8th April 2015 And in Mombasa, Kenya, an inaugural regional ICT summit titled Connected East Africa Summit has kicked off with the theme ‘Strength is in our networks’.
The three-day event, which was once known as Connect Kenya, was rebranded when regional ICT ministers proposed an expansion to East Africa, with Kenya as the host of the inaugural conference.
The countries involved are Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and Somalia, and they have already created an inter-ministerial committee with the purpose of breaking regional barriers in ICT. This committee is expected to report their progress at the Summit.
Some of the topics to be discussed include building an integrated ICT infrastructure and policies in the region, establishing a platform for collaboration, capacity building and knowledge sharing between governments and the ICT sector with a view of linking and hastening implementation of government IT projects to world-class standards.
Uganda’s ICT minister, Engineer John Nasasira is expected to address participants of the event and other ministers, Jean Nsengimana of Rwanda, Prof. Makame Mbarawa of Tanzania, Rebecca Joshua Okwaci of South Sudan and Dr. Okeng’o Mathiang’i of Kenya will also share their contributions.