Government explains ICT policy formulation delay
By Business Reporter
GOVERNMENT says it has delayed in formulating the information and communication technology policy (ICT) because it is too demanding and involving.
Ministry of Communication and Transport Deputy Permanent Secretary Paul Mukoma said that the ICT policy was expected to be of international standard hence the need to consult more with other interested parties.
Speaking in an interview in Lusaka at the weekend Mr Mukoma said Government was trying to achieve intensive consultation from the village to international levels so as to make the policy user-friendly.
He said that Zambia was lagging behind in the advancement of ICT due to lack of proper policy guidance but that Government would soon develop the sector.
He said it was Government’s intention to have the ICT policy in place in order to improve the sector as it was an important tool to fighting poverty and empowering the people.
Mr Mukoma said that once the policy was in place, a legal frame work would be there to ensure that the policy was implemented.
And the Computer Society of Zambia (CSZ) president Milner Makuni said that open source software had begun to emerge as an alternative to propriety software in the developing world.
At a workshop held at ZAMCOM at the weekend Mr Makuni said that based on the promise of cost reduction open source software was available without licence costs in Zambia.
He said recently the market opportunities for ICT in developing countries had given more consideration while at the same time open source software options were gaining attention.
Consequently the debate over which software solution was better in the African context had heated up.
He said that there had been polarised discussion over the benefits and problems of open source and propriety software for developing countries.
