Ugandan minister at MITTS

DR Ham-Mukasa Mulira, Minister for ICT of the Republic of Uganda, visited Malta Information Technology and Training Services Ltd (MITTS). Dr Mulira was in Malta attending the Commonwealth Connects seminar.

Commonwealth Connects is an initiative with the objective of bridging the digital divide within the Commonwealth. It was set up following the Malta Declaration on Networking the Commonwealth for Development during the 2005 Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting (CHOGM). The next CHOGM will be held in Kampala, Uganda, later this year.

Meeting with senior MITTS officials, Dr Mulira said that the rapid progress of ICT is continuously providing new opportunities to attain higher levels of development.

At the same time however, ICT has the potential to accentuate the various divides that exist in societies and economies in the absence of coherent governance strategies.

The government of Uganda, through the recently formed Ministry for ICT, is currently redefining the country's national ICT priorities.

"Making ICT more accessible in a cost-effective way is at the top of our national agenda," Dr Mulira said. "My government's primary objectives include the development of a national ICT infrastructure, the leveraging of existing non-IT infrastructure for disseminating ICT, the encouragement of public-private partnerships, and the development of effective governance models that trigger entrepreneurship and generate employment."

Citing the Malta CHOGM, Dr Mulira said that the event was outstanding in terms of organisation and the level of ICT facilities provided. MITTS Ltd was responsible for the development of the CHOGM Information Portal (CHIP) and provided on-site 24x7 operational support during the event.

Welcoming Dr Mulira to MITTS Ltd, Alex Attard, chief executive officer, said that Malta is ideally placed to become an important location for ICT research and development in the Mediterranean, and to be a focal point for the development of ICT business in Africa.

Formerly known as the Management Systems Unit, the company was charged with spearheading an extensive public service reform process nearly two decades ago.

"MITTS Ltd is today ideally placed to support the government of Uganda in the development of a business-enabling environment through the development of ICT policy, best-practice and advocacy initiatives," Mr Attard said.

Dr Mulira expressed his government's interest in pursuing avenues of co-operation in the near future.

Dr Mulira later toured the MITTS premises in Blata l-Bajda and showed particular interest in tasks undertaken by the Network Operations and Service Call Centre.