The Information Technology Age has changed man’s ‘nature and nurture’ in the world today and this week, it took the Connect Africa Summit to emphasize this. President Paul Kagame who hosted the meeting said, “In just ten years, what was once an object of luxury and privilege, the mobile phone has become a basic necessity in urban and rural Africa,” Kagame underlined the importance of ICT in the changing lifestyles on the African continent and that for poverty to be reduced; more emphasis should be placed on technology. In a clear reference to Rwanda’s success story in fighting HIV/Aids-where TRAC uses regular reviews of patients by use of internet and phone text massages Kagame said, “Health data is easily transmitted from remote rural corners for timely interventions by centrally-located authorities, thus drastically improving public health delivery”. On the need to increase literacy on the African continent president Kagame said, “In the field of education, the Internet has not only connected some rural schools – it has also provided reading materials and curriculum content for teachers as well as learners.”Kagame further emphasized that investment in ICT today is not about money, profit, prestige or infrastructure for its own sake.“It is about improving access and affordability for African people, ultimately, it is about empowering people to realise their ambitions and aspirations to improve their own lives. “It is also about improving access and affordability for African people, and therefore empowering people to realise their ambitions and aspirations to improve their own lives,” the president said. Kagame added that Africa’s ICT gap is the reason for the continued brain drain to the Western world, he said Africa’s development of the ICT “…… will keep our best and brightest in Africa, where we can build a more prosperous future for ourselves and for our continent; more importantly, rural Africa can become fully integrated into the productive economy – as opposed to its current status of a subsistence hinterland,”To this end however, many Africans have been kept out of the global Information technology, many-and only in urban centres-their use of ICT is limited to mobile phones a limited knowledge of the computer. Kagame illustrated the gap when he said, “Beyond the powers of ICT associated with the mobile phone and data services, we have stalled when it comes to building the required communications infrastructure for more ambitious applications, product development and greater diffusion of these tools.” He called upon ICT players on the continent to build the necessary infrastructure to help more Africans. President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi used the summit to appeal to donors to help his newly born baby, Burundi.“Currently Burundi is surviving with only 50,000 connected computers,” Nkurunziza said.In a dramatic turn of events, visiting presidents blasted the number of conferences –on which a lot of time and money is spent, yet the resolutions or results are not seen.“For over the past years, we have been attending unending summits…I was afraid that this will also turn out to be one of them but after finding out what was on the agenda, I don’t regret having came,” Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade saidHe is also among the masterminds of NEPAD and African Peer Review ideologies in Africa’s improving democratization.Wade who is also the chairman of ICT in Africa said that ‘Africa Connect’ should be the last meeting to bring people together before the implementation of previous resolutions.Malawian President Dr Bingwa wa Muthalika agreed with Wade’s assessment of ‘Capacity Building’ conferences and workshops in Africa when he said “All that changes are slogans and themes but in the end you find them the same, Africans should be in a driver’s seat to lead the way for Information Technology in Africa and we should not be there as passengers.” The Connect Africa Summit was attended among others by Burundi’s Jean Pierre Nkurunziza, Djibouti’s Ishmael Omar Guelleh, Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso and Swazi Deputy Premier Constance Simelane, African Development Bank (ADB) Dr Donald Kaberuka, Secretary General of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Dr Hamadoun Toure and Prof. Alfa Omar Konare, former president of Mali and currently chairman of the Economic Commission for Africa. Among major players in the global ICT market at the summit were; GSM association, Ericsson, Huawei Technologies, Orange UK, Main Street Technologies, Cisco systems, Safaricom, Grameen Foundation Technology Centre, RASCOM, Qualconn, Nokia Siemens Networks Thuraya Telecommunication Corporation. On the sidelines-and as part of putting in practice proceedings within the ‘Africa Connect’ mega deals were being signed between international ICT companies and Africa. First was Microsoft joining the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to accelerate the implementation of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) goals in Africa, the deal will help in providing skills development and capacity building along with the delivery of relevant applications and services, these will include delivery of new online solutions for ICT users to showcase and track the implementation of development projects.Microsoft Inc is the empire built and managed by the world’s richest and most generous man Bill Gates who also helped develop Rwanda’s first experience with software manufacture-they are currently helping to develop the ICT park where Rwandans will be trained in making custom made ICT solutions for the Rwandan market. Bill Gates is helping in Africa’s fight against HIV/Aids through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.The second deal was about connecting all African capitals and major cities with ICT broadband infrastructure; it involved the African Development Bank and International Telecommunication Union. ADB President Dr Donald Kaberuka said: “We want to make the economies of Africa more competitive, and therefore AfDB is committing to the development of information and communication technology across the continent.”The Bank aims to stimulate economic growth and climate and facilitate economic integration. Also in news Economic integration was very much in the news last week with Reports from Juba suggesting that the Government of Southern Sudan or The Goss is likely to join the East African Community. However Juba’s application to join the EAC was turned down by technical regards involving the word Sovereign. Uganda’s Minister of Trade Nelson Wambuzi Gagawala said; “Southern Sudan has applied to join the EAC. In fact also Khartoum wants to join,”However, the a senior Ugandan government official added, “They (GOSS) actually applied during the April 2007 summit but South Sudan was advised to apply when they are a sovereign state (in case they seceded after a referendum).If Southern Sudan joined the EAC, the block would not only increase in trade volume and increased flow of resources between the 6 member group but would reduce political disagreements, increase the population in the block from 120m to 134m and enhance development in the long run.Sudan will soon hold a referendum to decide whether Southern Sudan can secede from the Khartoum government and become a sovereign state.Ends
