By Jeorge Wilson KINGSON
The Ministry of Communications (MoC) will this year present 12 new information and communication technology (ICT) bills to Parliament for consideration.
The bills, if and when finally passed, will foster competition by promoting investment, enhancing ICT provision and providing affordable consumption so as to enhance ICT utilization in the country.
BusinessWeek learnt that the process to draft the bills has long commenced and is mostly near completion. The first batch of ICT bills will be presented to Parliament at its next meeting scheduled for May 22, this year.
The expected bills address data protection/privacy legislation, intellectual property legislation, public record management legislation, document and archival systems and security guidelines for the certification authority.
The rest address national digital content management, promotion of digitization of administrative work for e-governance, electronic transaction (certification authority) regulations, electronic regulations on dumping of electronic waste and consumer protection legislation.
They also cover access devices regulation, and utilization and security of the information systems and protection of personal information.
According to the Minister of Communications, Haruna Iddrisu, it is the responsibility of the ministry to introduce laws and this it is doing through regular consultative process.
Meanwhile, Parliament has approved an amount of GH¢18,720,755 for the ministry to enable it to operate during the 2009 financial year.
An initial ceiling of GH¢6,288,486 was allocated to the sector, but this was reduced to GH¢4,779,653, which is 24% less than the requested figure. There is also a donor component of GH¢13,290,928 and an internally generated fund (IGF) component of GH¢650,000.
Among other initiatives, the ministry plans to facilitate the completion of the second phase of the national communication backbone from Tamale to the rest of the northern parts of the country and connectivity to the neighbouring countries, pursue the establishment of a centralized data centre for the storage of vital information for national development and promote the development support and monitoring of business incubators in Ghana.
The ministry further plans to pursue the development of a postal and courier sector policy to enable the industry to be transformed to meet the challenges associated with an era of technology application in postal service delivery.
However, a cursory look at the 2009 budgetary allocation reveals a reductionl in government’s commitment to the ministry from the GH¢5,815,274 approved for the 2008 financial year to GH¢4,779,653.
The Parliamentary Select Committee on Communications, which considered the amount and recommended it to the House for approval, was not happy that the ministry’s investment budget has been cut down by 38% from GH¢1,773,908 last year to GH¢1,101,596 this year. Equally affected is the service vote which has fallen by about 47% from GH¢404,804 in 2008 to GH¢214,845 this year.
“The Ministry of Communications, being a regulator of a very fast growing sector, which is a major income earner to governments the world over, the committee could not fathom why the Ministry of Finance did not allocate more money to the sector, as a form of investment, so as to generate much more returns in terms of monetary gains and employment generation. While the committee supports the government’s determination to introduce austerity measures to curb government spending, it also believes that this should be done with great caution so as not to adversely affect income generation,” stated the committee’s report.
The Ministry of Communications (MoC) will this year present 12 new information and communication technology (ICT) bills to Parliament for consideration.
The bills, if and when finally passed, will foster competition by promoting investment, enhancing ICT provision and providing affordable consumption so as to enhance ICT utilization in the country.
BusinessWeek learnt that the process to draft the bills has long commenced and is mostly near completion. The first batch of ICT bills will be presented to Parliament at its next meeting scheduled for May 22, this year.
The expected bills address data protection/privacy legislation, intellectual property legislation, public record management legislation, document and archival systems and security guidelines for the certification authority.
The rest address national digital content management, promotion of digitization of administrative work for e-governance, electronic transaction (certification authority) regulations, electronic regulations on dumping of electronic waste and consumer protection legislation.
They also cover access devices regulation, and utilization and security of the information systems and protection of personal information.
According to the Minister of Communications, Haruna Iddrisu, it is the responsibility of the ministry to introduce laws and this it is doing through regular consultative process.
Meanwhile, Parliament has approved an amount of GH¢18,720,755 for the ministry to enable it to operate during the 2009 financial year.
An initial ceiling of GH¢6,288,486 was allocated to the sector, but this was reduced to GH¢4,779,653, which is 24% less than the requested figure. There is also a donor component of GH¢13,290,928 and an internally generated fund (IGF) component of GH¢650,000.
Among other initiatives, the ministry plans to facilitate the completion of the second phase of the national communication backbone from Tamale to the rest of the northern parts of the country and connectivity to the neighbouring countries, pursue the establishment of a centralized data centre for the storage of vital information for national development and promote the development support and monitoring of business incubators in Ghana.
The ministry further plans to pursue the development of a postal and courier sector policy to enable the industry to be transformed to meet the challenges associated with an era of technology application in postal service delivery.
However, a cursory look at the 2009 budgetary allocation reveals a reductionl in government’s commitment to the ministry from the GH¢5,815,274 approved for the 2008 financial year to GH¢4,779,653.
The Parliamentary Select Committee on Communications, which considered the amount and recommended it to the House for approval, was not happy that the ministry’s investment budget has been cut down by 38% from GH¢1,773,908 last year to GH¢1,101,596 this year. Equally affected is the service vote which has fallen by about 47% from GH¢404,804 in 2008 to GH¢214,845 this year.
“The Ministry of Communications, being a regulator of a very fast growing sector, which is a major income earner to governments the world over, the committee could not fathom why the Ministry of Finance did not allocate more money to the sector, as a form of investment, so as to generate much more returns in terms of monetary gains and employment generation. While the committee supports the government’s determination to introduce austerity measures to curb government spending, it also believes that this should be done with great caution so as not to adversely affect income generation,” stated the committee’s report.
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