Namibia slides down global ICT scale

PRIME Minister Nahas Angula has expressed disappointment that Namibia has dropped in world rankings measuring successes in information and communication technology (ICT).

The World Economic Forum and the United Nations recently released the new rankings, which show that Namibia has slid from a top-five ranking in Africa to one of the top 10 countries only. Motivating the budget for his office in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Angula said although his office did not have the necessary funds to drive ICT projects forward, he planned to use any savings on the current budget for this purpose.This includes improving Government’s Web portal and expanding bandwidth in partnership with Telecom and MTC.Angula said his resolve remained strong to increase efforts to advance and increase ICT usage in the public service and to improve service delivery and greater access to services to marginalised communities through its e-governance policy.”Due to funding shortfalls we have also had to be innovative to continue with developments on the design and application of websites for all our offices, ministries and agencies,” said Angula.Polytechnic students were involved in developing these websites and 10 new and updated ones would be launched soon, he said.Motivating the budget for his office in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Angula said although his office did not have the necessary funds to drive ICT projects forward, he planned to use any savings on the current budget for this purpose.This includes improving Government’s Web portal and expanding bandwidth in partnership with Telecom and MTC.Angula said his resolve remained strong to increase efforts to advance and increase ICT usage in the public service and to improve service delivery and greater access to services to marginalised communities through its e-governance policy.”Due to funding shortfalls we have also had to be innovative to continue with developments on the design and application of websites for all our offices, ministries and agencies,” said Angula.Polytechnic students were involved in developing these websites and 10 new and updated ones would be launched soon, he said.