By Nasser Kasozi Akandwanaho
The Minister of ICT and National Guidance, Judith Nabakooba has handed over 700 laptops to different government Ministries and Agencies to facilitate e-services.
Judith Nabakooba, on Thursday, received the laptops from the sector agency-National Information Technology Uganda (NITA-U).
“I am happy to announce that the Ministry of ICT & National Guidance through NITA-U under the Regional Communications Infrastructure Program will hand over 700 laptops that will enable adoption of e-Services across Government in our Key sectors,” Nabakooba said.
The move is in line with the Digital Uganda Vision which aims to electronically deliver a variety of government and private services in various fields. “It is the start of a major effort by my Ministry to encourage a paperless approach to work by scaling up the use of e-services,” Nabakooba said.
She said that internet led services have been critical in the growth of our economy over the years especially during the COVID-19 situation when physical contact was and is still considered a health risk.
“Cutting off physical contact in government services comes with so many benefits. It amplifies service delivery by making it easier and faster to make decisions. Correspondences between different government officials located in different regions can be made in real time and decisions taken,” she said.
World over, several countries have adopted the paperless way of doing work because of the environmental benefits it has to offer.
“E-services make it possible for service providers such as government entities to rely less on paper products. Because you do not have to print papers anymore, it means you do not have to buy papers,” Nabakooba added. Nabakooba said that by cutting down on the number of papers bought, offices are indirectly saving more trees that are critical to our environment.
“We all know that most of our paper products are made out of raw materials from trees yet trees are important for our environment. It is because of these and many more reasons that the Ministry of ICT is seriously encouraging all government entities to adopt the paperless culture,” she said.
In order to facilitate the paperless culture, The Ministry of ICT and NG through NITA-U is the Last Mile Connectivity Project aimed at expanding internet connectivity. The Last Mile project is laying approximately 732km of fiber optic cable and connecting an additional 700 sites to the NBI.
In March 2021, a cumulative total of 337 sites had been completed under the Last Mile Project As of today, a cumulative total of 519 out of 700 sites including but not limited to Local Governments, hospitals, schools, universities, among others have been connected under the Last Mile Project.
“I call upon all you to join the Government in this campaign of entrenching the paperless way of doing work. The Ministry of ICT and NG through its different agencies such as NITA is available to offer support to all Government agencies regarding their IT needs,” she said.
