ICT Policy Issues in Uganda

Background

This page has been established to share information and documents regarding ICT policy issues in Uganda.

National Internet Governance Forum (NIGF) Consultative Workshop, October 13, 2006

In preparation for the inaugural IGF with the theme 'Internet Governance for Development' in Athens, Greece, the first meeting of the Uganda Internet Governance Forum was held on 13th October 2006 at Grand Imperial in Kampala. It was formally launched by the Minister of State for ICT, Hon. Alintuma Nsambu. Also in attendance was Dr. Nii Quaynor from Ghana, whose participation was sponsored by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

The theme for the NIGF workshop was "The Road to Athens: Issues for Uganda" and the objectives were to raise awareness of the inaugural IGF in Athens, and the key issues for consideration as well as to raise awareness of an African position on Internet Governance and identify key issues that Uganda should take forward. The event was organised by Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) in collaboration with the Ministry of ICT, WOUGNET and Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA).

In order to steer the NIGF forward, the workshop recommended that an interim NIGF Advisory Team be put in place. The members of the interim team are:

Mr. Patrick Mwesigwa, UCC
Dr. David Turahi, Ministry of ICT
Mr. Emma Mbaine, Motese International
Ms. Lillian Nalwoga, CIPESA
Dr. Dorothy Okello, WOUGNET
Mr. Yusuf Sewanyana, Uganda Police i/c IT
Mr. Ken Mwai, Afsat

For more information or for a copy of the report, please send email to ictpolicy@wougnet.org or download the NIGF meeting report in PDF format.

Regarding the inaugural IGF, the Prime Minister of Greece, H.E. Konstantinos Karamanlis opened the meeting in the morning of 29 October 2006. The UN Secretary-General was represented by Mr. Nitin Desai who is his Special Advisor on Internet Governance and Chairman of the IGF. Africa was represented by high officials, including ministers and senior experts on Internet policy and technology issues. Other officials who took the floor at the opening session included Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary-General of ITU, Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Information Society of the European Commission and Guy Sebban, Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce. The IGF was attended by over 1,200 participants. The second IGF will be held in 2007 in Brazil, the third session will be held in 2008 in India, while the fourth IGF will be organized by Egypt in 2009.

National ICT Master Plan and e-Government Network Feasibility Study in Uganda, August 2006

The impetus for this Feasibility Study grew out of an E-Readiness Assessment sponsored by the Ministry of Works, Housing, and Communication that was completed in early 2004. The study concluded that despite the government will and mandate, the growth of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) in the country is hampered by funding, investments, and affordability. The study recommended that an adequate ICT infrastructure is needed within the government and in the country in general to accelerate the growth of ICT that, in turn, would contribute toward economic development.

To ensure that any recommended network architecture and implementation plan builds on the achievements to date, and addresses the defined requirements of the affected Ministries (initially Ministry of Works, Housing and Communication, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Ministry of Local Government and Office of the President), the Feasibility Study included several preliminary tasks in order to establish a current baseline on the state of ICT programs within the government. The primary objective in this study was to chart a technically feasible, coordinated and financially responsible course of ICT development within the country through the ICT Master Plan and then focus more narrowly on the Government sector as a subset within the overall ICT development plan. The study was funded by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), a foreign assistance agency of the U.S. Government.

On 31 August 2006, the Ministry of ICT hosted a seminar to present the report and discuss its findings with stakeholders from government, civil society (including WOUGNET and I-Network), and the private sector. The report was presented by representatives from Mega-Tech, the US company that conducted the study. Copies of the study report and the study presentation by the study consultants are in PDF format.

Community-driven ICT networks for local development in rural areas

ICT is emerging as an important medium for communication and exchange as well as a tool for development, including at the local and community levels. However, this potential is yet to be effectively leveraged. In part this is the result of an ICTD �affordable infrastructure and related service delivery and capacity deficit� that many rural and peri-urban areas continue to experience and in part because of the �development-policy and experience divide� that hinders the effective mainstreaming of ICT in development interventions.

Through a combination of research, policy support, advocacy partnerships, networking and capacity building, this programme component of UNDP�s making ICT work for the poor service line aims to contribute to enlarging the policy options for enhancing pro-poor access to communication tools, development information and services and exploring the potential for strengthening community and local development through the use of ICT. Uganda is one of the four countries (including Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda) selected for the UNDP research. For the Uganda country study, a participatory gender-sensitive approach was used to assess the case for and the potential of community-driven local ICT networks and services. Questionnaires were developed and a features workshop conducted. These targeted people playing community leadership roles that focused on social and development issues as well as people who were either access centre staff or technical stakeholders and were focused on technical and business model issues. The study selected three study areas in the districts of Nakaseke, Apac and Mbale. A report on the Uganda country study provides more information about the genesis of the project, an overview of the Uganda study and a report on the seminar to disseminate and discuss the study findings.

East African Community Regional e-Government Framework (Draft, June 2005)

"The vision of regional integration in East Africa is to create wealth, raise the living standards of all people of East Africa and enhance international competitiveness of the region. The key to achieving this vision is increased production, trade and investments in the region with Information and Communication Technologies playing a leading role." The East African Community with technical assistance from United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) undertook to develop a harmonized policy and strategy framework for e-government among EAC partner-states, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. This framework is envisaged to cover all major aspects of regional cooperation on e-government. In developing this document, a participatory approach and consultative methodology was followed to gather data from the three states. Data gathered included information on current activities and requirements as well as challenges and opportunities in promoting e-government.
The National Planning Authority (NPA) is seeking comments on the current draft document that will be consolidated as the Ugandan input to the EAC Secretariat. Comments must be received by July 22, 2005. Click here for a copy of the EAC Regional e-Government Framework (WORD format).

Uganda National ICT Policy Framework, May 2002

The scope of Uganda's National ICT Policy Framework covers information as a resource for development, mechanisms for accessing information, and ICT as an industry, including e-business, software development and manufacturing. The policy looks at various categories of information from different sectors, essentially aimed at empowering people to improve their living conditions. The sectors include: health, education, agriculture, energy, environment, business, and science & technology. Click here for a copy of the ICT Policy Framework (WORD format).

E-Government Sector Working Group Document

Following the November 2003 stakeholder workshop on development of national ICT strategy for Uganda, a number of sector focal institutions and sector working groups were formalized. Among these groups is the E-Government Sector Working Group. The group proposes to host a public meeting in May 2004 to review and gather input to the E-Government strategy document (800 kB zipped document). Following is an extract from the Executive Summary:

E-government is a way of tapping unrealized potential for high quality government in Uganda. It enables Government agencies to separately and collectively lift their performance and deliver better results through using information and technology in new, more collaborative ways. The strategy emphasizes that fact that while the centre of government needs to create the right conditions for e-government it is agencies that actually deliver government information and services and therefore deliver on e-government goals. For this reason, achieving the goals of the strategy requires a mix of top-down and bottom-up initiatives. Each agency must thus identify its Statement of Intent, or other strategic planning documents.
The strategy aims at:
- Establishing short, medium and long term actions, projects and programmes in ICT to be achieved by the sector within the given time-frames.
- Developing performance indicators to measure achievements
- Setting achievable targets and goals for the above objectives

Your comments and input to the strategy document are welcome, and can be channeled by email via ictpolicy@wougnet.org.

National Broadcasting Policy

Following a nation-wide survey to gauge Ugandan's views on the performance of the broadcast media, a broadcasting policy was drafted to guide operations such as content, ownership, broadcaster obligations, advertising, human resource development, the media and good governance, and signal distribution. Click here for a copy of the broadcasting policy (WORD format).

The Broadcasting Council Secretariat also makes the following reports available:

Comments on the National ICT Policy
This document presents a review of the National ICT Policy from the perspective of the Broadcasting Council. It concludes that "the ICT National policy despite the over head advantages and importance has not cast the broadcasting industry ... in light of being a priority and therefore needs as a matter of policy to expand on its objectives and roles." Click here for a copy of the comments on the ICT Policy (WORD format).
Building a sustainable Public Service Broadcaster
This document is a statement by the Chairman of the Broadcasting Council regarding the proposed Television licence fee and the need for a viable and acceptable funding structure for the public broadcaster. Click here for a copy of the statement (WORD format).
Local Content in the Ugandan Media, January 2004
The Broadcasting Council is in the process of consulting with various sectors of the Ugandan public on issues pertinent to broadcast policy and regulation. One of the key issues to be considered is the availability and scheduling of local content on Uganda�s radio and television stations. Click here for a copy of the document (WORD format).
Analysis of the Present State of the Media, Challenges and the Way Forward
Liberalisation of the airwaves has opened up political space for more discussion in the public and thus given a larger percentage of constituents, the ability to easily and quickly transmit their opinions on public policy to their representatives. By empowering ordinary citizens to participate more directly in their political system, the electronic media in Uganda has increased the role of the citizen in the policy making process at the expense of the political �middlemen� who historically have provided the forum through which ordinary citizens could make their interests on specific issues known through interest aggregation and representation. Click here for a copy of the document (WORD format).

For more information on the reports above or about the Broadcasting Council, contact:
Broadcasting Council Secretariat
6th Floor, Workers House
Tel. (041) 251452
Fax. (041) 250612
Email. info@broadcastug.com

UCC Consultative Workshop on the Review of the Telecommunications Sector Policy, December 2004

On December 6, 2004, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) held a public consultative workshop to review the Telecommunications Sector Policy. The current policy and regulatory environment in Uganda was established through the telecommunications sector policy of 1996, and operationalised by the Uganda Communications Act, 1997 (Laws of Uganda Cap 106). The Telecommunications Sector Policy review was initiated by a recommendation by the UCC to the Minister of Works, Housing and Communication about the need to review policy at this point in time. A sector performance review and related analyses conducted during 2003 had established that despite the successes, there are gaps and short-comings that now need to be addressed in the policy if the telecommunications sector is to achieve the expected impact in supporting human development in Uganda. Additionally, one on the main strategic pillars of the past six years, the duopoly that limited competition in identified primary markets, ends on July 24th 2005. The Minister responded by formally asking the UCC to undertake a holistic review of the sector policy and to make recommendations to the Ministry, this indeed being in line with the mandate of UCC as spelt out by the Cap 106, Laws of Uganda.
The Consultation Document on the Telecommunications Sector Policy has been produced to capture the motivation, the background, the source documents, and the thinking that gives the basis for the key issues identified for the consultation process that will be taken into account in making specific recommendations on broad policy goals, specific policy objectives, implementation strategy, and implementation master plan. Click here for a copy of the Consultation Document. For copies of the presentations and a report on the issues raised during the workshop, click here.
For more information about the sector policy review, contact: ucc@ucc.co.ug.

Additional Information

For additional information, send email to ictpolicy@wougnet.org.

Last update: December-11, 2006