections in their bid to woo voters.

 Uganda: Makerere University to start e-learning
16/08/2005 (NewVision) -- Makerere University is to start its first ever e-learning (internet) programmes in an effort to reduce congestion in the lecture rooms. The deputy Vice- Chancellor, Dr. Lillian Ekirikubinza, told an international Information Communication Technology conference at Makerere University that the University Council and Senate had approved the proposal.

News > Science and Technology

 Zambia: Science and technology vital for wealth creation
27/08/2005 (Times of Zambia) -- Zambia Government has said science and technology will be given prominence in the Fifth National Development Plan in order to create wealth for the people. Science and technology minister Judith Kapijimpanga said yesterday during a workshop on Identification of Goals and Priorities in the Development and Application of Science and Technology in Lusaka, that Government was working on initiatives on how technology could play a role in wealth creation.

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Harnessing Science and Technology for Human Development - BOTSWANA 2005

 After Tunis: A summit without implementation and civil society?
07/09/2005 -- Civil society groups active in the WSIS have voiced their protest against a serious development related to the Tunis summit outcomes. The latest draft for the summit document on implementation and follow-up is lacking a meaningful commitment to implementation, and they also are a serious setback for the multi-stakeholder approach.

 South Africa: Govt should set measurable ICT targets
05/09/2005 -- It is important SA has clear and measurable ICT targets, the presidential international advisory council on information society and development heard this weekend. The council convened for its annual meeting in Zeerust in the Northwest. Established five years ago, the council's objective is to advise the president on bridging the digital divide, including making telephony accessible to the disadvantaged.

 

 Managing technological learning: a strategic imperative
05/09/2005 -- Firms in developing countries that wish to innovate effectively must be able to manage the process of 'technological learning'. This refers to the accumulation of capabilities to change technologies, in contrast to the more formal type of knowledge that emerges from lab-based research and development.

 Guess Where IT Belongs?
05/09/2005 -- I was struck by the recurrence of the phrase “IT has no boundaries” during the deliberations of the Information Technology conference that was held in Gaborone last week. IT is a product of the most advanced economies, which needed war in order to conquer and enslave other nations. And to do so required good means of communication. Hence the Morse code, and then the telephone, which is a little over a hundred years old, and then this thing that we now call IT.

 

 Sub-Saharan Africa needs policy action
01/09/2005 -- Sub-Saharan Africa lags behind in such a way that without a decisive local or international policy action, the sub-continent will not achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Thomas Feige, the acting head of the European Delegation in Gaborone, said yesterday that the European Union (EU) recognises the role that transport, energy, water and sanitation as well as information and communication technologies can play in helping Africa implement its infrastructure plan that the New Partnership for Africas Development (NEPAD) spearheads.


Analysis

 

Software and seeds: Open source methods

Information and Communications Technology for Sustainable Development

Africa Civil Society Prepcom Briefing

 Access to Technology
06/09/2005 -- One of the major challenges that experts at the third Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation holding in Yaounde would face is seeking appropriate technology for developing countries. Considering the concern of opinion leaders and decision-makers to respond to the growing need for access of their citizens to ICT, especially within the growing market, participants would have to come out with workable solutions and not just theories.

 

 Bandwidth Can Bring African Universities Up to Speed
06/09/2005 -- There are two striking facts about African universities and bandwidth. The first is that the average university in Africa has the same aggregate bandwidth as a single home user in North America or Europe. The second is that the average African university pays more than 50 times for this bandwidth than its counterparts in Europe or North America do for much more capacity.

 

Media ethics and professionalism scrutinised at MISA Conference

Free/open source software (FOSS) policy in Africa: A toolkit for policy-makers and practitioners

Managing ICTs in South African Schools; A guide for School Principals

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-- 
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Emmanuel Njenga Njuguna
Africa Policy Monitor Project 
Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
Email: africa.rights@apc.org or njenga@apc.org
Web: http://africa.rights.apc.org
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