The third National internet Governance forum was held in Kampala on 14^th July 2010 at Imperial Royale Hotel. It was organized by I-Network, CIPESA and WOUGNET in collaboration with Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) and the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MoICT). Its purpose was to prepare for the forthcoming East African Internet Governance Forum scheduled for 11^th to 13^th August 2010.

Mr. Elisha Wasukira the day’s moderator from I-Network welcomed everyone to the forum and called upon the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Dr. Jimmy Pat Saamanya to talk about the challenges faced by the ministry. Among the several challenges, Dr. Saamanya cited information security, governance of the country’s domain name and the cost of broadband internet as the key challanegs. He however noted that the cost of internet was gradually going down due to the numerous providers in the market.

Ms. Lillian Nalwoga from CIPESA presented a report about the on-line discussion on internet governance. She  mainly talked about the current status of internet users in Uganda being having increased by 500 users from 2008 to 2009. According to statistics, it was estimated that there were 2,500,000 approximately 7.7% in 2009 and 2,000,000 in 2008. Ms. Nalwonga stressed the need to form a national cyber security , called to review the proposed cyber laws in order to address security and gender sensitive ICT policies. The two key issues identified were:

Access and affordability which involves establishment of rural internet kiosks, enabling youth access to train and empower them to run ICT projects as income generating activities and localize content so as to convert content to local languages as an ICT solution.

Cyber security management The status of cyber bills where computer misuse should be handled included; e-signature, e- transactions, unlawful access and child pornography among others.

The Commissioner Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Mr. Ambrose Ruyooka, talked about priorities and plans for 2010 and beyond. He mentioned that the government is planning to have internet labs per sub-county, however it was suggested that this should go back at the parish levels because some sub-counties are so big and some people would be left out. Mr. Ruyooka said that the government is carrying out surveys about the status of ICT in all regions, government and private sector to form a baseline survey.

Inception of Communcation Bill Amendements

 The inception of the communication bill amendments included; The power to revoke licenses is to be exercised by the ministry of Information and communication Technology and Uganda communications commission.  Registration of all mobile phone sim cards with the national identity policy and register subscribers

Critical internet resources This called for establishment of a non-for-profit organization, Uganda National Information centre (UgNIC) and a board with multi-stakeholder representation of technical advisory and policy advisory committee.

Mr. Daniel Stern from Mobile Monday Uganda chapter talked about mobile application and security, he cautioned government to devise measures on how to prevent anyone from accessing results for another person. This is in regard to the new system that was introduced by government on how to acquire UNEB results through SMS.

The way forward

• Uganda Communications Commssion and Ministry of Information and Communication Technology to implement cyber security laws through the use of computer incidence response team (CIRT)     
  
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• Mobile Monday Kampala Uganda chapter (MoMoKLA) stressed the need to have SMS’s be delivered to the intended user via e-banking and m-health.
  

The moderator Mr. Elisha Wasukira thanked all members for their attendance and requested them to attend the fourth coming EAIGF meeting scheduled for 11^th-13^th August 2010.

By Rita Oyaba, WOUGNET volunteer