THE Bank of Zambia (BOZ) has urged central banks within the SADC region to critically review the level of investment and dependence on Information and Communications Technology (ICTs) which is critical to the implementation of good corporate governance.
BOZ Deputy Governor for Administration Tukiya Kankasa-Mabula said good corporate governance was important in economic management adding that the role
the ICT governance played could not be overemphasized.
Ms Kankasa-Mabula was speaking in Livingstone today when she officially opened a SADC central bank IT forum 2008 Annual Conference at Zambezi Sun Hotel.
She said Business Continuity Planning (BCP) and the management for ICT resources was critical to the operations of the Central Banks.
Ms Kankasa-Mabula regretted that most of the rural areas were mostly unbanked due to infrastructural obstacles and called for the financial inclusion for
all and access of finance for all including rural areas.
She further urged participants at the forum to address the crucial role that the SADC IT Forum played in the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan
(RISDP), which was a 15 year long term strategy.
Ms Kankasa-Mabula said it was envisaged that the Committee of Central Bank Governors (CCBG) in the SADC region would continue to work on the process of
monetary and financial integration in the region.
She however noted that in order to harmonise central banking practises and procedures across the SADC region, there was need to prepare a RISDP action plan which would steer ICTs within the SADC region to higher levels.
“Equally important I also expect that this initiative will assist Central Banks to harmonise ICT functions and come up with shared regional communication
infrastructure that promote economic development,” she said.
The four-day annual conference which opened this morning is being attende by all Central Banks within the SADC region.
It is clear to me that we have many citizens in the corridors of power that have no knowledge of citical systems that must be in place for a sensible ICT sector to grow.
IN my humble opinion, we need these for starters in order to have a sound ICT policy in Zambia.
1. Power to all major population centres, schools, colleges and villages. Without power, one cannot work with modern elctronic date equipment such as computers, faxes, copiers, etc. One cannot access data on a hard drive when there is no power.
2. We need freedom of access to official information. Who one make sound decisions when critical information is classified as secret by LPM, Mutati and other demi-gods of Zambia?
We need to have access to all government records and documents, agreements, and cabinet meetings’ minutes must be available to any serious citizen in order to ensure that there is sound decision making in the nation. I would be pleased to know for instance what exactly LPM was thinking to have 2 cabinet ministers in one job! This may point to poor decision making unfit for a prezident.
3. We need to have a deliberate grz policy shift where all grz depts will have computers and networks. It is strange that most GRZ officials have e-mail addresses, but THEY never respond to e-mails sent to them. These fellows seem to be ignorant on why they have e-mail addresses.
4. We need to have a clear set of EDP applications for ZAmbia in education, health, agriculture, employment, etc. if we are to make sound and deliberate improvments in national development.
5. It is clear that citizens in Zambia do not know that for ICT to be successful, the GRZ is the only powerhouse that can initiate and monitor developments in any sector of the economy. As such, the GRZ must set up systems that would bind all citizens in the ICT community towards identified GRZ goals and objectives and drive change in the sector. But then I realize that in Zambia, it is commom to find individuals awarding their family owned ICT companies tenders without any regards to morality of such conduct. This is so due to poor leadership by LPM and MMD.
6. ICT developments are weakest in Zambia when one looks at SADC as a region. I fail to understand why the speaker does not focus on what Zambia is doing to remove the shroud of incompetence in all her sectors so that citizens can go to school with clear minds that only education with ICT will make our nation a better one.