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WEEKLY PUBLICATION DEADLINE: 12 pm GMT Sunday.  ISSUE NO 93 E-GOVERNMENT SPECIAL - DOES IT EXIST IN AFRICA AND WHAT CAN IT DO?
In this special issue we present several different viewpoints. Richard Heeks looks at examples of what has already been done and how best to approach the task. Edward Addo-Dankwa describes a government led, agricultural, knowledge-sharing network. Equipment supplier Hewlett Packard (which has recently decided to focus on government as a market) describes why it thinks e-government is important. Kate Oakley casts a sceptical eye over the claims made for e-government and sets a number of criteria for successful implementation. THE HOWS AND WHYS OF E-GOVERNMENT African governments have been using information and communication technologies (ICTs) for more than 40 years. So what’s new about eGovernment? The key innovation is computer networks ­ from intranets to the internet ­ creating a wealth of new digital connections in and around government. We can highlight four application domains for the new connections, each illustrated with an African example. eAdministration. In Ghana, environmental decisions have been hampered by limited and scattered data. A new Environmental Information Network has helped link key institutions. Despite a steep learning curve, it has brought faster and greater information to improve the process of environmental decision making. eCitizens. Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council wanted to open up the process of government. It created a Web site with full details of meetings, budgets and projects, thus reducing the barriers to government accountability. In ‘listening’ mode, it has used this site to elicit feedback from citizens; for example, views on the ‘eGoli’ restructuring plans for the city. eServices. Cape Metropolitan Council is using the power of the web to improve the delivery of employment information to citizens. Details of available job opportunities are accessible via the web. If a relevant opportunity is identified, the job-seeker can download, fill in and return the job application form. This significantly reduces both the time and financial costs previously associated with this service. eSociety. Uganda’s Council for Economic Empowerment for Women of Africa used ICTs to link NGOs promoting enterprise development for women. The links provide information on market prices, market opportunities, training opportunities, credit services, exchange rates, business trends, etc. The NGOs now make a stronger contribution to enterprise development: single-person enterprises have expanded to employ four or five staff, and income levels have risen. However, let us not pretend that Africa is a continent brimming with wired governments. Every country faces the multi-point challenge of eReadiness for eGovernment. Those working for African governments can assess this by asking six questions: 1. Is our data systems infrastructure ready: are the management systems, records and work processes in place to provide the quantity and quality of data to support the move to eGovernment? In many African countries, data quality ­ for example ­ is very poor, and there are few mechanisms to address that. 2. Is our legal infrastructure ready: are the laws and regulations required to permit and to support the move to eGovernment in place? In many African countries, for example, digital signatures cannot be accepted. 3. Is our institutional infrastructure ready: eGovernment can only be progressed if the institutions exist to act as a focus for awareness and to act as a means for facilitation of eGovernment. In many African countries, there is no equivalent of an eGovernment Office to help co-ordinate and lead and drive eGovernment initiatives. 4. Is our human infrastructure ready: do we have in place the attitudes, knowledge and skills required to initiate, implement and sustain eGovernment initiatives? In many African countries, key gaps relate to business analysis and system design, and to project management, contract management and vendor management. 5. Is our technological infrastructure ready: although there have been great strides forward, the fact remains that most African countries are a long way short of the computing and telecommunications infrastructure on which many Northern eGovernment initiatives are based. 6. Is our leadership and strategic thinking ready: is there the internal authority and vision to drive forward eGovernment? Vision can smash through many operational obstacles to eGovernment, but it must be the right vision. Especially it must be a vision that integrates ICTs into a broader agenda of Œgood government’ reforms. Perhaps eGovernment ­ with its undue emphasis on the technology ­ is an unhelpful term. Instead the vision should be Œi-Government for Africa’: focusing on integrated, informed government rather than electronic government. In summary, eGovernment is the future for Africa ­ a future that offers critical improvements to the efficiency and effectiveness of government; and probably critical future legitimacy for government. It is not a question of ‘if’ eGovernment, it is a question of ‘how’ eGovernment. But, in terms of ‘how’, these improvements will only be delivered if the eReadiness components can be put in place; especially the leadership and integrated vision on which African eGovernment depends. Further Information For further information, and
full details on understanding and building eGovernment for development,
please refer to: Dr Richard Heeks is a Senior Lecturer, Information Systems & Development at the Institute for Development Policy & Management at the University of Manchester AGRINET - SPREADING AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATIONS AGRINET was installed in December 1999 for the management of the Agricultural Services Sub-sector Investment Programme (AgSSIP). AGRINET is linking all Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) National Technical directorates in Accra, Regional directorates in all the 10 regions in Ghana, and Projects/Agencies under the ministry. It is also connecting the Agricultural Faculties of the four main universities in Ghana namely, University of Ghana (UG), University of Cape Coast (UCC), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and University for Development Studies (UDS). AGRINET also has a link to the Center for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and all Institutes under it. In proposing the Agricultural Services Sub-sector Investment Program (AgSSIP), which is to implement the Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Development Strategy (AAGDS), it was observed that the implementation would require a very effective, efficient and the most cost-effective way of information transfer and dissemination. This is very crucial in view of the fact that the implementation would involve various sectors nation-wide. The idea of setting up such an infrastructure was therefore proposed, thus the AGRINET. The AGRINET is to be the backbone for the implementation of the AgSSIP. The main activities are as follows: - To improve the flow of information, and general communication among Ministry of Food & Agricultural offices in the country. - To bridge the information gap between Agricultural Research and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. - To enhance communication among Agricultural Researchers. - To improve communication between Agricultural Students in the countries main Universities, and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. - To develop a web-based Agricultural Information System, thus providing agricultural information for farmers, traders researchers, and the general public, both local and International. - To train staff to effectively and efficiently manage the system, develop, and maintain the website developed Computers in each of the twelve MOFA National Directorates have been configured to dial into the main system in the head office. All Regional offices of MOFA in the 10 regions of the country have also been linked to the system. All projects and agencies under the ministry (MOFA) like the Village Infrastructure Project (VIP), Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA), Livestock Planning and Information Unit (LPIU) etc, have also been connected to the system. All of these are connections are through the telephone lines (dial-up), except VIP, who are connected using a 64K Broadband (FastNet) leased line. Agricultural Faculties in the four universities have been also been connected. AGRINET has the ability to host web sites on its local servers. The Ministry’s website is www.mofa.gov.gh The system is linked by a 128K dedicated broadband (local bandwidth) leased from Ghana Telecom (FastNet) to our local ISP, the Network Computer Systems (NCS). There is also a 64K international bandwidth, leased from the NCS. The Village Infrastructure Project, VIP has a 64K FastNet link that connects their Local Area Network (LAN) to the system. Some of the National directorates like the PPMED, SRID, and AESD have LANs that connected directly to the system. All the other offices, including the regional offices and the other subscribers dial into the system, using the normal telephone lines. There is one CISCO Access router that has eight telephone lines connected to it. This router accepts dial-ins from all subscribers. It can take a total of eight calls at a time. System management and Web Site Development Trained MOFA Staff manages the system locally with support from NCS. MOFA,s website, www.mofa.gov.gh was developed and is maintained by staff. A number of staff have been trained in web development and are currently updating the site. Edward Addo-Dankwa works for the Ministry of Agriculture in Ghana. HP GOES AFTER CONTRACTS TO CREATE VIABLE E-GOVERNMENT Optimising the delivery of services to the public, streamlining internal and external communication, and stimulating foreign investment - these are all mandates of government that fall under the spotlight of a solution strategy launched this week by the Africa-focused division of HP. The strategy aims to enable governments to deliver on these mandates and meet their public service goals - whether that be through innovative information and communication technology (ICT), new processes or a combination of the two. It also aims to allow governments to increase penetration of the internet in their regions and ultimately move to a viable form of e-government. "Governments need to be accessible to the people, they need to eliminate bottlenecks [and paperwork] and they need to drive down the cost of public services," explains Gerald Naidoo, the regional sales manager for Africa at HP. "A solid ICT infrastructure, an effective means of communicating with other departments and other governments, and a series of partners that can advise on process and change management are critical." To help governments along this ICT development path, HP has formed a task force comprised of experts from HP Consulting (the company’s dedicated IT services and solutions consulting arm) and specialists from its Africa division. This group will initially focus on several solution areas, says Naidoo. "One of the first areas we will be addressing is communication - between departments in the same government and between governments in different regions. We believe the key is to standardise the means of communication and the technology that is used. "It’s for this reason that we’re developing centralised portals that can be used in these situations. In the example of intra-government communication, departments would be able to log into the portal environment, access relevant policy or other information, and communicate with members of other departments. The same principle would apply to inter-government communication, just on a larger scale." The successful deployment of such a portal could be extended not only to an African country’s immediate neighbours but even further afield internationally. A standardised ICT infrastructure holds immense opportunities for regional cooperation, particularly in the areas of trade and tariffs, knowledge transfer and distance learning, says Naidoo. The issuing and delivery of passports, identity documents, driver’s licences and the like is another area that HP’s task team will be paying close attention to; the company believes ICT can add immense value by automating, simplifying and streamlining the processes involved. Naidoo says there are plans afoot to take African governments along a similar road to South Africa, where a major online tax initiative was recently launched by that country’s Revenue Services. HP will also focus on making internet access available in rural areas. Naidoo says the company offers solutions based on wired and wireless infrastructures that can make this possible. "It’s obviously a challenge to ensure that as many people have access to the Net as possible ... in some cases, it’s even possible to physically drive a mobile satellite rig into rural areas and establish temporary mobile Internet access points for the public." Closely related to this internet access issue is that of e-government. HP has seen that many governments have demonstrated a desire to Internet-enable their internal and public processes; all that remains is to formulate a strategy as to how. "There are four critical factors to successful e-government: solid lines and processes of communication; effective management of existing resources; a strategy that ensures sustainability of the venture; and the technology that enables it all," explains Naidoo. "From our work thus far - and the work that’s being done with governments all around the world - we are hoping to help Africa make progress along the e-government development path." For more information on HP’s solutions and activities in Africa, surf to www.hp.com/country/aa/eng/welcome.htm CLARIFYING THE CRITERIA FOR E-GOVERNMENT IMPLEMENTATION Aside from a few anecdotal examples (democracy in the Philippines or South Africa, tax returns in Chile), there is an overwhelming lack of evidence in support of the idea that e-government has a positive and important role to play in development. However this seems to deter no-one, from UNDP to the World Bank, from supporting supply-led e-government projects in developing countries. My concern about this, as someone who believes there can be a positive role for ICT in development, is: * It is often supply, rather than demand, led with multi-national ICT companies dominating. * E-government is too often seen as context free. What works in Sweden (rich, technologically developed and highly educated) may not work equally well in Kenya or Malawi. * It allows donors and government ‘off the hook;’ while protesting that the poor in their countries are suffering because they do not have access to the internet, they can conveniently ignore the fact that many citizens lack clean water, basic education and health care ÿ It focus’ policy makers on the symptoms rather than the cause of under-development and poverty This last point was brought home to me during a recent visit to Brazil, where we saw the admittedly impressive technology being used to count votes at Brazilian elections. These single-purpose machines used to count votes are required once every two years. The rest of the time they take up space in a large warehouse at the Regional Electoral Tribunal, and are switched on occasionally to ensure that they still work. Leaving aside the question of why technology is introduced into a process where human labour is undoubtedly cheaper, does anyone seriously think that the problem with Brazilian elections is fraud at the ballot box? What about the far more serious problem of vote-buying and intimidation in largely poor, often illiterate communities that goes on for months and years beforehand? It is not that an e-voting system is in itself, problematic? After all Brazilians have good reason to take their democracy seriously and voting is compulsory, but it is too easy to apply some technology to one part of the process and think you have solved the problem. You haven’t. As Local Futures’ work in the UK suggests, centralisation and Œone size fits all’ mentality is a serious threat to the success of e-government projects. If money is available for ICT-led development or e-government projects, can we at least ensure that: - It takes some account of what is appropriate in local circumstances ­ electronic service delivery is unlikely to be of use in many developing countries for some time to come - It is properly integrated into other policy areas such as education or economic development ­ not an add-on. - It is properly evaluated and compared with people-based solutions ­ many of these projects are implemented on little more than blind faith. - It does not distract from more fundamental needs for adequate nutrition, housing and healthcare ­ after all if children in the early years of life are seriously under nourished, all the broadband in the world is not going to allow them to play Œcatch up’ with their richer neighbours in later life. Kate Oakley is Director of Research Programmes at the Local Futures Group, a research and strategy consultancy that provides a geographical perspective on economic and social change.
The CTO is offering The Commonwealth Government and Business Guide to Information and Communication Technology 2001/2002 as free CD-ROM to our readers. It is a unique annual resource of information about ICT in the Commonwealth designed specifically for use by government ministers, regulators, utility heads and leaders of the communications industry throughout the world. To obtain your free CD-ROM, send your name and address to Isabel Stewart, CTO (i.stewart@cto.int)
KENYA - CRACKDOWN ON "ILLEGAL" TELECOMS OPERATORS Police in Mombasa last week raided several homes and arrested three businessmen for illegally installing powerful telecommunications equipment in the town. Mombasa police boss Gerald Oluoch said his men had stormed the houses of the suspects and caught them red-handed with the equipment. He said one suspect was arrested near People’s Hotel and his powerful equipment impounded following a tip-off. He said the suspect had not been licensed by the Communications Commission of Kenya. Oluoch said another raid was carried out at Lango La Papa where the suspect escaped the police dragnet. The police boss said the suspect’s equipment were seized and taken to the police station. He said Kenyan regulatory officials from CCK confirmed some of the suspects had been operating the equipment illegally and will be taken to court. During the raid, which was carried out in various parts of the town, some businessmen who had been licensed to possess similar equipment were advised to pay. (source: East African Standard via http://www.allafrica.com) MOROCCAN REGULATOR RESIGNS OVER NEW LAW The head of Morocco’s ANRT telecommunications watchdog, Mostafa Terrab, resigned on Friday, weeks after accusing the government of political interference. He told Reuters he was "unsatisfied with the evolution of Morocco’s telecoms sector in the past year" and would take a job at the World Bank. Terrab told local media at the end of November he would resign to protest against the Socialist-led government’s political interference in ANRT’s independent regulatory policy. A dispute erupted last year between ANRT and Secretary of State for Information Technology and Communications Nacer Hajji, who had battled for changes to the telecoms act, including ANRT’s legal status. "The change was presumably motivated by political and budgetary considerations and will undoubtedly harm the image of Morocco’s ongoing efforts to liberalise the telecoms sector," the analyst added in a reference to an expected 2002 legislative elections campaign. Terrab has said that Hajji—who is a member of Maroc Telecom’s board of directors—failed six months ago to apply the necessary sanctions against Maroc Telecom for failing to respect rules of fair competition and transparency. Last March Maroc Telecom, in which Vivendi Universal holds a 35 percent stake, granted its customers a 10 percent rebate on calls from fixed to mobile phones. ANRT branded the cut unfair because it did not apply to customers of Maroc Telecom’s competitor, Meditel, the local arm of a consortium led by Spain’s Telefonica . It ordered Maroc Telecom to extend the offer to Meditel customers but the national operator did not comply and chose instead to cancel the deal altogether. (source:Reuters) -> See also Moroccan regulators visit Ghana in People and Jobs below SA’S WOZA COMES BACK FROM THE DEAD AS CHEAP ISP Woza, once one of South Africa’s most popular Web news sites, plans to bounce back as a cut-price Internet service provider (ISP), says founder Kevin Davie.Davie, who still sees "enormous value in the ISP market", says negotiations with potential partners are already well advanced and he hopes to finalise one of the potential partners this week. He explains that although the plan to start an ISP has been on the agenda for a long time, the demise of Absa’s free connectivity offering has opened up the space significantly. Davie says the introduction of Absa’s offering, "which no one believed was sustainable", had initially put Woza’s plan on hold because it was "the wrong time to introduce an ISP". Since the down-scaling of Absa’s offering, he says, there are many players eyeing out the market and he hopes to grab a first-mover advantage in the next few weeks.He plans to build the ISP on Woza’s strengths by operating on a content and connectivity model, not unlike America Online and the bigger local ISPs. On the infrastructure side, Davie says Woza will not invest in its own hardware, but will "rent ports" from an infrastructure partner and limit the business to "taking care of customers and the billing process". "The nature of the business has changed over the last few years, but it still looks like a very profitable business opportunity. There are currently around 600,000 dial-up users in the country," says Davie. He believes this number could increase to around 700,000 in the coming year or so. (source: http://www.itweb.co.za) BOTSWANA’S GCB APPOINTS USKO TO RUN HELP DESK The Government Computer Bureau of Botswana officially announced that the contract for the management of the Bureau’s Help Desk was awarded to USKO Botswana, a subsidiary company of Bytes Technology Group (BTG). The contract involves carrying out an asset audit of all computer equipment belonging to the government as well as an ongoing contract to implement and manage the government’s help desk. (source: http://www.itweb.co.za) NIGERIAN DIPLOMA STUDENTS GRADUATE WITH COMPTIA DIPLOMA Jidaw Systems Ltd (Mastercomputers), a member of the Computer Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), has helped create history within the field of education in Nigeria. The company recently held a graduation ceremony for the country’s first group of successful A+ Computer Engineering Diploma students. This qualification, centred on CompTIA’s A+ Service Technician entry-level certification, was introduced by Jidaw Systems Ltd for people aspiring to become PC assembly and maintenance professionals but who lack the basic foundation in computing. The qualification covers all aspects of PC maintenance as well as repair and includes a broad range of both hardware and software technologies. ITXC UPGRADES ITS VOIP SOFTWARE TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE ITXC’s SNARC(SM) platform has been enhanced to support SS7/C7 signaling on the premises of carriers worldwide. ITXC claims both faster call completion and a higher percentage of complete calls than are possible with other forms of switch signaling. For example, in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Cotas-Teledata uses some of the first ITXC-supplied SS7-capable SNARCs to enable calls to complete more quickly to destinations in Bolivia and worldwide than calls made using the legacy network offered by the former monopoly carrier. ITXC has a growing base of telco customers in Africa.
CHICAGO COMPANY INVESTS IN DURBAN TECHNOLOGY PARK A Chicago venture capital firm expects funding approval from the municipal government of Durban, South Africa, in the next two weeks to open and operate Africa’s first technology park and business incubator.Christopher DeLise, managing member of Chicago Capital & Venture Group LLC, said the Durban Unicity government included a $1.5 million item in its 2002 budget for the acquisition of land and buildings for the tech park. DeLise expects the budget to be approved Jan. 31. DeLise said his firm’s plan, approved by the Durban government in December, is for a 150,000-square-foot, privately funded tech park and incubator managed along the lines of Chicago’s Technology Park Research Center. The US$25-35 million plan calls for 25 companies on site and another 25 firms off site using the accounting, legal, data processing and other services normally supplied by a business incubator. DeLise expects to have the first company in the park by the third quarter of 2002. Private companies and other venture investors would fund the rest of the money needed for the incubator by the second quarter of 2003, he said. Jim Peters, a member of the venture capital team and coordinator of the state-sponsored Chicago technology park on the city’s West Side, said the success of the Durban enterprise will be attracting South African investors and helping companies develop technologies for South African industry. (source: Chicago Tribune) TELEACCESS SEEKS TO SECURE STAKE IN ZIM’S TELECEL TELEACCESS, one of the companies aspiring to be awarded a licence to operate a fixed telephone network in Zimbabwe, has emerged as the leading bidder for Telecel International’s 40% stake in Telecel Zimbabwe, according to an article in Standard Business last week. Sources within the industry said TeleAccess’ bid was higher than that of other telecommunications companies like Econet, South Africa’s MTN and Vodafone. If the company is successful in its bid, it will effectively mean TeleAccess will now have a controlling stake in Telecel Zimbabwe, as other shares are divided up among a consortium of local businesspeople and economic empowerment groups. It will join existing players, Econet Wireless and Net*One. Sources said Telecel International was pulling out of Zimbabwe to concentrate on its business in the Middle East. It could not be established whether the company was also pulling out of neighbouring Zambia and the DRC, some of the African countries where it is operating. Although Standard Business could not get confirmation from TeleAccess, sources say the company’s US$33 million bid was the highest and what was now left was for Telecel International to decide on whom to sell its stake to. TeleAccess general manager, retired colonel Charles Mugari, could neither deny nor confirm his company’s interest in Telecel. "It will not be ideal to disclose the deals that are in progress before they are sealed, otherwise it will jeopardise the whole process. Of course there are deals in progress, but I cannot say anything to you at this stage. We will only talk to the press when everything is finalised," Mugari said on Friday. TeleAccess came into being in January last year following the abolition of the monopoly which the state-owned Post and Telecommunication Corporation (PTC) had in the provision of fixed telephone and postal services. The PTC was privatised and broken into three companies; Net*One, Tel One and Zimpost offering cellphone, telephone and postal services respectively. Since its inception, TeleAccess says it has spent over Z$2 billion and US$60 million in developing a fixed phone network. Its parent company is the US-based TeleAccess Global Corporation. (source: Zimbabwe Standard via http://www.allafrica.com)
ISSUE 92: NIGER - BIGGER INTERNET LINK AWAITS END OF SONITEL PRIVITISATION Two meg coming into the whole country. Sad. Eric Perry
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AFRICA ONLINE’S BEN PARKER ON GROWING A PORTAL Ben Parker is Africa Online’s content supremo. He has the difficult task of creating a portal that will attract and retain high levels of users with an interest in Africa who will in turn lay the basis for selling advertising. News Update interviewed him recently on a visit to Nairobi. How many individual visits does the portal attract and where do they come from? There’s about half a million individual visits. Half come from Africa and the other half mainly from the States and Europe. Where’s most of your traffic come from? We get a large amount of traffic from African diaspora sites and through the search engines. What are you trying to do with the portal in user terms? We’d like current users to spend longer on the site. It’s hard to work out why they’re not spending longer but we’ve got a number of ideas to address this issue. In essence, we want to supply them with what they want and attract a more diverse audience. What do you know about your users? Well they’re young and many of them are graduates. They’re interested in job and study opportunities and dating. How’s the advertising been? It’s been easier making the case to local advertisers like airlines and banks than it has been to those who have pan-continental brands to sell. We would rather have sponsorship and work with the sponsor to develop content. For example we could develop a jointly owned travel site with a travel company. Another example would be to work with a youth entertainment magazine. They would provide the content and the "eyeballs" and we would sell the advertising. The magazine’s reputation would support the credibility of the content and its print presence would promote use of the site. Is the money out there for online advertising? There’s a huge amount of money out there that goes into African traditional advertising: TV, Press and radio. The curse of online advertising is that it’s measurable.... Unlike any other forms of advertising? Yes. Online advertising is a bit like radio advertising in its early days. People need to be persuaded that it has a role and very specific audiences. How are things looking for e-commerce opportunities? One or two of the supermarkets here in Nairobi have SAP systems and African Lakes Technologies have sold applications to several banks but no-one is really doing it in any developed way. What do you think the successful products will be for Africa? Money transfer. Smart cards for Africa Online products like e-Touch. There’s already a working example of a mobile phone that you can recharge at an ATM here in Kenya. You could use these for paying things that take an enormous amount of time like utility bills. Also micropayment systems seem very relevant in African economies. Wireless could be as big here as in Uganda.
UGANDA COUNTRY GATEWAY GOING FORWARD Late last year, WOUGNET was invited to participate in the Uganda Country Gateway Strategy workshop. Dorothy Okello reports and what happened. The workshop was to discuss ways of sharing information on local and national developmental issues; and identify potential partners for this. Interested participating groups would eventually team up together to apply for an InfoDev Country Gateway grant. The process of developing Country gateways involves: - establishing a multi- stakeholder partnership for socio- economic information exchange. - enabling a gateway to evolve overtime, in response and at a pace commensurate with expressed local demands and - nurturing and giving voice to a broad range of national interests: from the posting of essential trade information, to directing small business owners to sources of information and new knowledge on entrepreneur development, setting of mechanisms for liaison and open discussions by civil society and development NGOs, Government institutions, etc This approach is consistent with the overall strategy of African countries in using information and Communication technologies for better developmental impact. At the workshop, five major categories were indentified and here is the breakdown of who was chosen to address each category for the Uganda Country Gateway proposal: Private sector - Mr. Kakembo Ngos/CBOs - Rita Mijumbi Academic sector - Nora Mulira Government sector - Elizabeth Mulondo Policy/regulatory agencies - Jonah Banturaki, Dr Tusubira These six people constituted a working group that will prepare the proposal for Uganda. We plan to maintain close contact with this group, as I believe WOUGNET can make significant contributions to the gateway. The working group has come up with the draft proposal which is currently being reviewed for final comments. Details from: Dorothy Okello (dokell@po-box.mcgill.ca) MALAWI WEB SITE WITH E-GOVERNMENT TOOLKIT Malawi’s Africa Online (no, not that one, the other one)created a toolkit for e-government early last year. It provides useful background for those interested in the subject. See www.africa-online.net/e-government.pdf
A CYBER-CAFE WHERE FORTUNES ARE TOLD AND THEY CAN CUT YOUR HAIR When 7-Eleven opened its first convenience stores in the US in 1974, they were places to buy a pack of smokes and a huge cup of foul-tasting coffee while you filled up your car with petrol. For the past decade or so, Japan has played with that convenience store model, creating the konbini, a really convenient convenience store that is wired for the digital generation. People are allowed to stand and read magazines at the rack, ATMs let customers do their banking 24 hours a day, Internet terminals take ticket reservations, and now, if Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco) and am/pm Japan have their way, the konbini will be a place to go for advice on everything from insurance to getting a patent on your latest invention idea. This idea of the konbini as an accessible "concierge" (their word) guiding you through the ins and outs of a changing society is on display in one store in the heart of Bit Valley. The store (at Jinnan 1-12-10, Shibuya-ku near the Shibuya immigration office) has a Tepco office on one side, a typical am/pm convenience store on the other, and a section in the middle with free broadband Internet connections and booths with laptops for rent. Along the side are experts—who look a little young, but hey, it’s a convenience store, not a law firm—ready to answer your questions on just about anything. This is the only Tepco de am/pm store in existence now, and both Tepco and am/pm are seeing how it works out between now and September. They will then decide if this is a winning concept (let’s hope they come up with a new name for starters). Here’s what you can find at Tepco de am/pm: - Legal advice (5,000 yen per 30 minutes) - Advice on patents and registration processes (5,000 yen per 30 minutes) - Advice on lighting up your house for the holiday season (3,000 per 30 minutes) - Advice on renovating your home (no price listed) - Advice on insurance (5,000 yen flat rate) - Health and beauty tips for women (2,000 yen) - Fortunetelling (2,000 yen) - Asset management advice (5,000 yen) - A travel agency Will we be getting our legal and financial advice from convenience stores in the future? It may depend on the success of the lone Tepco de am/pm store. (source: am/pm Japan:http://www.tepcodeampm.com) GOAN SCHOOLS IN MAJOR LINUX INITIATIVE After struggling for years to get access to non-pirated software to run their computer labs, schools in the western coastal state of Goa have hit a bonanza that seems too good to be true. Red Hat India, part of a prominent global corporation dealing in ‘open source’ or ‘free’ software, has come up with an innovative plan, which was promptly seized by volunteers pushing for the speedy computerisation of schools here. Under this, schools will get access to not just all the software they need, but also to free training for teachers and volunteers.What makes this project innovatively different is that it’s based onLinux, or GNU/Linux, an operating system (OS) which seeks to make the software industry ‘open’. ‘Free software’ means it is freely distributable and free of restrictions on seeing, using, copying, modifying and re-distributing the original source code or software based on it. This, in turn, makes the software moderately or affordably priced, even in countries like India, and legally copyable. In a few weeks time, volunteers are to get training in a project that could sustainably meet schools’ software needs. Young Linux enthusiasts and volunteers—including some engineering college students—will be trained in installing the software. Later, Red Hat and their training partners are to train teachers in using this decade-old operating system which is now making a dent across the globe. Red Hat Indian training manager Shankar Iyer told this correspondent that his firm would provide Linux as a standard operating system (OS) for schools in Goa. "In this process, Red Hat and an NGO (Goa Computers in Schools Project) have come together for a social cause," said Iyer. The Goa Computers in Schools Project is a coalition of educationists, concerned citizens and expat Goans who feel the need to speeding up the pace of computer education in this small state. It was launched in the mid-nineties, and has been both inspiring and helping schools to get computer infrastructure faster. It has also raised funds among expat communities towards this goal. (for full article see: http://www.bytesforall.org ) YAHOO STRIKES DEAL WITH MEDIA BUYER Yahoo said last week that it sealed a deal with Arnold MPG, a division of media buying and planning agency MPG USA, which is set to provide the Internet titan with a stream of advertising revenue from some of the media buyer’s big-name clients. (source: http://click.idg.email-publisher.com/maaafGRaaQWbya9n2s7b/ ) LISTEN.COM’S RHAPSODY ADDS SONY TO SERVICE In its third major label deal in a week, Listen.com said last week that Sony Music Entertainment has agreed to offer its vast catalog of music through Listen’s Rhapsody subscription service. (source: http://click.idg.email-publisher.com/maaafGRaaQWbDa9n2s7b/ )
* Following a visit last week by a two-man delegation from Morocco’s regulator ANRT, Mr Felix Owusu-Adjapong, Minister of Communications and Technology said Ghana was prepared to learn from other African countries that had made rapid success in their telecommunications industry. He said the Ministry was therefore collaborating with Morocco’s Agence Nationale de Reglementation des Telecommunications, which has rapidly transformed that country’s telecommunications industry in the last three years. Mr Owusu-Adjapong said the telecommunications industry in Ghana had to undergo a rapid transformation to improve not only on the existing methods but also to enhance accessibility of communications services, especially Internet and broadband services. "We are now trying to get the know-how from the Moroccans, and the best approach to follow is to rapidly transform our telecommunications industry and get value for our shares (in Ghana Telecom)." Mr Omar Moudani, leader of the delegation said the high level of success of Morocco’s communications industry was achieved through a favourable legal and institutional environment. He said coupled with good competition, with the object of maximising service to the customer, "the rules of the game were clear and known to all the partners."Mr Moudani said studies had shown that the success story of Morocco could be reproduced in Ghana with the type of environment she was now operating. * Plans are being made to hook the Usman Danfodio University in Sokoto, Nigeria to the internet, according to its pro-chancellor, Dr. Garba Abdulkadir. Already, computers and other accessories have been installed," Abdulkadir said at a dinner organised in honour of the university’s chancellor, Igwe Gibson Nwosu, who visited the institution on last week. The pro-chancellor, who is also the Sarkin Sudan of Katsina, noted that "the internal communication network is being boosted with a new PABX system". FYI it appears that ZIMWEB, the ISP that hosted the MDC web site ( and ours ) was closed down by the Central Intelligence Organization. I do know that Eben Erasmus was a very out spoken opponent. Not sure if this is correct but fore sure it is closed. I saw the Ghana Television News coverage of the visit of the Telecommunications delegation from Morrocco after I had posted the alert from the Financial Times -- (the Balme library at Legon, which has not been able to buy a single print journal for over a year, is moving very slowly on the TAP engendered digital library process. We have managed to get them to release a service brief to the university community. Entities outside the university who may be interested should proactively approach Balme. I may be able to pump-prime the processs if alerted. The digital library provides access to almost all major academic online reources available commercially. An investment of over one million dollars.) -- The GTV News story clearly demonstrates that we are faced with a clear, present danger, not a hypothetical one as I thought. Morrocco is angling for an "advisory" role in the management of telecommunications in Ghana and a campaign has been going on for sometime now. Independent of the technical merits of Morrocco in this area, quite doubtful if you ask me, the process is wrong, wrong, wrong!!! The negative, narrow politicization of telephony in Ghana has gone on long enough. We have sufferred long enough. The (P)NDC managed to smuggle MILLICOM (Mobitel) in during the crazy preparation for the NAM conference on the urgent argument of national security. Yes, ordinary telephony was a securitazation subject. Anyone who raised an objection, no matter how well founded, was rolled before the widely-feared Kojo Tsikata at the security headquarters "Blue House" near the stadium When our great, new constitution provided the basis for our liberation, narrow-minded security operatives, helped by incumbents who were profiting from the crazy regulation environment, sought to cripple the free, competitive growth of telephony and its value-added services. Do you remember the nonsensical technical arguments on spectrum allocation - for example that Accra can support only three FM stations? Do you remember the disgraceful attempts to hide behind the Interantional Telecommunications Union? Yhe politics of Malaysian investment in this country, including in Ghana Telecom, is an interesting, sad story which would soon be more fully told. The comparative advantage of this nation in the new economy has, therefore, suffered greatly in the quest for narrow political advantage. We should not allow this to happen again. The telephony market in this country, as we all know, would very, very soon reach a critical juncture. The tardiness and perhaps plain incompetence of the NPP government is costing us an arm and a leg. The process must be seen to be transparent and level today. We should have no business giving certain entities a headstart. Amos Copyright 2002 Financial Times Information HEADLINE: AAGM: GHANA TO GO THE RABAT WAY BODY: GNA ICT national policy out in June - Mwandosya by Lucas Liganga The Minister for Communications and Transport, Prof. Mark Mwandosya, announced yesterday that the initial draft of the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) national policy that will act as a catalyst for the country’s development and poverty eradication will be ready by June, this year. Prof. Mwandosya said in Dar es Salaam that a task force embracing dynamic and highly dedicated individuals that he appointed last year to advise his ministry on the way forward has been working diligently and was on an advanced stage of drafting the policy. The minister was addressing a press conference shortly before the Swedish Ambassador to Tanzania, Mr Sten Rylander, presented to him a cheque for 68m/- for ICT development in Tanzania. Prof. Mwandosya said the draft report would be reviewed by stakeholders in the ICT at a national workshop to be held before the 2002/2003 government budget session, adding that the task force would come out with ideas on possibles approaches for the ICT development in Tanzania. The minister acknowledged Sweden’s enormous support in the telecommunications sector, revealing that the foreign country has also agreed to support Tanzania in the strengthening of frequency monitoring at a cost of 10 million Swedish kronors. The task force appointed by Prof. Mwandosya to advise the government on ICT national policy is headed by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dar es Salaam, Prof. Matthew Luhanga. Other members are Dr. Batilda Burian (MP), Prof. Henry Mgombelo (MP), Mr. Theophilius Mlaki (Tanzania Commission for Science & Technology), Dr Zaipuna Yonah (Tz Telecoms Co Ltd), Mr George Nangale (East Africa MP), Prof Beda Mutagahwya (University of Dar es Salaam Computing Centre Ltd), Mr Ali Mufuruki (Infotech Group), Ms Anita Ngowi (Vice President’s Office), Ambassador Ami Mpungwe (Intrinsic Technologies Tz Ltd), Mr Suleiman Tawakal (Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar), Mr Ahmed Ali (Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar), Emmanuel Mange (Tz Communications Commission), and Mr Simbo Ntiro (KPMG Peat Marwick Tz). Speaking at the 68m/- presentation ceremony, Ambassador Rylander said the donation was part of a total of 400m/- that his country had agreed to support the Tanzania government towards the development of a national ICT policy. He said the Swedish Embassy has made an ICT survey for Tanzania and its final report was handed over to Prof. Mwandosya yesterday [note: it is available in PDF format at http://www.sida.se/Sida/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=321&a=9481]. The envoy added that his embassy will, beginning mid-this year, establish an ICT and development project aimed at integrating ICT in the Swedish-Tanzanian Development Co-operation Programme that will run for at least two years. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Locally produced technologies boom as Rand declines The rapidly declining Rand-Dollar exchange rate should boost market interest in locally developed products, which bodes particularly well for local software developers. "As the Rand continues to reach new historical lows almost on a daily basis, many organisations are hesitating before investing their money in overseas offerings, simply because it’s becoming too expensive," says Gilbert Parsons, MD of Emsoft, a company that develops and markets a range of locally developed business software solutions. "Consequently, local software offerings should finally start receiving the attention they deserve." "The quality of locally developed products is far under-rated," he continues. "South Africa has many world-class products to offer, and possesses high-level business development skills which include extensive implementation experience at local, high-profile sites." Emsoft’s own solution is of USA-origin but has been re-engineered to suit the specific requirements of the South African Development Community (SADC). "South African business practices are generally regarded as similar to that of Europe, but this is not always the case," says Parsons. "While SADC countries may have similar industries, the legislation and business methodologies surrounding these industries are unique to that particular country. Consequently, extensive customisation has to be done to overseas products to ensure that they comply with local legislative requirements." Parsons cites South African labour legislation as an example. "Not only is it extensive, but it is constantly changing, and some of it, such as the National Qualifications Framework, is still under development. While overseas products struggle to keep up with these developments, our product already incorporates them and as when they occur." Research organisations often to refer to the so-called Magic Quadrant of players in the business software field. "Because local companies do not form part of the Magic Quadrant, they are automatically disqualified when tendering for a particular contract," says Parsons. "What organisations tend to forget, however, is that the Magic Quadrant is not representative of the South African market, but belongs to the US or European markets, which is 150 times the size of South Africa. Therefore, to refer to the Magic Quadrant as a guideline for local systems is simply ridiculous, and I challenge research organisations to compare South African products with overseas offerings and see how we shape up." The fact that companies are not required to pay duties on imported software also encourages them to buy overseas, Parsons declares. "Companies have to pay import duties on all other IT-related items, why not on software?" he asks. "If they were compelled to pay duties, end-users would be more willing to consider local offerings first before looking to overseas products. Additionally, local products would then be on equal footing with their overseas counterparts, because they would have a competitive advantage." Parsons believes that companies offering local products should receive additional credit on contract tenders, and challenges government and the private sector to test them against overseas solutions. "South Africa has many good products to offer and they should receive appropriate consideration. Additionally, while many overseas-based organisations boast joint ventures with black empowerment companies, none can claim that their black empowerment company has ownership in their software. Emsoft, on the other hand, is working towards this objective and is currently in negotiation with two black empowerment companies." "If more companies invested in local products, more jobs would be created which would in turn increase the local skills base, which would increase overseas investment potential," he adds. "The time has come for companies to overcome their mindset that anything produced overseas is better than what this country has to offer. Local companies want their products to stand and be counted and I urge government to take the lead in implementing this," Parsons concludes. Ends More about EmSoft EmSoft Group is a group of business solutions companies dedicated to providing the kind of software and technical expertise that assists businesses to not only survive change in these tumultuous and competitive times, but to embrace it to their advantage. EmSoft was born out of the merger of a marketing and sales driven company, Unique Executive Solutions (UES), and a skills-based software house, CASE Evaluation, in March 1998. EmSoft secured the sole African distribution rights for Four J’s in June 2000 and for NAG in September 2000.
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