By Andrew Cohen Amvesi
ARUA
Government has launched the West Nile regional ICT Innovation Hub at Muni University in Arua city.
The launch that was presided over by Dr. Aminah Zawedde took place on Friday, 3rd May, 2024.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance said as a ministry, they are now focusing on infrastructure; setting up connectivity, hubs, data centers and also computer labs, and making sure that people have equipment such as computers and other affordable devices.
Dr. Noah Musa, the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the people of Koboko North County in Koboko district used the occasion to appeal to the government of Uganda to consider reducing taxes on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) devices.
Dr. Musa who also sits on the Parliamentary Committee of ICT and National Guidance made the appeal during the launch of the regional ICT Innovation Hub at Muni University in Arua city on Friday.
The need for a regional ICT innovation hub stemmed from the challenges faced by West Nile entrepreneurs in accessing critical resources, getting guidance and internship required as they expand their businesses.
According to Prof. Robert Kajobe, the Director Graduate Training, Research and Innovation, Muni University is just a host of the regional hub which is going to help in addressing the problems entrepreneurs face such as lack of meeting/training venue, work spaces, fast internet connectivity and cloud storage system among others.
Similarly, Prof. Simon Anguma Katrini, the Muni University Vice Chancellor noted that in the year 2020, Muni University requested for support through the National ICT Support Initiative program for establishing an innovative ICT hub at the University to accelerate the growth of the ICT eco-system in Uganda.
Subsequently, Anguma said a total of shs250m was released to Muni University by the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance which money was appropriately utilized to set up the regional ICT innovation hub.
But speaking during the launch of the hub, Dr. Musa said there is now need for the government to reduce taxes on ICT devices especially the end-use ICT devices to ensure that the country deepens penetration of ICT in the communities.
“We can do all these investments but if the end users do not have the gadgets to use the ICT investments we have put in place, then our investments will be in vain and one of the bottlenecks that we are experiencing as a country is the cost of the end-use ICT devices,” Dr. Musa remarked.
He said the ICT committee has already made its position very clear to the government that if the country is to deepen ICT and ensure that people can access ICT services or the investments put in place, there is need to rethink about the taxes on smart phones and related items.
While presiding over the function, Dr. Aminah Zawedde, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance said as a ministry, they are now focusing on infrastructure; setting up connectivity, hubs, data centers and also computer labs, and making sure that people have equipment such as computers and other affordable devices.
“The Hon. MP Musa talked about the need for us to reduce the cost of devices, those are some of the policy issues we are looking in to see how do we ensure that the cost of these devices are brought down or how do we ensure that we bring into this country and the various regions may be assembling plants for computers. If these computers are manufactured here or smart phones are manufactured and assembled in the country, they would be more affordable,” Zawedde said.
